Restyled 2013 Lexus ES Sedan Spotted Undisguised in China

With its official debut at the New York and Beijing auto shows still more than a month away, the next Lexus ES has already been outed to the public. Pictures of an undisguised, apparently production-ready ES surfaced on a Chinese web site yesterday afternoon. Lexus stylists have done a nice job applying the company's suddenly ubiquitous design language—headlined by the hourglass-shaped "spindle" grille—to the Toyota Camry bones that underpin the ES. Despite detractors slighting the mid-size Lexus as "just an expensive Camry," that truth hasn't seemed to affect shoppers. Sales of the ES almost always have been strong, and the marked differentiation provided by the ES's new look should keep them rolling out of showrooms in decent numbers. The car seen in China wears a plate that reveals it to be an ES250; we don't expect to see that model here, however. Our mainstay likely will remain the ES350 with the same 3.5 liter V-6 making 268 hp and 248 lb-ft of torque found in the current car and the new Camry. We suspect Toyota also will offer the new ES with a hybrid powertrain, and a trademark application the company made last year suggests it could be called the ES300h. If this gas/electric version does blink into existence, the hybrid system will be borrowed lock, stock, and battery from the Camry hybrid. Full info on the latest Lexus ES should be available within the next few weeks. from Car and Driver Blog http://blog.caranddriver.com

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