my supervisor just saw what must have been a new GS prototype in the Cerritos, CA area today... i only spoke with him briefly about it, but this is what he noticed:

-definitely a lexus, had manufacturer plates, and was seemingly doing a road test.
-car was white but had black coverings that hid much of the car.
-body lines were distinctly GS.
-it had new headlights which reflect the SC430's style.
-the 4 tail lights were replaced with some that looked very similar to the new IS300s with clear covers.
-interior was not complete. it had several visible laptop computers hooked into it, apparently for testing.

hopefully tomorrow i'll get some more information from him. anyone else in Cali happen to see this???

-Corey

 

Hmmm...

Sounds like a job for a photographer with LONG lenses.

Percy

 

It was my car and I was trying to hide it from the public.

Nah.... Just kidding.

I will go to Lexus of Cerritos and check it out directly from the fleet manager. If I see what I like, I may put a deposit on it.

 

Please get more info. He didn't have a camera?

 

I could steel it in like 3 1/2 hours and bring it to the meet I just have to watch gone in 60 seconds a few times to get me motivated we tried that on my friends maxima it was more like still going in an 1 and 45 minutes

 

Why break in? I'll just bring my buddy's flatbed and I'll winch the thing up and tow it away...like the professional car thieves! Gone in less than 60 seconds if I can back the flatbed right up to it.

 

LOL

 

Guys,

Here's what a Lexus Marketing rep has to say about Corey's post;

"Well...It would strike me as very odd that we would be doing any product
development on GS in and around the Cerritos area, especially this far our from
launch. I have not seen any GS prototype photos, as final styling is still
pretty far out from finalization. The major effort on this generation is the
engine program.

I guess anything is possible..."

Well, maybe it's a new Bimmer copying the Lexus styling! LOL

 

From the same marketing rep;

"The car your friend saw was almost certainly an ES...There are a few of them
running around these days, and if on a public road, they would be disguised.

We've got a few here, and though not a car for the enthusiast crowd, it's pretty
damn nice. One of the best handling mid-size front dirvers I've been in."

 

maybe they'll turn the es into something more than a camry with different badging. not that i'd ever choose one over the GS I'm drooling over. I can't wait until it's buy time. Is it a sad thing that I've already picked out wheels, and several mods when my purchase is a good 6 months away?

 

SARK,

i do the same thing, get all the goodies even before i got the car

 

Guys, this is what my supervisor had to say about the car he saw...


"Unless the new ES has the exact same lines from the front to back wheels as the current GS, I doubt that it was an ES. The car was definitely bigger than I would figure a new ES to be. The short front over hangs, the roofline, the large rear section- all very GS. I suppose it is possible that they had new ES fascias on a GS for testing - manufacturers do that all the time, although you'd think they'd be using an old ES or a Camry, wouldn't you? I could only get a small glimpse of the tailights - the majority of them were covered, but you could tell that the quad setup was thrown out for a clear-lensed look, although more RX than IS. The front lights looked very SC430. The huge amount of test equipment in the front passenger seat makes me think they very well could have been testing the engine, and since the overall shape and size was so similar to the current model, it would make sense to me that this was a mid-model freshen up of the front and rear fascias rather than a completely new car. Above all, I wish I had my camera. Who thinks your going to see something this interesting stuck in traffic on the 91? By the way, this was NOT a BMW. The driver was wearing a Lexus hat for God's sake. Sorry guys, wish I had a pic."

 

The description of the car does sound like the new ES (Chaser in Japan). I saw a spy-photo of it in this Japanese magazine called "Magazine X", it was on the cover. Here are some other pictures I found on the web... check it out.

 

Hmmm......... I'm almost 80000% sure it's WINDOM........ Would be cool if it's Chaser though...


Or maybe they'll stop using the Windom, and either use the Mark II or the new Chaser as the new ES. (The new Chaser actually doesn't look as nice as the new Mark II..)

 

My bets are on it being the MarkII for the ES replacement. The word is a car in the middle of ES and GS... this would be my guess since it is also NEW in Japan too.

http://www.toyota.co.jp/Showroom/All...kII/index.html

Kichigai