Lexus

Hybrids dominate European Lexus sales

Lexus has announced that they sold 16,800 vehicles with Lexus Hybrid Drive (aka Hybrid Synergy Drive) in Europe in 2007, their best performance yet. Toyota's premium brand is dominating the premium hybrid segment in Europe. Not hard to do considering they are the only manufacturer offering premium hybrids. Thirty-eight percent of all the Lexus models sold in Western Europe last year were hybrids, up from twenty-six percent in 2006. Interestingly the LS600h has accounted for fifty-six percent of LS sales since its launch in July. Here in the U.S., the LS600h accounts for well under ten percent of sales. Similarly, the RX400h accounts for eighty-six percent of RX sales in Europe while, here they were only about seventeen percent last year. Given the relative disinterest in hybrids in Europe, these numbers seem unusual.
In the AutoblogGreen Garage: 2008 Lexus LS600h L - Yep, it's a hybrid!
Since Toyota introduced the world to the practical, mainstream hybrid vehicle a decade ago, it has sold over a million of them. Six different hybrid models are now offered, with three each under the Toyota and Lexus banners. While the Prius continues to grab the bulk of hybrid sales, the newest model in the lineup is far and away the most expensive hybrid any manufacturer has yet offered.We're talking about the new Lexus LS600h L. The "h" of course represents the fact that this luxury sedan is equipped with Hybrid Synergy Drive (or, as the Lexus division calls it, Lexus Hybrid Drive). Ever since the original LS400 debuted in 1990, Toyota has been trying to take on the best that the Germans have to offer. Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz each offer a 6.0L twelve cylinder engine in their top sedans. Toyota instead chose to follow a different path. Rather than engineer a new, larger engine, it adapted its hybrid system to the LS to create a car that performs like the Germans while delivering better fuel efficiency. We spent a week with the LS600 h L to see if Toyota succeeded.

Lexus to get its own Prius for 2009 Detroit show

Gasoline-electric powertrain aside, part of what makes the Toyota Prius get such good mileage is the stripped-out interior and itty-bitty wheels. Put in a leather interior, power everything, premium entertainment system with DVD players and LCD televisions and big wheels – features that Lexus customers (even those in hybrid models) have come to expect – and the purpose teeters on the brink of defeat. But that's what looks to be shaping up.
Our report from last month seems to be picking up speed – in typically slow Prius style – that Lexus will get its own version of the next-generation Toyota Prius. The initial reports were spurred by an announcement from Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe that the Japanese motor giant would come to Detroit next year with two dedicated hybrid models – one for Toyota, and one for Lexus. While the Toyota will likely retain its hatchback form, the Lexus is expected to take on a "lifestyle wagon" bodystyle. Whatever that means, it should give poseurs enough space to carry around enough cargo to vanquish that purpose altogether.
·
Stars of the movie Jumper caught driving hybrid Lexus

Jumper, the #1 movie last weekend, includes the theft of an AMG-tuned Mercedes-Benz SL (you can watch the trailer after the jump). Samuel L. Jackson's character in the movie asks Hayden Christensen's character if he thought he could get away with it. In real life, though, it seems Hayden may be very considerate of his impact on world.Christensen has been spotted in a Ferrari 360 Modena, but it turns out the actor might have a little bit of a green streak in him. According to a recent interview with Details, Hayden is planting trees on his farm and last September he was caught driving a hybrid Lexus owned by Rachel Bilson, his Jumper co-star.
AutoblogGreen Q&A: Toyota's Bob Carter and Jaycie Chitwood

