Still no official word for the US market. Any chance of different revisions in the US market than for the European market?

 

There is always a chance.

 

You just have to be smart enough not to get one of those unreliable damn German donkeys.

 

Toyota is a very, very rsk-averse corporate culture, steeped in the Japanese cultural traditions of shame for failure. I remember reading many years ago that Toyota engineers are always fatally hobbled in engineering edgy performance cars, because of the informal but enforced company policy that every engine has to be designed to perform reliabiy for 250,000 miles. Which, in this case, means "don't you dare reduce the engine mass and dial up the boost." You choose a Toyota, you know that's the set of engineering priorities you chose -- for better and for worse.

 

Actually, the Germans took a lot of our donkeys away from us and they used them to transport light weapons and food to their soldiers when we Greeks blew up and burned their Mercedes Benz transport trucks. Our donkeys exemplified bravery during wartime. It was wild times in Greece back then.

 

Don't know if anyone's mentioned it, but looks like if you zoom in on the promo pics, there's no Hybrid badging on the sides anymore. So i guess that rumor is confirmed.

Guess my debadge was a self fulfilling prophecy. I do miss the hybrid badges though. kind of regret pulling them.

Is the front L badge black now? i'm guessing it is.

 

In this age of eco-friendly-ness I'm surprised Toyota and Lexus are dumping the bodyside Hybrid emblems in 2022. I guess they are trying to save costs?? I don't know what they are thinking.

 

I think Toyota/Lexus is working to normalize hybrids and not advertise it with special emblems. For example you won't see a normal ICE car with a badge saying "Engine." lol

also it helps transition to EVs. Toyota's actions like this usually have extremely deliberate purpose and are typically a part of long-term planning and strategy. It's not done ***** nilly.

And yes the icing on the cake is it saves costs. they''l surely love that

 

Some folks are actually badge lovers. My coworker drives an RDX - he glued a TypeS badge on it. I don't even think the RDX comes in TypeS🤤

 

I like certain badges. I actually like the hybrid badging a lot. it's just a pain to clean in between the letters and it drives me nuts the more crevices there are

 

Good catch, but that doesn't mean that they might not offer some designation/badge on the rear, for example. Often these photos of pending redesigns are heavily photoshopped and might not include the final production look. While I agree with another poster who talked about "normalizing" hybrids, I think it still is a selling point to many consumers. As a last resort, of course, you an always buy a badge from a previous model year and stick it on. I did just that with my new 2022 ES UL when I added a NOS "Lexus" badge on the left trunk side where one was for years on other ES's...I just like the look

 

I'm referring to the Hybrid badges on the sides, specific to the ES Hybrid. The rear badge "ES300h" is likely to stay as will the "ES350" badge or any other car's rear model badging. There were prior postings/articles a few month ago that Lexus was planning to get rid of its Hybrid badging across its lineup and these new photos are in line with that.

 

Certainly doesn't look very premium. If that's going to be the 8th gen ES they have their work cut out for them! Nothing that wants to call itself a luxury car should have cheap plastic cladding at the wheel arches.

 

Yah I'm worried. This new Avalon replacement, even Toyota goes "Car or SUV?" in its press release. Is this what customers want? Tall big fat cars that look like SUVs? I hope the luxury market doesn't follow. I like the sleek looks of the 7ES. It's high-riding but also looks like it hugs the road down low especially from behind. not a fan of the jacked look.

Apparently from early hands-on reviews it is IMPRESSIVELY quiet. Toyota is bragging about new noise suppression technology, fully laminated glass, etc.

 

Please use the Toyota Crown thread we've got running in Car Chat to discuss that vehicle, thanks. Crown related posts moved there.
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