People say Lexus is a young brand without tradition and experience in making luxury vehicles. We'd like to think differently. 26 years ago, Toyota introduced its spinoff brand to the US market, and now they've started making the ES sedan locally at the factory in Georgetown Kentucky, the largest and oldest facility they have in North America.
The first-ever US-made Lexus vehicle is a 2016 ES 350 in silver that was unveiled before several thousand proud team members in Georgetown. The factory is the largest Toyota has on the continent, and it's been preparing for the arrival of the ES for two and a half years. In all, $360 million were invested in a new dedicated assembly line, adding 750 new jobs.
Total capacity for the new line will be 50,000 vehicles. Last year, Lexus sales of 311,389 were up 13.7 percent, exceeding the 300k mark for the first time since 2007. The ES is one of their most popular models, together with the RX (which sold over 100k).
The ES was launched in 1989 as a series of compact vehicles. Across six generations, the sedan has grown in size while continuing to be available with a V6 engine in a front engined, FWD configuration.
The first five generations of the ES were built on the Toyota Camry platform. Despite the fact that the 2016 models of these cars still share components, they are less mechanically related. In fact, the ES is a close cousin of the Toyota Avalon full-size sedan and shares its 111-inch wheelbase.
It's been the best-selling Lexus sedan over the past 15 years. However, the 2016 model year received several updates, including a new front grille and the Remote Touch interface.
“Localizing Lexus production is in line with our North American production strategy, and is rooted in our philosophy of building cars where we sell them,” said Toyota North America CEO Jim Lentz. “The Kentucky plant is known for being one of the top vehicle manufacturing facilities in the world. With our talented team in Georgetown building our popular ES 350, we’re positioned to better serve our U.S. customers now and well into the future.”
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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