Car enthusiasts adore the original Lexus LS for its incredible stoutness and Japanese take on German luxury. That’s not what everyone bought, though. The Lexus ES was less a meditation on Tuetonic elegance and more a radical reinterpretation of what elegance could be: affordable, reliable, and comfortable. It worked. The ES, more than any other car, is what propelled the brand to the forefront of premium cars globally.
That’s why it’s so important that there’s a new one and, for the first time since its debut in 1989, it has completely rethought what a luxury car from Lexus could be. This is the 2026 Lexus ES, which recently debuted at Shanghai’s Auto Show and is now a multi-platform vehicle available only as a hybrid (Lexus ES350h), FWD EV (Lexus ES350e), or premium AWD (Lexus ES500e).
It even looks like a big leap from the current model, although we’re measuring that distance in Lexus sedan design, which has always been centimeters and not yards. The fact that this thing has to support an underfloor battery pack means that it has to be rethought in a taller form.
Some people will love it and others will hate it. I’m not a huge fan of the current Lexus ES so I like this taller form. People complained that the new Lexus RX got too radical, which stopped almost no one from going out and buying one.
Obviously, from this perspective, you can see the same TNGA GA-K platform that also underpins the 2025 Toyota Camry, which is hybrid-only but currently doesn’t offer an all-electric version. Here’s how our own Alanis King described the vehicle:
The XLE I drove was front-wheel drive, had 225 horsepower, and started at $33,400. It also gets a manufacturer-estimated 48 mpg in the city, 47 on the highway, and 47 combined. All-wheel-drive models send power to the rear wheels through a dedicated rear electric motor, which gives the car additional traction when you need it: bad weather, acceleration, and other traction-hungry situations.
I drove the Camry in the mountains and enjoyed it. The steering was responsive and well-weighted, not too light or too heavy. The pedals had tension and didn’t feel squishy. There wasn’t a ton of weight transfer in the turns, and you could take turns quickly. It was fun — not numb or boring — and that’s cool for a Camry.
That should compare somewhat to the entry-level Lexus ES350h, although expect some specific tuning of the ES to make it feel a little nicer. The ES now gets a multi-link rear suspension, a first for the ES, to go with a MacPherson setup out front.
As with previous Camry/ES pairs, the interior of the ES is going to be a nicer place to hang out. Lexus calls this interior concept tazuna and describes it as “a driver-focused” layout, including “a low-profile meter hood housing a uniquely shaped 12.3-inch multi-information display, enabling smooth eye movement and creating an open, airy feel. A special coating enhances surface quality, while the combination of suede materials and ambient lighting deepens the expression of the tazuna concept.”
Compare that to the Camry:
Differentiated enough, I think, to keep it a real Lexus ES. The “driver focused” part is a little more questionable given that there’s an obvious lack of physical buttons. Other automakers are starting to learn that buttons are more than a nice-to-have, although the Tesla Model Y became the best-selling car in the world with not many of them. Lexus did state that the car has “responsive hidden switches,” so maybe those are real? It sounds a bit like touch-capacitive buttons to me.
What you’re seeing here is the rear of the EV version of the car, and that’s the big news. This is the first-ever fully BEV Lexus ES.
A large-capacity battery is positioned beneath the floor to lower the center of gravity and enhance driving stability. Furthermore, the ES 500e is equipped with DIRECT4 AWD, an intelligent all-wheel drive system that continuously adjusts torque distribution to all four wheels based on road conditions and driving inputs. The system uses a drive force ratio between the front and rear wheels, ranging from 100:0 to 0:100. This enhances acceleration from a standstill, provides greater handling stability and contributes to great energy efficiency.
Does this mean we can get an all-electric Toyota Camry? Every automaker can sense the blood in the water as Tesla continues to take a beating in the marketplace.
How far will one go? The only estimate we get from Lexus is that the ES350e will get a “manufacturer-estimated range” of 300 miles when equipped with 19-inch wheels. Toyota’s global media site has a lot more information, including range and acceleration times.
At least globally, the base front-wheel drive 300h will get a 2.0-liter naturally aspirated inline-four good for about 200 horsepower and a 0-62 mph time of 9.24 seconds. Step up to the AWD or FWD 350h and there’s the familiar 2.5-liter inline-four, good for somewhere around 250 horsepower in AWD mode and a 62 mph sprint that should happen sub-8 seconds. Not blistering times, but if the ES can return better than 45 mpg mileage, do you really care?
