New Luxury Hybrid From Lexus Switching From Power to Efficiency

Lexus general manager Mark Templin leaked a little bit of information about the new Lexus hybrid coming next year. Instead of a small increase in fuel economy and a big increase in power, Lexus wants to emphasize the fuel efficiency.

"There is a whole section of the population that wants something different, and that's high-efficiency," Lexus general manager Mark Templin said in an interview at the Detroit auto show. "It's a supplemental strategy to what we've done before."

Toyota thinks they can tap into the Prius market. More than a third of the people who bought a Prius earn more than $100,000, meaning those customers have the extra cash to pay for a more luxurious car, but want the fuel efficiency of the Prius.

"We think there is part of the market that everybody is missing."

Lexus offers three hybrid vehicles right now, the Lexus GS 450h, 600h L, and 400h. You can clearly see how they emphasize power over efficiency in the following chart.

Make	Lexus	Lexus	Lexus	Toyota
Model	GS 450h	LS 600h L	RX 400h	Prius
MSRP	$ 54,900	$ 104,000	$ 42,180	$ 21,100
City	22	20	27	48
Highway	25	22	24	45
0-60 (secs)	5.5	5.5	7.2	.
Engine Type	V6	V8	V6	inline 4
Displacement	3.5 liters	5.0 liters	3.3 liters	1.5 liters
Horsepower	340 hp @ 6400 rpm	438 hp @ 6400 rpm	268 hp @ 5600 rpm	110 hp @ 5000 rpm

Source:Quotes come from Bloomberg.com: Japan. Data comes from Edmunds (see link below).