Lexus LF-Gh Previews GS Replacement (W/Poll)

Toyota's Lexus brand has enjoyed an enormous amount of success throughout it's short life. While most Lexus products are mutually exclusive with enthusiast drivers (exceptions like the SC300/IS300 5-speed, IS-F, etc not withstanding), they've done some remarkable things.  They took on Mercedes and BMW at their own game in the early 90's with the LS400, producing a better product with a lower price tag.  They invented the whole "luxury crossover SUV" segment with the original RX300 back in the 90's.  But they've never had much success with the bread-and-butter of the luxury market, the mid-sized luxury sedan (think A6, E-class, and 5-series.)  The Lexus GS is a nice car, don't get me wrong - but it hasn't ever really been a strong seller.

It looks like this, if you forgot.

Lexus intends to change this.  The big problem with the current GS is that it doesn't stand out among a crowd of Camrys and Sonatas, much less next to a 550i or an A6.  It's a middle-of-the-road generic design, intended to not offend anybody.  But it doesn't excite anybody, either.  One thing's for sure: I doubt anyone will have a middle-of-the-road opinion on the upcoming GS, if it looks anything like the LF-Gh concept that previews it.

This is the continuation of Lexus' new styling language, best seen in the LF-A and CT200h.  It's aggressive, to say the least - it's less jelly-bean and more angry origami.  A lot of the design elements are borrowed from the hyper-aggressive LF-A, although toned down a bit for a sedan.  Lexus says this new revision of their "L-Finesse" styling is a contradiction of soft and hard surfaces blending together in harmony; I'm sticking with "angry origami."  The dimensions are relatively similar to the old GS - the same 112.2" wheelbase, 2" longer and wider overall, and about an inch taller.

LF-Gh stands for "Lexus Future Grand touring Hybrid," in keeping with Toyota's "everything needs an electric motor" philosophy, but no details on the actual powertrain will be released until the LF-Gh's debut at the New York Auto Show on April 22nd.  A good guess would be Lexus's twin-injected 3.5L V6 combined with a hybrid AWD powertrain like the current GS450h.  Hey - the way I see it, the GS450h is a great powertrain wrapped in a painfully dull car, so this is an improvement of sorts.

So here's the question: assuming this is the styling direction Lexus is going to take their future products in, do you think this will work as far as bringing in more customers?  On one hand, there are probably a lot of people that don't buy Lexus products because they're dull-looking.  On the other hand, there are probably a lot of people that do buy Lexus products because they're inoffensive.  But it's reminiscent of BMW's Bangle-era designs, which some people loved, and the vocal minority hated. What do you think?