And what about the EVs? The FWD ES350e offers a slow-for-an-ev 8.9 seconds time, but a range marked as 685 km on the Chinese CLTC standard. The AWD model is way quicker, offering a sub-6 0-62 mph time, though a shortened range to 610 km, which might translate to somewhere between 250-275 miles on the EPA test. Unfortunately, comparing CLTC to EPA is not an exact science, so anywhere from a 20-30% haircut is possible.
With available 150 kW charging, Toyota says you can expect a 10-80% charge in about 30 minutes under optimal temperature. These aren’t mind-blowing numbers, but the ES isn’t about blowing minds, it’s about calming them.
A giant vent on the side of the car used to mean something now they stick one on the Lexus Camry.
Not a fan of the design, may even go as far as saying that the Camry design is better than this here. Also, can these darn manufacturers quit using touch screens for the climate control? The last thing you want to be doing on a hot and humid Austin day is messing around with a screen to to get the A/C blowing.
I’ve been looking at getting one of these as my daily but I think I may just go with the current gen or a CPO. I’ve also been looking at the Crown Signia and I wonder if Lexus will have a wagon version of this considering Toyota has the Signia. I just wish the Signia was a bit lower to the ground and had color matched cladding on the outside.
Not sure which is worse, the interior and exterior styling or making an ev FWD.
Bad times.
This looks more related to the USDM Toyota Crown than the current Camry, but I suppose that could change next generation.
That rear 3/4 view is kinda nice, and I like the interior. But the front is a spectacular kind of ugly. I know Lexus likes to be edgy… but this is a bit much.
When Lexus first introduced the spindle grill, most comments echoed what you are saying here, although they weren’t quite so polite.
Thus began the current era of Lexus global dominance.
Weirdly… I’ve always liked the spindle grill. This seems like the spindle grill, only it’s the “Neo in the office with Smith at the beginning of the Matrix” version.
Lol
Spectacularly ugly. This is the definition of overstyling. The black plastic “trim” on the door is criminal.
And that weird twisting fold (I don’t know how else to call it) on the hood line looks like the car has been pre-crashed. Horrific.
< 300 estimated miles from Toyota before the EPA’s test make it a little low for a next-gen luxury BEV sedan. If the ES does translate to a hopefully less massive Camry EV, Toyota will hopefully give it a more competitive max range where competitors’ EV sedans are approaching 350 miles which is roughly at parity with compact non-hybrid ICE sedans.
Damn that is ugly!
I really do dig the Lexus copper color.
I doubt the old people who buy the ES will like this design, but maybe that’s a good thing. The current ES and IS are extremely close in price, and this might pull people up from an IS.
I question why they went with the battery under the floor, though, considering this is a large sedan with plenty of space to split the batteries between front and rear. I guess it’s because it’s a shared system between multiple vehicles and that’s the tradeoff over having bettter space and better heat control.
Looks like a Hyundai, but that’s alright. I like weird. The AWD system sounds cool, but I think the FWD hybrid feels the most ES.
Sure seems like a precursor to that EV Camry! I really like that there is no big fuss over the powertrain, and that you can spec it with the powertrain that best suits your needs and wants. This is the way to do it in my opinion – leverage efficiencies of scale for the entire line of cars and specialize the powertrain as desired. Love it!
I love it and I love the idea of the ES in general. It’s basically a car that’s completely unburdened by current luxury expectations. It exists to be a comfortable, well appointed sedan with an extra dash of style to commute in….and I respect that a ton because no one else is really doing it anymore.
Basically all the competitors are either a crossover, trying to be sporty, or both. As someone who’s spent the last 5 years urban commuting in sporty cars let me be the first to tell you-sometimes it’s not what you want. Sometimes you’re exhausted after a long day, stuck in traffic, and you just want to be comfy and shut your brain off.
A hybrid ES is the perfect tool for that job…and like I’ve said re: Lexus a few times, it’s a true luxury product in the old school sense. It’s not supposed to be trendy or gaudy or attention grabbing…it’s supposed to be something that you can keep forever that will be as nice the 5,000th time you get in it as it was the first time. There’s value in that!
