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Wikipedia: Lexus ES
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The following section is an excerpt from Wikipedia's Lexus ES page on 25 March 2020, text available via the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
The Lexus ES is a series of compact executive, then mid-size luxury cars sold by Lexus, the luxury division of Toyota since 1989. Seven generations of the sedan have been introduced to date, each offering V6 engines and the front-engine, front-wheel-drive layout. The first five generations of the ES were built on the Toyota Camry platform, with the sixth and seventh generations more closely related to the Avalon. Manual transmissions were offered until 1993, a lower-displacement inline-four engine became an option in Asian markets in 2010, and a gasoline-electric hybrid version was introduced in 2012. The ES was Lexus' only front-wheel drive vehicle until 1998, when the related Lexus RX was introduced, and the sedan occupied the entry-level luxury car segment of the Lexus lineup in North America and other regions until the debut of the Lexus IS in 1999. The ES name stands for "Executive Sedan". However, some Lexus importers use the backronymic name, "Elegant Sedan".
Introduced in 1989, the first-generation ES 250 was one of two vehicles in Lexus' debut lineup, the other being the flagship LS 400. The second-generation ES 300 debuted in 1991, followed by the third-generation ES 300 in 1996, and the fourth-generation ES 300/330 in 2001. The first- through fourth-generation sedans shared body styling elements with Japan-market Toyota sedans, and a domestic market equivalent, the Toyota Windom, was sold until the launch of the fifth-generation ES in 2006. The word "Windom" is a combination of "win" and the suffix "dom" expresses a state of perpetual victory. The fifth-generation ES, featuring Lexus' own L-finesse body styling, debuted in early 2006 as a 2007 model. The sixth-generation ES debuted in the first half of 2012 as a 2013 model, and features increased cabin dimensions due to a longer wheelbase which is shared with the full-size Toyota Avalon.
Lexus has positioned the ES in the comfort luxury segment, with an emphasis on interior amenities, quietness, and ride quality, in contrast with more firm-riding sport sedans. Buyers seeking more performance-focused models are targeted by the Lexus IS and rival makes, with such models offering a sportier drive with differently tuned suspensions. In Europe, Japan, and other markets where it is not available, the GS sport sedans occupy the mid-size category in the Lexus lineup. In the United States, the Lexus ES has been the best-selling Lexus sedan for over fifteen years.
| Date | Article | Author/Source |
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| 7 November 2019 | Toyota Motor North America, Inc., Receipt of Petition for Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance | Federal Register: NHTSA (Otto G. Matheke III) |
| 1 July 2020 | Toyota Motor North America, Inc., Grant of Petition for Decision of Inconsequential Noncompliance | Federal Register: NHTSA (Otto G. Matheke III) |