I saw the new Toyota Avalon the other day, and to continue the modern design trend of cars looking the same, I had to point out the obvious…

The eye-catching styling of the new Toyota Avalon (generation XX50) had me thinking I was seeing a big new Lexus approaching, and a BMW 7-Series departing.

The front-end similarities aren’t anything to get too worked up about as Toyota and Lexus are two brands of the same parent company. But for Avalon buyers this is a nice perk: it almost looks like you paid more for the Lexus!

Lexus owners might be mad, however. They could have gotten an equally attractive, and somewhat similar looking car for much less! After all, it’s not the BMW competitor Lexus ES with the rear end reminiscent of the BMW 7 Series, but its the cheaper cousin… the Toyota Avalon!

I’d bargain to say BMW owners are probably the maddest, since both cars follow similar design language in the rear, with the Avalon’s taillights reminiscent of those on the BMW: wrapping around the rear with a shape much like that on the sixth generation G11 BMW 7 Series. The familiar taillights are further aggravated by the rear shapes and proportions of the dual exhaust and bumper diffuser, really icing the BMW cake on this Toyota Avalon.

Keep in mind, when directly side-by-side, two cars from different automakers cannot look identical. But I don’t think you can get too much closer than this without raising some more eyebrows…

However, this isn’t necessarily bad. It means the Avalon’s styling is finally stepped up to a point where it may appeal to younger buyers. In my opinion, it looks fantastic. But I also like the reviled Lexus corporate grille, which has started to spread to Toyotas! I know my opinion there is unpopular… but the “Lexus corporate grille” has been their catalyst for change to more aggressive styling to appeal to younger buyers, just as it appears Toyota is looking to do now with the Avalon.

I’d equate moves like this to the widely-criticized “Bangle Butt” of the E65 BMW 7 Series, where the car was passionately protested by Bimmer fans, despite it a necessary move to transition BMW’s early 2000s styling from the 1990s into the new millennium. A facelift BMW like the 2004 E62 5 Series or a 2002 E65 7 Series looks more like BMWs of today, almost 20 years later, than they did to the BMWs of just a year before. Those E39s which lasted as late as 2003 look closer to BMW’s 80s styling than they do with the Bangle facelifted cars that shared space on dealer lots at the same time!

What do you think of these similarities on the all new 2019 Toyota Avalon? I think it’s luxury for a bargain, and striking too. But it looks like Toyota designers couldn’t do this without pulling styling cues from higher end luxury cars…