If you want trendy go lease something German…but there’s a reason why it’ll be worth pennies on the dollar in the hands of its third owner in a few years while the Lexus is just getting started.
I agree with your take on the ES’s purpose in the lineup, but I think saying Lexus isn’t trying to be “trendy or gaudy or attention grabbing” is just untrue.
Lexus designs of the past decade have desperately tried to be all 3 of those, with varying degrees of success.
The ES was the only one left that had a modicum of subtlety, likely due to its target demographic. This one is a mix of the overstyled Lexus designs of the past decade + some Chinese design that really doesn’t work.
Yeah, but all of that is not what this car is (at least from what we know).
It’s loaded up on gaudy design trends, interior controls consist of a touchscreen and touch buttons, and even the door handles are weird. There’s nothing old school luxury about it. Even the interior looks like it could’ve come out of a Hyundai, although I’m sure the materials are top quality. The sole “old school” touch in this car is a physical latch for the glovebox.
The only ones doing real old school luxury now are Lincoln (who you can’t buy a car from) and Genesis.
Older ES cars were great.
Time will tell on this generation.
This is bold, and commendable, for Lexus to keep investing in sedans. I like the new look. The previous one could be mistaken for an old Sonata from some angles but this is distinctively Lexus. The relatively thin pillars and the large amount of glass for this day and age is a nice departure.
I like how the interior has an almost Volvo-like minimalist look, which may be a bad thing depending on the interface. That double-wide center screen just seems off, however.
Kind of getting a more angular model Y here. I don’t hate it.
Hopefully Lexus can improve on their interior touch points. One thing that drives me crazy with the current generation is how much cheaper they feel compared to their 2010’s offerings.
Exterior looks fine, maybe a little too overstyled. One example: While I appreciate the black front vent work to help visually narrow the car, it’s strange they couldn’t extend it further inwards to cover the blackish fog light or sensor hosing – resulting in whatever that is to stick out.
I think it looks nice! The design affront here is not in the proportions or details, but in the fact that this looks like another car with a trunk that really, reallllyyy oughta be a liftback instead.
I get a whole lotta “meh” from this, but that’s kind of the point, isn’t it? The Camry’s whole value proposition is that you can totally ignore it – it will never inspire a strong emotion in you, positive or negative – and the ES is basically that with a dollop of leather and the additional smug self-satisfaction from having an L on the hood.
Meh would be an improvement. It’s ugly.
Right, because everyone knows that all the smug posers out there are just obsessed with being seen driving a Lexus
I mean, I drive a BMW, I get the critique, but there ain’t too many reasons to go for the ES over the Camry that don’t involve the logo.
Not too many reasons for you to buy one over a Camry. There are other people out there who are quite happy with the higher quality interior materials, features like seat adjustment memory that aren’t available on any Camry, thicker insulation and glass to make the interior quieter, and a significantly improved dealership/service center experience.
If I decided to trade in my current Camry for a Lexus ES, the badge on the hood would be the very last reason for me to do so. A Lexus ES might just be a fancy Camry to you, but some people actually want that, badge or no badge.
Not a huge fan of the matrix lack of a mouth, but the more I look at the design the more I like the rest of it.
I test drove a current gen ES350 before buying my Accord and I really liked it… had I been able to get something a bit newer/lower mileage in my budget I probably would have ended up with one. Its a comfy cruiser.
I’m not sure the target market will love these. And I’d much rather have the NA V6 in the current model.
no more good looking cars. depressing.
Exactly. This thing is hideous!
I dig the looks. The ES has always been the humdrum Lexus, but this is nice. Way better than the spindle.
This is a slight lie though
“The system uses a drive force ratio between the front and rear wheels, ranging from 100:0 to 0:100.”
Since it has front and rear motors and no drive shaft it would be impossible to give the front or rear axle 100% of the total system output, though it can still give 100% of that axles potential torque output. Thats little more than saying that the motor can go from fully on to full off though. Wow. if the motors are equally powerful the correct way to say this is that half of the drive torque can be applied at either axle at any given time.
I like the styling on this one, and I don’t remember the last time I thought that about a Lexus.
I’ve just spent 5 minutes trying to decipher the origami mishap on the bonnet.
It’s really odd and somehow defies photography. I guess that’ll be something to look at and think about when there’s five on every street in suburban LA.