Lexus ES

FIRSTDRIVE We try the latest front-drivehybrid executive saloon coming to the UK

- John McIlroy

THE new Lexus ES marks a radical departure for the Japanese brand in Europe and the UK. It replaces the GS, which tried hard (but ultimately failed) to take on the Germans at their own game: a rear-drive executive saloon.

So the GS is being dropped and the ES is becoming a global car. It’s not a new badge elsewhere – this is the seventh-generation ES – and it’s Lexus’s best-selling saloon worldwide, second after the RX SUV in its overall sales chart.

It’s a different car to the GS, too – not least because it is based on the latest Toyota Camry and is front-wheel drive. It’s closer in principle to the Audi A6, then, than it is to a BMW 5 Series or Mercedes E-Class.

The power train choice will be more familiar to British customers – and has ever-increasing appeal in the current anti-diesel climate. It’s a 2.5-litre petrol hybrid producing 215bhp, which puts the ES roughly on par with the Mercedes E 220 d and BMW 525d.