LS Isn't going anywhere, and no the ES will never be the Lexus flagship

Anyways, my issue with "SUVs as flagships" comes down to product quality, namely inside. When you look at an SUV vs a sedan in a luxury lineup, at similar price points the SUV ALWAYS has a lower quality interior than a comparably priced sedan. Universally. Even a Range Rover, if you sit in a Range Rover and then sit in any flagship sedan, the Range Rover simply is not as well appointed, material quality is lower, etc. Where this is the most apparent is the LX vs the LS. The LS is exponentially nicer inside, the LX interior is full of cheap hard plastics on the lower dash and doors, has fake stitching on the dash, and none of that exists anywhere in the LS. Thats comparing a base LS to a loaded LX even.

If carmakers truly do want their SUVs to be their flagships they need to close that interior gap. Thats one of the main things that keeps me from making the jump from a flagship sedan to an SUV.

 

Alright, let me make it on-topic. The G wagon is not and has never been the Mercedes flagship. Mercedes does not have an SUV as a flagship vehicle. The information you were spewing about flagship SUVs from various automakers was incorrect.

Until Mercedes releases the Maybach SUV concept they recently showed with the separate luggage and passenger compartments, they do not have an SUV as a flagship vehicle.