It will have a mesh grille with jet black plating, a sharper bumper profile and rear garnish and be distinguished by F Sport fender badging. Triple-beam LED headlamps with sequential turn indicators and adaptive high beam complete the visual upgrades.
Inside are contoured and F Sport-embossed front seats, perforated-leather F Sport steering wheel and Lexus-first Hadori aluminium ornamentation. It has a Sport 8.0-inch TFT driver display.
Customers have a choice of F Sport Flare Red and F Sport Black interior trim options, each with standard black rooflining and available to individually match with 10 exterior colour options – including a luminous, F Sport-exclusive Cobalt Mica.
It will ride on 19-inch F Sport alloy wheels and have F Sport-exclusive Adaptive Variable Suspension (AVS). There are five drive modes: including Eco, Normal, Sport S, Sport S+ and Custom.
Lexus has been dragging the chain on infotainment, but with the release of the ES 300h F Sport every ES 300h variant will incorporate Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility. This will feature a 12.3-inch centre display.
As with others in the range the F Sport will have wireless smartphone charging, satellite navigation, voice control, DAB+, Lexus Enform and a 10-speaker audio.
Standard Lexus Safety System+ (LSS+) includes a pre-collision safety system that can detect pedestrians as well as vehicles, autonomous emergency braking, all-speed active cruise control and lane tracing assist.
The ES 300h F Sport adds a blind-spot monitor, rear cross-traffic alert and a panoramic view monitor.
Every ES 300h exclusively utilises the advanced Lexus self-charging hybrid electric system combining an ultra-efficient 2.5-litre Atkinson cycle four-cylinder petrol engine working with an electric motor to produce 160kW of power.
Pricing for the updated ES 300h Luxury, F Sport and Sports Luxury will be announced closer to release in October. Customers can register their interest at lexus.com.au/.