January 14, 2005. Copyright 2005, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Lexus RX400h: First Hybrid-Powered Luxury Vehicle Leads Charge To Be Green
By Neil Winton

LONDON, January 14, Graphic News:  HollywoodÕs environment trendsetters can relax.

Instead of having to flaunt their green credentials in a downmarket fuel-miser like the Toyota Prius or a little Honda Civic, luxury manufacturer Lexus is introducing the RX400h -- a huge Sport Utility Vehicle with a low-emission, high fuel economy, hybrid petrol-electric engine.

Movie stars like Cameron Diaz, Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep and Leonardo DiCaprio were high profile buyers last year of the Toyota Prius hybrid in the U.S., along with 54,000 others. Toyota, which owns Lexus, has been unable to meet demand for the petrol-electric Prius. Sales have been spurred in the U.S. by the surging price of fuel, and a growing demand for vehicles which use scarce resources more frugally, in a land where gas-guzzlers are the norm.

ToyotaÕs head start in the race to provide thrifty, hybrid cars looks likely to be short-lived though. Honda has already provided an alternative with its Civic, and medium sized Accord models. Honda uses a cheaper technology called Òmild hybridÓ, in which the electric motor only sends power to the wheels to take some of the load from the petrol engine.

The Lexus-Toyota Òstrong hybridÓ technology allows the electric motor to be the sole means of propulsion at low speeds for short periods, and also boosts the petrol motor at higher speeds.

Other manufacturers are also moving in. Ford, using technology licensed from Toyota, has introduced the Escape Hybrid. General Motors is offering limited numbers of its Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra light trucks with hybrids in 2005. Nine more hybrids are expected in 2006.

But the Lexus RX400h claims the spotlight at this yearÕs Detroit Car Show, which opens to the public on January 15. The RX400h has a 3.3 litre V6 petrol engine, and two electric motors which together produce 272bhp and blast it from rest to 100km/h in just 7.6 seconds. Fuel consumption is said to be Òsimilar to a 4-cylinder family saloonÓ, but Lexus is coy about the exact figure.

One criticism of the Toyota Prius has been that it only provides great fuel economy in stop-start city driving, but is less impressive at highway cruising speeds. The RX400h will be monitored to see what it can do.

The RX400h uses a continuously variable automatic transmission, with one electric motor at the front, and a second at the rear so that ÒhybridÓ performance is also available in four-wheel drive. At rest, the petrol engine automatically stops to conserve fuel. At start-up and lower speeds, the vehicle runs on electric motors alone. Under normal driving conditions power is split by the computer between electric and petrol engines. During deceleration, the system uses excess power to boost the battery, which never has to be topped up from the mains.

ToyotaÕs technology will be used to provide hybrid power for its Highlander SUV later this year, and for Lexus luxury cars like the GS and LS series in 2006.

Hollywood can breathe a sigh of relief; being green now comes with leather seats. /ENDS