• by Karl Greenberg , January 15, 2009

 

Bowing on Monday, the new ad for the ES model features a 10-foot-tall cityscape made of playing cards, and builder Bryan Berg. Berg won the Guinness Book of World Records title for building the largest structure ever out of playing cards, and last summer built the Beijing Olympic Athlete Village in playing cards.

<>p> In the new ad--which is in keeping with Lexus' long tradition of touting the cars' stability, and reflects the quiet and smooth carriage by balancing physical items like champagne glasses on the hood--Berg completes the cityscape, then gets into the Lexus ES and fires it up with the push-button start.

The cards on the car vibrate just barely, but don't fall. Voiceover: "What happens when you take one of the smoothest engines anywhere and add 88 separate measures to avoid vibrations? Absolutely nothing." Berg then climbs out of the car and slams the door, which causes the entire construction to collapse.

The ES, launched in 1989, is Lexus' highest-volume model. Of the 151,567 passenger cars Lexus delivered last year, 64,135 of them were ES models, followed by 49,432 IS cars. The last full-blown ad push for ES was in 2006 for the 2007 model-year vehicle, noted a representative of Team One, Torrance, Calif., which created the ad.

The ES is also one of several Lexus vehicles being relaunched or refreshed. At the just-concluded 2009 North American International Auto Show, Lexus bowed a new hybrid vehicle that it says is the first in the luxury auto segment that is not based on an existing model. The HS 250h, Lexus' fourth hybrid, goes on sale this summer. The company says it is intended to fit, within the lineup, between the IS sport sedan and the ES.

Other Lexus launches this year include the rollout this spring of the next-generation RX 350 crossover SUV, followed by the hybrid version of the vehicle several months later, per the company. This summer, Lexus launches new convertible versions of the IS 250C and IS 350C.