At the Chicago Auto Show ABG had the chance to sit down with Toyota's Bob Carter and Jaycie Chitwood. Bob is currently the Group VP for the Toyota Division and Jaycie is the Senior Strategic Planner. We talked about a range of issues including hybrid marketing, diesel, ethanol, hydrogen and weight reduction.ABG: In production applications Toyota were obviously the pioneers in bringing hybrid vehicles to the mainstream and everybody is scrambling to catch up and get their own hybrids and other alternative drivetrains to market. Moving forward, obviously, you have applied your hybrid synergy drive to a wide a variety of Toyota and Lexus vehicles. Let's start by talking a little bit about where you are today and where Toyota is going in the next five to ten years?BC: Okay, where we are today. Six hybrids, three Toyotas, three Lexus. We are really pleased with the progress. Total we did 278,000 units last year. Prius had a tremendous increase, up 67 percent. We had a 44 percent increase overall in hybrids. We first brought Prius to the U.S. in 2000. As you are aware Prius was actually introduced in Japan in 1997.There were a lot of people who were just scratching their heads. They did not really understand it. A lot of criticism on hybrid, why they are doing that. Back in 2000, fuel prices were under $1.50 a gallon and there was not nearly the concern on supply and concern on the environment was there but was not really, in my view, embedded in the society the way it is today.We introduced the first generation. It did well. It attracted the early adoptors that we were primarily interested in environmental impact. We also had people that were attracted by the technology. What is so encouraging to walk around this show is when we look at 2007, the 278,000 hybrids, it has gone beyond the initial adoptors. It's starting to embed itself within the general market and 11 percent, I am talking in terms of Toyota division which I represent, of our total sales last year were hybrid. Yet less than 2 percent of the industry was hybrid.
The cheapest way to drive a Lexus hybrid?

If paying $100,000+ to drive a Lexus LS600h hybrid is too rich for your blood, well, you're out of luck. But, if you would like to try the not-quite-as-expensive Lexus RX 400h luxury SUV (above) or the GS 450h performance sedan, well, then the UK's Green Motion Vehicle Rental would like to invite you to rent a car from them. Green Motion will soon offer these two Lexus hybrid models "as part of their expansion to their green rental options." If you know that Lexus hybrids aren't really as green an experience as other hybrids and want to see what else Green Motion's got that would qualify them to use the name, check out the low-energy lighting systems and biodegradable chemicals for valeting vehicles

Power of h, Lexus hybrid's new TV ads, don't mention features of hybrids

I was watching Lost on ABC last night and caught a TV commercial for the Power of h, Lexus hybrid's new ad campaign. The spot actually had nothing to do with hybrids, it (you can watch it for yourself below) was all about missing letters of h, somehow gone from key boards, news papers, etc. The only way you would know it was a commercial about hybrids, cars even, was the last few seconds of the commercial: the letter h has found a better place in the Lexus hybrid moniker. Call me crazy but why not mention hybrids get good fuel economy or something informative? Oh, right.

Toyota says ECO indicators will be standard one day

Toyota has a Blog called Open Road in which they explain lots of stuff about the company. One of its latest posts describes the use of and the technology behind the "ECO" indicator in Toyota and Lexus's dashboards. It explains that its predecessor used to be a vacuum gauge which measured the amount of vacuum in the intake tract of the vehicle's engine. The more vacuum, less fuel fuel was used and the car was getting high mpg.The video doesn't tell us how the modern "ECO" indicator works for Toyota's different hybrid models, because it's different for each model (Prius, Lexus and Highlander Hybrids). What it specifies is that the principle is quite the same as the vacuum gauge and the light helps motorists to drive efficiently.The post announces that Toyota considers this indicator a very good feature which could be installed soon in all its vehicles. This is how the further development might be like: it will include an Eco Zone Display "which would indicate the throttle opening and whether the driver is driving efficiently." For cars with automatic transmissions, it will also include an Eco Lamp that would illuminate if the driver drives efficiently enough to stay within the "Eco Zone." The equivalent of the latter for manuals will be illuminating the optimum shifting point. Add average mpg indicators and you can save 10 to 15 percent of fuel in your driving if you work to keep the lights on.For hybrid models, the information display goes even further: the ECO indicator would also include a "Power Meter to display system output and regeneration power levels, and a Consumption Display that would include information such as Energy Collection, Average MPG, Instant MPG and Cruising Range."