Hybrids guilt-free way to go

The roomy Lexus GS.

Hybrid powerplants provide "high-performance without the guilt - or chocolate without the calories," says Lexus New Zealand executive Alistair Davis.

"Hybrid technology is likely to become the defining point of difference between Lexus and its competitors."

Toyota's luxury arm will introduce its range of energy-saving petrol-electric hybrid models over the next five years, beginning in New Zealand next year with the four-wheel-drive RX 400h, a petrol-electric version of the V6-powered RX 330.

A hybrid version of the mid-range GS sedan is likely to follow in 2007-08.

The all-new LS 460 flagship, which replaces the LS 430 around that time, will also be available as a hybrid.

The new IS range due later this year would also have a hybrid variant later in its life-cycle.

Davis said Lexus was committed to the hybrid technology its Toyota parent introduced with the Prius sedan in New Zealand a couple of years ago.

He said it would enable Lexus to become the best-selling luxury brand in New Zealand. "It may take 10 years, it may take longer, but it will happen."

Toyota New Zealand is selling about 16 Prius models each month.

Hybrid vehicles are powered by internal combustion engines but also have batteries that are recharged while driving and an electric motor to assist with power.

Plans to boost the Lexus hybrid line-up come as the lure of the Prius and other hybrid cars have helped to drive up sales in the United States of such vehicles.

New hybrid vehicle registrations in the United States totalled 83,153 last year, an 81 per cent increase over the year before.

Hybrids still represent less than 1 per cent of the 17 million new vehicles sold in the US last year, but major carmakers are planning to introduce about a dozen hybrids during the next three years.

Lonnie Miller, director of analytical solutions for automotive research company R.L. Polk, said more people were buying into the idea that driving a hybrid is the socially responsible thing to do.

"What's different about this than other types of vehicles is that hybrids are about what people want to give back and what they want to feel they're doing with their vehicles," Miller said.

Japanese carmakers continue to control most of the United States hybrid market, accounting for more than 96 per cent of registrations.

The Toyota Prius is the dominant model, with 53,761 sales last year for a 64 per cent share.

Toyota expects to double that number in the United States this year.

It has already sold nearly 30,000 Prius cars in 2005.

The Honda Civic hybrid was second last year with a 31 per cent market share.

Miller said hybrids could make up 30 to 35 per cent of the United States market by 2015, as long as carmakers remained committed to producing them.

While some analysts believe there was a limit to the number of consumers who would pay more for a hybrid, Miller said the cost of hybrids would eventually come down.

"Some people are thinking there's absolutely no reason that all vehicles shouldn't be hybrid - the technology is there," Miller said.

California was once again the top state for growth in hybrid vehicle registrations, with more than 25,000 new hybrids on the road last year, a 102 per cent increase over 2003.

Lexus has started its hybrid programme with the RX 400h, which has just gone on sale in the US.

The GS range launched by Lexus in Auckland on Thursday will have hybrid versions of its 3-litre V6 and 4.3-litre V8 line-up down the line.

Meantime, the three latest models - the GS 300 at $103,000, the Limited version of the same car at $116,000, and the GS 430 at $148,000 - are the first to show off Lexus' new styling direction, called L-finesse.

It a design philosophy all its own.

Previously, Lexus models were variations of a theme running through Toyota.

However, Lexus has now been given its head, with its designers starting from the ground up.

Lexus says the new GS range is longer, has more cabin space, an improved ride and better turning circle than the outgoing model.

It comes with everything that opens and shuts, including a radar gizmo linked to the car's cruise control which senses an impending accident and prepares safety systems for the crunch.

It sounds a buzzer, pre-tensions the seatbelts, activates the electronic brake-assist system, prepares the 12 airbags - and - in the instant of an accident- brings into play the seatbelt force-limiters, which help to cushion occupants' chests.

If there's no crunch, the radar tells the remaining safety systems to stand easy.