Hey Folks,

So the new GS is mostly gorgeous. I love the front. I love the side profile. Then I look at the back, and I can't help but feel it looks kinda...Hyundai. Sacrilege I know, but something about the rear of the car just seems so...ordinary, where every other part including the interior is extraordinary IMO.

Any thoughts? Am I the only one?

 

Lexus cannot help it if Hyundai steals their designs and cues (well from everyone). B/C the GS rear is following the IS/LS rear....something Hyundai ripped. I totally agree the GS rear doesn't stand out but it looks great with the LED "L" shaped tubes at night.

The fact of the matter is when you seem them parked next to each other a trained or good eye can easily see the difference in detail and execution. There is a weight and stance the GS has that the Hyundai's cannot match. Now don't get me wrong, they are very stylish for their price range but "God is in the details". You cannot "fake" luxury.

 

I agree somewhat with OP.

While general layout is the same, heck most rears look the same. There's a key difference in that the 350 rear has a cornice that sticks out and dangles ( the rest of the trunk is indented?) vs the 460 or the IS where the line doesn't go past 90degrees.

When i first saw it it had me thinking banglebutt.

 

My wife actually owns a 2011 Hundai Sonota...great car, but yeah...even my wife, (who by the way is "NOT" a car person", said..."wow the back of your new car looks just like mine." She's totally right! Too bad, but good for the Hyundai I guess...LOL!

 

This discussion has been beat to death.

 

i had nothing but great comments on how excellent this car has been executed from front to rear. I have the F-sport and people find it more exciting and sharp looking compared to my 2011 BMW 5 that I traded in. Not one of the family members, friends, or even colleagues mentioned any Hyundaish to the shape of the rear. I am liking the upright look of the rear and the nicely integrated tailpipes and spoiler. No issues here. Own one and you will grow to love it.

 

3 good things about the current design stand out to me :

First, the 4th Gen GS has class leading coefficient of drag of 0.26, thus helping fuel consumption,acceleration and top speed. So this design is not just show and no go.

Second, the broad wide rear is a function of the improved rear suspension set-up with it's increased track helping the car to be more planted.

Thirdly, the benefit of the widened track and rear means that rear passenger seating and boot space has been improved from the previous generation and the GS in fact has class leading boot-space of 14.3 cu feet when compared to 5 series, A6 and E-Class.

I'm a function-over-form sort of guy so I'd take the functional and performance benefits of the new rear anyday and not let the fact that Hyundai copied the LS/GS butt bother me.

 

I think the new 2013 ES rear looks even MORE like the Sonata! With that said, I'd never owe a Hyundai.

 

I agree on the Sonata look-alike rear styling but a lot of cars can look the same.
I'm afraid you'll have to wait another 6 years if you don't like the rear styling. Look is important but it's also subjective. I wouldn't hold off on buying it if you like everything else about the car(ie. the way it drives).
I myself, want to trade in my 4 months old 2011 with less 5K miles on the ODO but there's a few things that holding me back and it's not because of the look.
1) Engine can used an upgrade
2) Need to bring back the power folding mirrors and soft closing trunk
3) AFS need to be standard and not on Luxury package only
4) Hybrid AWD

Other than these wish list features, I like the 4GS very much even though the styling of the side and rear is a little bland but I can live with that. I think my wishlist is very reasonable so I'm waiting a couple more years to see what Lexus is offering.

 

I like the rear styling, and it reminds me most of the LS. Rear taillights can be a trainwreck (think '06 Infiniti M, which I owned), but IMO these are pretty sexy. And if that big butt is what it takes for me to get all my luggage or other big items into the trunk I'm fine with that.

 

There seems to be a lot of Lexus ES in the tail lights of the E-class, especially where they meet the license plate holder, and that E-class is the first time Mercedes has used that style of tail lights. At first I thought Hyundai was knocking off Mercedes design cues, but maybe both were going after Lexus.




Which is probably why in hindsight this thing could also pass for a Lexus:



Such a convoluted mess. Hyundai/KIA is a nightmare for premium manufacturers, mainly because they take a lot of design cues from many different brands and combine and evolve them. This blurs the line between the premium brands' legitimate design languages, elevates Hyundai, and simultaneously damages all the other brands. They do it to absolutely shameful levels. BMW isn't spared:






As well as the entire side sculpting of newer Hyundais.

Audi certainly isn't spared:





Not clones per se, but enough similarities that the average person could be confused into thinking they're from the same brands or companies. It blurs the lines that are so important for premium brands.

So if you think Lexus isn't spared, forget it. We're talking a company that wants to be Korea's Toyota so bad that even the way they present their logo is a copy:





Sums up their entire design philosophy.

 

o.m.g. this post is soooo WIN! LOL thanks for this.

 

Audi isn't spared from resembling Kia because the guy that was originally in charge of design for Audi now has that job at Kia. He knows a good things when he sees it.

Not too dissimilar from the guy who left Aston Martin to go to Jaguar and cranked out the new XE, XJ and XF.

 

It's the slant (from the rear, the top of the headlight slants down and out) on the GS350 that makes it similar to the Hyundais.

To be honest, while I see the similarity between the GS350 and Sonata (rear profile)/IS (side/rear profile), it doesn't bother me. I like my car, styling inside and out, and how it feels driving it.

Cars are kind of like music - there's only so many variations you can get out that suits peoples tastes without starting to look/sound like everyone else.

 

I agree with the op.