Preview: New 2026 Lexus ES is Better Than Expected

I always find it a little funny when a corporation celebrates an anniversary that isn’t a multiple of 10 or 25. But Lexus celebrated its 35th year doing business in Canada with a bit more than cake and pomp: we also got a first in-person look at the new and now electrified-only 2026 Lexus ES.

Sedans may not be what butters Lexus’ bread anymore (that’s the NX and RX’s jobs), but the ES remains a symbolically important car. It was the brand’s second-ever model after the LS when it first came on the scene 35 years ago, and because that flagship is likely donezo, it would become the oldest Lexus nameplate still on sale.

Entering its eighth generation, the new ES may look like a radical, future-facing departure from any ES before it. But getting up close to it, the Lexus midsize sedan actually feels decidedly normal. And, more importantly, really quite pleasant.

More Electric, More Car

But first, some baseline specs. When it goes on sale in 2026, the new ES will be available in three powertrain flavours. There’s a hybrid ES 350h using a 2.5-litre four-cylinder and standard all-wheel drive, but Lexus is likely most excited about the electrics: a single-motor, front-wheel-drive ES 350e is pegged to get up to 480 km of range, while the dual-motor, all-wheel-drive ES 500e makes 338 horsepower but with a smaller range figure. Concrete 500e range and 350e power stats have yet to be announced.

This car continues to be built on the TNGA-K platform, regardless of powertrain, but it has physically gotten bigger. The new midsize sedan is 165 mm longer and 55 mm wider overall than the 2025 ES while being 110 mm taller as a hybrid and 115 mm taller as an EV. The wheelbase (the distance between the front and rear wheels) is 80 mm longer than before. To give you a clearer idea of the size delta, this new ES is now closer to the full-size LS than it is to its direct predecessor in terms of overall length, while only being 20 mm narrower than the LS in overall width.

Cushy luxury sedans aren’t really known for being light, nor should they be, but for what it’s worth, the new ES is a good amount heavier than the old one. Hybrid vs hybrid, it’s now 255 kg heftier than before, while the electric versions add a couple of additional hundred kilograms per electric axle.

Exterior Redesign

Standing beside it, the 2026 Lexus ES is a fairly handsome vehicle. There’s a hockey stick-shaped feature down the side that’s definitely there to break up the large mass of sheet metal and make the car feel less bulky. Blacked-out side skirts and lower bumper lips front and rear surely exist to do something similar.

Up front, I’m a fan of the Z-shaped headlights, but the masked no-grille look can be off-putting without a front plate. Around back, the ES adopts a four-door “coupe”-esque roofline and the “LEXUS” script is incorporated into the taillight bar. Despite its sloped appearance, the trunklid opens like a regular sedan’s and not a liftback’s — the rear window is static. By the way, the hood stayed closed during this preview, but a Lexus rep confirmed that electric versions of the ES won’t have a frunk.

Exterior door handles balance aerodynamics with usability by being a recessed hole you stick your hand in, a lot like those on the BMW iX. EV-style wheels on this 500e look quite nifty and incorporate matte black, gloss black, and silver sections, stylistically cementing this car as a very far cry from the days of Lexus offering gold badges and calling it class.

Speaking of badging, one detail that caught my eye were the “2.5-D” exterior logos that are physically and texturally flatter than the ones Lexus owners are used to. It’s a tiny detail that I’m sure will become common in the lineup soon enough, but for now, it somehow makes the car feel more like a concept off an auto show stand rather than your neighbour’s daily commuter.

The Interior Gets Interesting

Inside is arguably where things get more interesting. When I first saw pictures of the new ES interior, I thought Lexus had quietly lost the plot. Designers seemingly took away all the physical buttons and knobs, the huge 14-inch touchscreen is very much the focal point, the gear selector is a nub, the steering wheel looks like it came off a bumper car, and the whole thing just felt spartan and not necessarily in a good way.

Thankfully, this is one of those cabins that feels a lot better in person than it presents in manicured press pictures because it’s not that the ES lost all that many buttons. It just learned to hide them better. See that bar below the touchscreen with temperature controls and seat presets? Those may look like capacitive touchpoints (à la the Nissan Ariya or any new Mercedes), but they’re actual buttons that click in — that matte black material feels like rubber, not hard plastic.

The buttons on the steering wheel click similarly, there’s a physical volume scroll wheel in the middle of the dash, and the wiper and turn signal stalks behind the steering wheel have been stylized but work in a remarkably normal fashion. That minimalist gear shift nub, meanwhile, is frankly easier to use than the shifter in a lot of Lexus’ existing catalogue, which requires a slightly awkward L-shaped movement to shift into drive or reverse. You pull this one back for drive, push forward for reverse, and press a button for park. Simple. Think Porsche’s electric shaver-style lever, but less weighty.

This tiny shifter has freed up enough space for two cupholders and two wireless phone chargers up front. The 12.3-inch instrument display is deliberately shaped so none of the screen is blocked by the steering wheel, and it’s surrounded by a suede material that looks and feels expensive.

There’s a newly available Executive VIP Package specifically for the 350e Luxury model that bundles reclining rear seats with an ottoman for the passenger side, massaging for the two rear outboard seats, and rear seat heating and ventilation. A more thorough evaluation of the VIP pack will have to wait until later but even without this, the back seats in this ES 500e felt sufficiently large. The sunroof isn’t panoramic but bigger than the normal one you’re probably imagining, taking up almost half of the ES’s ceiling.

All of the door cards have a lit-up insert made of 3D-printed bamboo and a similar lighting motif appears in the air vents front and rear. These are arguably the most notable interior design flourish as the new ES is ultimately quite a minimalist space.

But in person, it doesn’t read as spartan; it’s actually very nice and pretty stylish.

Final Thoughts

Upon first glance, the 2026 Lexus ES might look like the automaker finally caving in to the no-buttons-all-screen trend. But once you get to grips with it, it’s actually quietly defiant against every modern car that’s taken away physical controls in the alleged name of aesthetic minimalism because it somehow manages to deliver both. Turns out, you canhave an interior that actually, functionally works and still look like it could’ve been penned by Tesla.

The jury is still out (or, rather, still waiting to get in the driver’s seat) when it comes to how the new ES is like out on the road, but if its underlying engineering is as strong as it is as a piece of UX, then I have high hopes.