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Toyota Launches First Hybrid-Model Lexus

Posted on: Tuesday, 14 July 2009, 13:33 CDT

Tuesday marked Toyota’s first dedicated hybrid model launch under the premium Lexus brand, after the company reported it had received orders worth six months of targeted sales in Japan, Reuters reported.

As governments around the world tighten emissions and fuel economy regulations while offering consumers incentives to purchase less-polluting cars, the Lexus HS250h sedan marks the latest push by the world's biggest automaker to drive fuel-sipping hybrids into the mainstream.

Toyota expects the HS250h to sell an average 500 units a month in Japan.

Senior Managing Director Toshio Furutani said thanks to the green-car tax and a hybrid boom fanned by the Prius in Japan, they've already gotten 3,000 orders.

Toyota said the new hybrid Lexus would be sold in the United States and Canada starting in September. Toyota plans to produce about 3,000 units a month until the end of 2009.

Hybrids have become a major driver for the Lexus brand, which has struggled to sell in Japan since its domestic launch in 2005, Furutani said.

Lexus sales plunged 38 percent from the year-earlier period to 9,293 units in the first six months of 2009. A Toyota spokesman said about 30 percent of those consisted of hybrids.

Starting around $42,460 in Japan, the HS250h is powered by a 2.5-liter engine, making it the cheapest model in the Lexus line-up and eligible for a maximum $2,870 in "eco-car" tax breaks.

Within the next few years, Toyota hopes to sell at least 1 million hybrid vehicles a year and has said it would offer the hybrid option on all of its models by around 2020.

Last month, President Akio Toyoda said that Toyota would shift its focus in the diesel-heavy European market to hybrid vehicles as part of a new effort to more selectively use its resources.

Toyota has decided to produce a gasoline-electric version of its Auris hatchback at its British factory around 2012, in what would mark its first locally produced hybrid car in Europe, said Japanese industry daily Nikkan Jidosha Shimbun.

The Toyota Auris, which is part of the popular Corolla series, was the companies third-best-selling model in Europe during the first five months of this year after the Yaris and Aygo subcompact models.

Later this month, Toyota is scheduled to begin production of the Camry hybrid in Thailand, and in Australia next year.

A new Mississippi plant had also planned to start production of the Prius, but it has since been delayed due to the economic crisis.

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On the Net:

• Lexus HS250h

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

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