Hifiman1

I am on the hunt to buy an es350, I would like it to be made in Japan.

It seems you can't get a v6 made in Japan car, unless you want it in matador red mica or silver lining and nulux trim level.

I found 1 es350 luxury on the west coast with leather and Mark Levinson. Lexus vin decoder doesn't state the ml system.

Does anyone have a ultra luxury with a Japanese jth vin?

Mike728

You're still at this?

energy88

Aren't they all made in Kentucky?

lesz

Most, but not all, ES sold in the US are built at the Kentucky plant. At times when the production lines at the Kentucky factory are not set up to build certain configurations of the ES, a small number of cars with those configurations that are not being built currently in the US will be imported from Japan. In previous years, for example, there were periods of time during the year when when the Kentucky factory was not set up to build the ES with the UL package, and dealers were getting a small number of the ES with the UL package from Japan.

aygriffith

I have a J Vin ESh... I've found imperfections on a few things that I was a bit surprised by. Most are probably related to transport of the vehicle from Japan, including transport, sitting in port, and then transport to the dealer. Anecdotally, you probably have less chance of issues from transport on something coming out of Georgetown KY than Japan.

lesz

All of the ESh are built in Japan.

I had a 2013 ES that was built in Japan, and I now have a 2017 ES that was built in the US. The fits and finishes on the 2013 Japan-built ES were okay, but they were far from perfect. Panel alignment, both interior and exterior, was, in some spots, not as good as it should have been. The 2017 US-built ES is easily much better in terms of fits and finishes, both interior and exterior. That is something that I was not expecting to be the case, but I was pleasantly surprised, and it forced me to re-think my long held bias for Japanese-built cars.

Tootsall

My 2014 ES350 (Canada) was built in Japan. Lux package. I don't believe the Kentucky plant was set up at that time so all ES prior to October 2015 came from Japan...(or am i wrong?} (https://lexusenthusiast.com/2016/04/...t-in-kentucky/)

lesz

That is correct. The first time that there was production of the ES350 in the US was for the 2016 model year.

bc6152

I can say unequivocally that my 2019 is every bit as well built in Kentucky as my Japanese built ES was. The fit and finish on the Atomic Silver Ultra Lux is superb. I believe that American workers are equal to any others in the world when trained and managed by a first class company such as Toyota/Lexus...

Hifiman1

It seems you can't get a luxury model v6 with Mark Levinson or led headlights shipped from Japan. I'd rather not custom order a car and take advantage of the cars sitting on the lot.

JDR76

That is no longer the case, as I understand. Production of the ES300h began in Kentucky in May 2019.

https://lexusenthusiast.com/2019/03/...s-in-kentucky/

lesz

I evidently missed that piece of news. Thanks for passing it along.