The powertrain will be more familiar in concept to British customers – and, arguably, it has ever-increasing appeal in the current anti-diesel climate. It’s a hybrid, naturally, with a 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine up front, and a set of nickel-metal hydride batteries mounted below the rear seats. The total system power is 215bhp, which puts the ES300h roughly on a par with the likes of the Mercedes E 220d and the BMW 525d.
Lexus is still doing the numbers on how efficient the set-up will be in the forthcoming WLTP tests – but the back-of-a-fag-packet conversions to current NEDC rules suggest 60.1mpg and 106g/km of CO2 emissions. Those are very decent figures for a car of this size, and while a BMW 520d Efficient Dynamics diesel will trump them (just), the ES 300h should be competitive on company car Benefit in Kind (BIK) tax.
Lexus is also still thrashing out the final specifications, but we already know that the ES will be sold in five trim levels in the UK. Entry-level cars get an eight-inch navigation screen but lack even the possibility to add some of the car’s option packs. Mid-grade will open up access to the Tech and Safety Packs, as well as switching to leather upholstery.
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