The Executive Car of the Year award has not, in my experience anyway, ever had a judging the way the Lexus 300h has.
The Executive Car has – until now anyway – usually been defined by its excellence, and excellence pretty much to the exclusion of many other considerations.
This has made judging somewhat easy, as it is reasonably easy to design an excellent car. Its more challenging to build a car where excellence is an underlying component of a car that is greater than the sum of its parts.
With the Lexus ES300h we discovered another key aspect of what makes an Executive Car – that of its perceived worth in direct correlation to the effort it represents on the part of the owner.
An Executive Car has previously been recognised as something of a status symbol, a manifestation of successful achievement, but in the case of the Lexus ES300h, it is more subtle than that – the car is more a representation of being well earned.
Certainly, the ES300h drives with an incredible sense of sophistication and refinement, and it is something of a poster child for the best of Lexus in terms of technology.
As far as the consideration of design goes, the Lexus shape embodies the grace of a dolphin in motion, even while the car stands still.
Open the doors and the interior cleverly integrates a complex juxtaposition of convention while embracing a sense of individual taste.
The beating heart of the Lexus ES300h is another consideration which the judging panel took on board.
Environmental consideration and protection of planet resources are typically very much secondary considerations when it comes to the development of an Executive car, given an Executive car represents power both in terms of driver authority and engine performance.
To this Lexus responds with a modest 2.5-litre petrol linked to a very efficient and effective hybrid solution, which the enlightened driver can take a measure of pride in – redefining the “I’ve got more kilowatts” boast to the “I get more miles to the gallon” counter.
And while it may seem a little crass to comment on such topics as price, the Lexus ES300h emerges into the market with an attainable and value representative – but still aspirational – appeal.
The Lexus E300h then is a car which encapsulates excellence through subtlety – a consideration Lexus has always driven towards especially with the ES models – and what it has delivered perfectly with the ES300h for 2022.
