8th generation ES!
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Jul 2017
Posts: 9,641
Likes: 3,430
From: NJ
Styling, overdone and complicated. Front doors look short, stunted, and busy. The class is gone on both exterior and interior. This is just new and shocking for the sake of being new and shocking -- has no real design, cohesion, philosophy behind it.
Before this, I thought it would be the rear-side profile that's awkward. Turns out it's the front door/charge port area thats weird. Too many lines going everywhere with no cohesion and flow. Just stuff grafted on stuff. Super weird.
Acceleration ranges from super slow to slow, at best.
No more V6s for you V6 fans. We called it long long ago.
Too bulky. This almost seems built on the US crown, not the Japanese one. But I don't know.
Apparently they're dropping the LS and replacing it with this.
Keep your old ESs. Gone is the classy era of the ES styling.
Before this, I thought it would be the rear-side profile that's awkward. Turns out it's the front door/charge port area thats weird. Too many lines going everywhere with no cohesion and flow. Just stuff grafted on stuff. Super weird.
Acceleration ranges from super slow to slow, at best.
No more V6s for you V6 fans. We called it long long ago.
Too bulky. This almost seems built on the US crown, not the Japanese one. But I don't know.
Apparently they're dropping the LS and replacing it with this.
Keep your old ESs. Gone is the classy era of the ES styling.
https://carnewschina.com/2025/04/23/...-company-says/
Pole Position
Joined: May 2021
Posts: 2,550
Likes: 1,370
From: IL
People said the same about the GS too. And to clarify I am only referring to sales in the US market. The ES lost its #1 sales position to the RX years ago and this will ensure that it slips farther down the sales ladder. I’m a Boomer as well, and acknowledge that the market generally couldn’t care less what I prefer. But regardless of age, fewer and fewer buyers want sedans like these. Even many of us in the geezer set have moved to CUV’s because they’re easier to get in and out of. So, yes, while reserving final judgement until I actually see and sit in one, I am not optimistic that this will be a winner in our domestic market.
I would also suggest that Lexus would not do a “refresh” to the interior if it is only not liked well here. Cars are global now, and while they do tweak packages and options for different regions, significantly redoing an interior just for the US simply won’t happen.
I would also suggest that Lexus would not do a “refresh” to the interior if it is only not liked well here. Cars are global now, and while they do tweak packages and options for different regions, significantly redoing an interior just for the US simply won’t happen.
It's true that there's no divine right for the ES to keep existing. We've seen very popular sedans from Impala to Fusion bite the dust. But unlike the GS, the ES is not very expensive for Toyota to build because it shares the Camry/Crown component set, and its margins are much higher than those cars. Even if its sales nosedive 50%, it's still selling several times better than the final GS was.
Now, the car that has vultures circling around it is the LS. Lexus used the telltale word "flagship" to refer to the new ES; that's LS territory. And Lexus's decision to expand the rear-seat executive package to this country—previously held back as the LS's prerogative—is to me a clear sign that the new ES is as high as Lexus cares to reach in the sedan world going forward.
Intermediate
Joined: Apr 2024
Posts: 485
Likes: 110
If only manufactures weren't murdering them, sedans would still be fine.
Looks like the future of LS is also uncertain.
I prefer sedans because they are usually cheaper for the similar power train, low to the ground and they get more MPG.
I don't also buy into "if you have kids, you must have SUV". I grew up with sedans and never needed extra space.
Sedans have plenty of space. Kids these days want to be spoilt.
Looks like the future of LS is also uncertain.
I prefer sedans because they are usually cheaper for the similar power train, low to the ground and they get more MPG.
I don't also buy into "if you have kids, you must have SUV". I grew up with sedans and never needed extra space.
Sedans have plenty of space. Kids these days want to be spoilt.
Pole Position
Joined: May 2021
Posts: 2,550
Likes: 1,370
From: IL
Styling, overdone and complicated. Front doors look short, stunted, and busy. The class is gone on both exterior and interior. This is just new and shocking for the sake of being new and shocking -- has no real design, cohesion, philosophy behind it.
Before this, I thought it would be the rear-side profile that's awkward. Turns out it's the front door/charge port area thats weird. Too many lines going everywhere with no cohesion and flow. Just stuff grafted on stuff. Super weird.
Acceleration ranges from super slow to slow, at best.
No more V6s for you V6 fans. We called it long long ago.
Too bulky. This almost seems built on the US crown, not the Japanese one. But I don't know.
Apparently they're dropping the LS and replacing it with this.
Keep your old ESs. Gone is the classy era of the ES styling.
Before this, I thought it would be the rear-side profile that's awkward. Turns out it's the front door/charge port area thats weird. Too many lines going everywhere with no cohesion and flow. Just stuff grafted on stuff. Super weird.
