The good: pricing is very aggressive and still has unmatched value so that's a plus. A fully built 500e Luxury trim is only $61,065, an equivalent BMW i5 xDrive40 build would cost $79,600. The ES500e could manage same range and performance as the i5 xDrive 40 despite smaller battery and less power because it's much lighter. I think just from pricing alone it will see some success in Europe. I would say it's less that Lexus did a good job but rather the Germans did a terrible job. If I have to choose between this and an i5 or even worse an EQE, there isn't much contest.
The bad: for a now "global flagship sedan" the feature set you can get on the 500e model is very limited. Executive option is ONLY available on the 350e and they won't be able to solve this problem because it's a packaging limitation. So you get this weird situation where the 350e Executive is the actual most expensive flagship and you will be missing power trunk with kick sensor, 4-zone climate control, and rear heated and ventillated seats on the 500e. There's also no optional panoramic roof, adaptive suspension, and rear wheel steer.
What's baffling to me is that the US market only gets the BEV model at launch with hybrids coming later. In China only the hybrids are available for pre-order while the BEV comes later. The only Chinese market model at launch is the ES300h (2.0NA hybrid with a laughable 194hp). The price is DOA at ¥308,800 and I expect OTD price to be instantly discounted to ~¥258,800 and ¥228,800 in two years. Even more baffling is that the Executive package is available for the USDM 350h but not the ChDM 300h, the supposedly more chauffeut-oriented market.
This launch is such a mess that I couldn't find a better explanation than intentional sabotage. I expect this generation to be the most short lived with the US getting a quick redesign for a dedicated hybrid/plug-in hybrid model while China gets a dedicated BEV model made in Shanghai, I would say 4 years max.
