Well they're being offered as "premium" lighting just like xenons were. I agree that it's nice that they've come down in price significantly and just as important, the manufacturers of these lighting systems (I don't know if it's in-house or not) have been able to create the same light output and light pattern with fewer lenses.

For example, the LS600h had 3 lens clusters (with several LEDs within each of them) plus an LED floodlight (for near illumination) to create the appropriate pattern. The 2010 Prius had 2 lens clusters and one floodlight which was updated to simply 2 lens without the floodlight in 2012. Then the Corolla came along with a single lens to create the appropriate pattern. The Camry has gone to a single low beam lens as well (and dual lens for high beam). The Prius v and c have larger single projector lens but they function as both low and high beams. I haven't seen the new Camry's lights yet but the Prius v and c look brilliant white.

The Mirai uses a pair of lens for both low and high beams (so 4 per side) but it's hard to tell without taking the lighting housing apart if the pair of lens are two separate LED bulbs or if it's a single bulb that's illuminating two lens (like the Avalon's "Quadra-Beam" HID headlights which is a single HID capsule that's illuminating two lens on each side).

The only thing I don't care for in the teaser pic is the front hood line. It bothers me in the current model that the hood line doesn't meet up with the grill, but rather there is the painted piece between the two. I was hoping that detail would not carry on to the revised fascia. It would look a lot cleaner if the hood were extended down to meet the grill.

I've always wondered why the ES had that body-colored beak when the other models don't. That extension could be there for pedestrian impact protection, probably because the ES has a more rounded nose.

What about the '16 GS? Will it be different from the '15, '14, '13 GS?

Yes, it will be a refresh also.

Any idea when is the GS refresh coming ? I would think the GS F sport styling would be similar to the GSF that was introduced recently along with an updated V6 hopefully with 320 + HP :)

It is probably to reduce the cost of the manufacturing of the hood, by straightening out its front edge, simplifying its design and manufacturing.

Sept/Oct of this year.

unlikely, unless you think Corolla is more expensive to manufacture... it is just a design.

It will be interesting to see if Chinese market gets 2.0t, if ES gets updated NAV software from RX and actual new 3.5l specs.

It makes it easier to make more significant mid model changes without having to change the shape of any sheetmetal.

Very common on many cars, helps keep the hard edge of the car further back to protect pedestrian impact. Less clean design aesthetic for sure. Part of it could also be driven by limits of the hard points dictated by the overall platform sharing vehicles dimensions, in this case Avalon, etc.

The Chinese market is already getting a Highlander 2.0t and the NX200t has been on sale for a few months. Looks like Toyota could phase out the big V6 in favor of the turbo four in most markets.

They are not phasing out 3.5l, but adding 2.0t as an option... most of these markets had 2.7l 4cly previously in Highlander and RX. Imagine all that fun :-)

We all heard about 2.0t going to IS, GS, RC, RX... but nobody ever heard of it going to ES... so lets see if that happens.

I was thinking of having the front centre of the hood having to protrude out front to reach forward and down a bit to meet the top of the grill, instead of having that body-coloured piece above the grill and in front of the hoodline. Having that forward centre piece would complicate manufacturing a bit and probably not justified in Toyota's eyes (and wallet) for its entry-level executive sedan.



True... but neither the GS nor the LS do this. They both have a very rounded front of the hood that curves down to meet the top of the grill.



Yes, this is a possibility. It is possible that this hood design was required to keep tooling common for all Camry-derived vehicles.

The bumper is all plastic, it will cost no different to manufacture than the old one.

The hood will remain unchanged.