2013 Avalon, Toyota's New Princess at the Ball, May Lack in Specs [PICTURES]

The redesigned 2013 Toyota Avalon was the oft-overlooked, 'Liza Doolittle of the New York International Auto Show 2012. Previous generations were always somewhat plain, though reliable and relatively comfortable, and they never caused a heart to beat or a young man to stutter with their looks, until now.

Granted, stuttering might be a bit of an overreaction to the 2013 Avalon, but it certainly looks more the part of a princess than a flower girl now. A wide grill, angular headlights and a petite rear-end give the 2013 Avalon a certain charm that it lacked before. Toyota said at the car's debut that the redesigned Avalon is channeling the vision for more exciting vehicles from the company's president Akio Toyoda.

That's a gorgeous car. This is, without a doubt, the most beautiful car I've ever seen in the 20 years I've been with Toyota, Bob Carter, group vice president and general manager for Toyota Sales said when the 2013 Avalon was debuted on April 5 at the New York Auto Show 2012.

I get goose bumps every time I look at it, Carter continued.

Toyota seems to hope that the 2013 Avalon may compete with the BMW 5 series, and Carter specifically noted that the car had more interior space than a BMW 5 series in his introductory speech. The redesigned Avalon does come with a lot of swanky trim, from touch controls for climate and audio to special lighting, including ambient night illumination, but more interesting is the fact that it will come with three driving modes: Eco, normal and sport.

Whether or not the 2013 Avalon can mimic the sound of the BMW 520i's 245 horsepower base engine remains to be seen, though. Some online sources are reporting that the 2013 Avalon will be lacking in the specs department with only 210 horsepower, a significant drop from the 2012 Avalon which had 268 horsepower. Toyota, though, has not released any details about the cars specs.

Whether the guts inside the 2013 Avalon will have the same moxy as the 2012 or have been dumbed down will have to wait until Toyota releases more specific details about the car. In the meantime, enjoy the New York Auto Show 2012 pictures of this gorgeous new sedan.

Toyota has not released the price for the 2013 Avalon.