2016 Lexus ES Teased Before Auto Shanghai 2015

Last week our first teasers for the upcoming Auto Shanghai 2015 started rolling in. Our first teaser was for the new Nissan Lannia – a car developed exclusively for the Chinese market. Today’s teaser has a bit more international appeal… It’s a teaser for the new 2016 Lexus ES, which is scheduled to get a mid-generational facelift for the 2016 model year. Check out the teaser below:

Just to give you a little background, the current Lexus ES is a full-size luxury sedan that’s about three years into its sixth generation of production. It’s one of Lexus’ most important cars in their lineup, and we’re sure it’s one of their hot sellers in the Chinese market. After all, the mid- and full-size sedan segments seem to be where it’s at for the Chinese business class… The Lexus ES is the perfect fit for that trend.

Lexus didn’t give us much to go on along with the teaser. In fact, they gave us literally three sentences’ worth of information, all of which you can find below:

“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.”

Looking more closely at the teaser image, we can see a number of distinguishing design features for the 2016 Lexus ES facelift. First and foremost, we can see that the headlights have been restyled, most notably with that extra-prominent swoosh LED sitting below the fixtures.

We can also see that the pinched grille gets a thicker-looking chrome outline, and that it probably takes up a bigger chunk of the front clip as a whole. In fact, if you look closely, it seems that the horizontal bars that sit behind the Lexus logo on the grille will now extend all the way down the fender instead of stopping halfway down as they do in the 2015MY (which you can see above). That should serve to open up the design and present a much more aggressive, but fluid face for Lexus’ premiere midsize sedan.

Japanese Car Auction Find – 2014 Lexus RX

Unfortunately, there are no Lexus ES sedans up for auction in Japan at the time of this writing. However, this gives us an excellent opportunity to find a model that Lexus recently showcased in New York – the Lexus RX.

This is a 2014 Lexus RX, and as you can see it’s in excellent condition. Like the 2016 model year shown in New York, it has a crisp and clean design, however the 2014MY looks a little less edgy and angular than its facelifted successor. That’s a good thing for some drivers!

Of course, the real appeal for any luxury crossover is almost always going to be the interior, and the same holds true here. Leather seats… Plenty of space… A bright and vivid navigation display… What’s not to like?

For more information, get a full translation of the auction sheet below:

“Interior A, first registered August 2014, RX350 Version L model, AT, AAC, sunroof, original AWs, power steering, power windows, leather, original TV, original navigation system, airbag, wheels scratched, light scratches at left rear side and left front side, marks as per map”