2001 Lexus Is300 Base Sedan 4-door 3.0l on 2040-cars

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New Lexus ES will debut at Shanghai Motor Show

Lexus will debut a new version of its ES sedan at the Shanghai Motor Show later this month. Don't expect it to be a total redesign, however – with the sixth-generation ES having just gone on sale in late 2012, we only anticipate a mid-cycle refresh. That's the impression we get from the teaser image above, too. The most prominent change is the reshaping of the headlamps with an LED swoosh, the overall shape of the fascia is very similar to that of the current car. The grille looks to be a bit more angular and pronounced, perhaps indicating the inclusion of an F Sport trim – something the ES currently does not have. The ES holds a unique position in the Lexus lineup. It's the only of the automaker's sedans not to be based on rear-wheel-drive architecture – the ES uses a version of the fullsize Toyota Avalon platform. That said, the ES is hugely important, with some 1.7 million examples being sold globally over the past 25 years. We'll know more when the ES officially bows in the not-too-distant future. Related Video: THE NEW LEXUS ES TO MAKE ITS GLOBAL DEBUT AT AUTO SHANGHAI 2015 BEIJING – April 10, 2015 - The new Lexus ES luxury sedan will make its global debut at Auto Shanghai 2015 on April 20, 2015. The Lexus ES established a unique and important position in the luxury sedan segment with its elegant styling, extraordinary quality, and Lexus' best-in-class service when it was introduced in 1989. More than 1.7 million units have been sold globally over the past 25 years. The new Lexus ES maintains its classical elegance while conveying a more dynamic experience and luxurious craftsmanship. The ES will be on display April 22-29, 2015 at the Lexus booth in Hall 7.1 at the National Exhibition and Convention Center at Auto Shanghai 2015.

Lexus gives Jay Leno a shot at driving its 2014 IS

After we drove a prototype of the 2014 Lexus IS, we were told that Lexus was shipping it back to Japan. As it turns out, late-night funnyman Jay Leno was already in the motherland with the coming sport sedan, and he lapped it around Fuji Motor Speedway with Chief Engineer Junichi Furuyama.
This was probably during his LFA drive two months ago, actually, when Furuyama-san was even more tight-lipped about the IS than he was a week ago, so Leno has to make the best guesses he can. Leno goes over the whole car, then takes it out for a casual spin, so at least you get to see it in action. As for Jay's take, you'll just have to watch the video below to find out.

New Lexus small CUV may have been behind moving ES production to Kentucky

Lexus may have had another big reason - in addition to the financial incentives potentially worth up to $146.5 million that Kentucky offered - to move ES production to its Georgetown, KY plant. The ES has always been built in Japan, and a report at TheDetroitBureau.com claims that the Kyushu facility will be tooling up to build a new model thought to be a compact hybrid crossover expected to go on sale next year. While ES300h production would remain in Japan, shedding 50,000 units of traditional ES production would free capacity for what many think will be an important model in the Lexus lineup.
The new CUV will come in below the RX and be built on the platform of the RAV4. Speculation is that there will be an NX200t and an NX300h, the former possibly getting the 2.0-liter turbo Toyota engine due in 2014 - matching the predicted timeline for the CUV and supposedly also meant for an RX200t - and latter getting the same 2.5-liter hybrid powertrain in the ES300h. We'll see a preview of the Audi Q3 and BMW X1 fighter at this year's Tokyo Motor Show; the production version should be unveiled at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show.