Acceleration ranges from super slow to slow, at best.
No more V6s for you V6 fans. We called it long long ago.
Too bulky. This almost seems built on the US crown, not the Japanese one. But I don't know.
Apparently they're dropping the LS and replacing it with this.
Keep your old ESs. Gone is the classy era of the ES styling.
The killer decision for me was to retain the U.S. Crown's clown-car height. It's been a spectacular sales failure in the U.S.—exactly as I predicted in writing—yet Toyota/Lexus executives have refused to take the hint. The one redeeming virtue of that decision was what I gather is the true hatchback on the ES. If that's in fact what it has, it means Lexus did listen to one criticism of the 7G: the widespread (and justified) grumbling about the lack of drop-down rear seat practicality. If not, the news is even worse.
Pole Position
Joined: May 2021
Posts: 2,550
Likes: 1,370
From: IL
Agree, but only with a gas engine, a torque-converter transmission, and mechanical AWD. That's not too much to ask—all three Germans and Genesis have it.
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2022
Posts: 920
Likes: 624
From: GA
Some may have missed it, but Lexus did try to damage control in their original press release which used the word “flagship”. A day or two later Lexus clarified that calling the ES their "flagship" means it's a core model for global markets, not that it's replacing the LS.
ClubLexus Stories
Celebrating Lexus & Toyota from Around the Globe
Lexus NX 350h: A Fuel-Sipping Secret Hot Hatch???
Michael S. Palmer
5 Best & 5 Worst Lexus Daily Drivers
Joe Kucinski
Top 5 Hottest Lexus & Toyotas in 2026 (Hardest To Buy)
Brett Foote
2026 Lexus IS 350 F Sport Review: The Last of Its Kind Still Rocks
Michael S. Palmer
Top 10 Most Confusing Things Lexus Has Ever Done!
Joe Kucinski
2026 Lexus ES Review: Lexus Re-Embraces Founding Principles
Michael S. Palmer
10 Lexus Bargains That are Cheaper Than a New Toyota RAV4
Joe Kucinski
8 Weirdest Things Lexus Has Ever Built
Verdad Gallardo
10 Lexus Designs That Have Aged Like Fine Wine
Verdad Gallardo
Intermediate
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 375
Likes: 65
With this release, I've decided to buy a 7th Gen ES 350 F Sport and ES 250 (for the lady).
Hybrids & BEV will never do it for me.
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Jul 2017
Posts: 9,641
Likes: 3,430
From: NJ
If only manufactures weren't murdering them, sedans would still be fine.
Looks like the future of LS is also uncertain.
I prefer sedans because they are usually cheaper for the similar power train, low to the ground and they get more MPG.
I don't also buy into "if you have kids, you must have SUV". I grew up with sedans and never needed extra space.
Sedans have plenty of space. Kids these days want to be spoilt.
Looks like the future of LS is also uncertain.
I prefer sedans because they are usually cheaper for the similar power train, low to the ground and they get more MPG.
I don't also buy into "if you have kids, you must have SUV". I grew up with sedans and never needed extra space.
Sedans have plenty of space. Kids these days want to be spoilt.
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Jul 2017
Posts: 9,641
Likes: 3,430
From: NJ
Some may have missed it, but Lexus did try to damage control in their original press release which used the word “flagship”. A day or two later Lexus clarified that calling the ES their "flagship" means it's a core model for global markets, not that it's replacing the LS.
Pole Position
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 3,174
Likes: 1,723
From: NC
Pole Position
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 3,174
Likes: 1,723
From: NC
Styling, overdone and complicated. Front doors look short, stunted, and busy. The class is gone on both exterior and interior. This is just new and shocking for the sake of being new and shocking -- has no real design, cohesion, philosophy behind it.
Before this, I thought it would be the rear-side profile that's awkward. Turns out it's the front door/charge port area thats weird. Too many lines going everywhere with no cohesion and flow. Just stuff grafted on stuff. Super weird.
Acceleration ranges from super slow to slow, at best.
No more V6s for you V6 fans. We called it long long ago.
Too bulky. This almost seems built on the US crown, not the Japanese one. But I don't know.
Apparently they're dropping the LS and replacing it with this.
Keep your old ESs. Gone is the classy era of the ES styling.
Before this, I thought it would be the rear-side profile that's awkward. Turns out it's the front door/charge port area thats weird. Too many lines going everywhere with no cohesion and flow. Just stuff grafted on stuff. Super weird.
Acceleration ranges from super slow to slow, at best.
No more V6s for you V6 fans. We called it long long ago.
Too bulky. This almost seems built on the US crown, not the Japanese one. But I don't know.
Apparently they're dropping the LS and replacing it with this.
Keep your old ESs. Gone is the classy era of the ES styling.
Whoever at Toyota/lexus came up with this should be fired.
