Click above for complete high-res gallery

Pebble Beach is known for its uber-luxury resorts as well as holding one of the finest car events, the Concours d'Elegance. In order to celebrate its partnership, Lexus is going to launch fifty LS 600h flagship luxury sedans, as well as 300 SC 430 hardtop convertibles. The special edition LS 600h includes special exterior paint, pampering alabaster and black leather trim interior with Dark Grey Bird's-eye maple wood trim (not that this sounds all that green). The LS includes also a new security device, the Advanced Pre-Collision System (APCS), which detects pedestrians in the vehicle's path, as well as a driver Monitor System that helps warn drivers if it senses an obstacle ahead of the car and that the driver's head is not facing forward. The LS 600h L is the fourth vehicle model to receive a Pebble Beach Edition package and it'll be on sale in October.


[Source: Lexus]

It's become a truism in the new auto market: sales of big vehicles are down. The details are different for each country and automaker, but the gist is the same and fuel efficiency of the oversized SUVs and trucks is partly to blame. In this bleak environment (well, bleak if you're an automaker that's used to relying on sales of big vehicles to prop up the bottom line), Lexus is announcing a bit of good news: sales of the RX 400h - which gets 29 mpg U.S. on the combined cycle but still emits 192 grams of CO₂ per km - in the UK were up almost 28 percent compared to the same month a year ago. You can almost see the gloating faces of the Lexus PR team when you read this part of the announcement of this increase:

That growth stands in stark contrast to the fortunes of rival luxury brands, which suffered an average decline of 30 per cent in SUV sales. And for some famous names, new registrations have tumbled by as much as 50 per cent.

Somebody's pretty pleased.

[Source: Lexus]

For many motorists, V8 means the quintessential type of engine. Power and a beautiful roar from under the hood are its typical signatures, but it's also a synonym for high fuel consumption and a general sense of being dirty. Nevertheless, there are a certain number of V8 engines, and not only diesels, which spot decent fuel consumption and German site Auto-News has gathered them. Coming from a German source, it doesn't spot any small-block Chevy but besides Teutonics, there are three members from the Toyota family and a Briton. Curious? Follow us after the jump for the complete list.

[Source: Auto-News.de]

click to enlarge

Take one baby boomer favorite - The Fonz - stick him in a boomer dream car - a Lexus RX 400h - and send him off on a cross-country trip through the UK, teaching kids the value of reading. This is the idea behind an effort between Lexus and First News to support the Government's 2008 National Year of Reading.

Yes, Henry Winkler and Nicky Cox, editor of First News, are touring schools across the country in a Lexus RX 400h for the next week or so, visiting almost a dozen schools to promote reading - especially Winkler's series of children's novels about Hank Zipzer, the World's Greatest Underachiever.

While he's cruising through the British countryside, Winkler should feel pretty much at home as he drives an RX 400h in the U.S. Read more about the tour at this site.


[Source: Lexus]

Toyota has issued a clarification to reports earlier this week that it would introduce a third dedicated hybrid model in January at the Detroit Auto Show. At this year's show company president Katsuoko Watanabe announced that the company would bring two all new hybrid-only models to the 2009 show one each for Lexus and Toyota. That is all Toyota will unveil in Detroit. There will not be a third new hybrid. One of the new cars will be the new Prius. An additional model remains a possibility for introduction at some other show. This could either be a larger car or it might be the plug-in Prius that will debut in 2010 for fleet testing use.

[Source: Toyota]

For as small a MPG bump the Lexus hybrids get compared to the non-hybrid versions, Toyota sure is able to ride them for a lot of publicity. Take a move by London's BlueSky Chauffeurs, an executive car hire company that will start cruising the city streets in LS 600h and the RX 400h hybrids. BlueSky is trying to move into the ever-more-crowded luxury/eco-friendly market, and the company's managing director, Leroy Barr, said that these vehicles play to customer's vanity. "Executives are getting younger and like to be seen in cars that reflect their status, but equally in this economic climate they don't want to be over-ostentatious," Barr said in a statement (pasted after the break).

The luxury is all inside - leather upholstery, multimedia and navigation package, GPS units - and apparently that little "h" on the rear badge will be enough to make any accusations go away.

Usually, when a corporation donates something and then says the reason is to "raise awareness," what do you think of? Breast cancer, perhaps? Or maybe some wetlands somewhere? A bay, maybe. Well, Lexus has a different idea. Here's the first graph of a press release sent out today:

Lexus corporate has recently supplied the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) with four Lexus RX 400h vehicles helping to raise awareness of the hybrid range among its players. [emphasis added, read the full thing after the jump]

Hm. That's bold. Lexus gave a small number of soccer players the chance to use the 29mpg (U.S.) hybrid SUVs. But the real excitement for Lexus is the chance to show off. Nigel King from Lexus Corporate said in the statement that, "The training ground car park of any premiership football club will display an array of prestige cars. This is a great opportunity to highlight Lexus Hybrid Drive in this sporting environment." Olé?

While it's no surprise to hear that Lexus will be showing off a more luxurious version of the Prius hybrid sedan, Inside Line is reporting that the upcoming model will be priced over $30,000 and possibly have an older brother in the form of a dedicated hybrid crossover utility vehicle. Based on Toyota's midsize sedan architecture, the crossover vehicle would be similar in size to the hybrid RX that Lexus already sells in pretty good numbers. We have no information on whether Lexus plans to offer both hybrid utility vehicles at the same time.

According to IL's sources, the un-named Lexus Prius model will appear sometime in calender year 2010, which should be about a year after the third-generation Prius arrives. The hybrid CUV would follow a year later in 2011. Again, rumor has it that the Lexus hybrids could be the first application of lithium ion batteries in a Toyota-built hybrid vehicle.

[Source: Inside Line]

Click the Lexus LS600h for a high res gallery

It must be nice to be Sir Paul McCartney. Lexus offered to give the über-famous Beatles front-man a brand new car. He settled on an LS600H, the hybrid flagship of the Lexus brand. According to a source familiar with the matter, Paul "ordered the hybrid limo because it helps to reduce emissions." Those emissions took a giant leap forward before Sir Paul even got behind the wheel, as the vehicle was delivered by plane. The estimated carbon footprint of the trip comes to 38,050kg, which, for perspective, is ten times what it would have been if the Lexus had been delivered by boat. Put another way, according to Co2balance.com Director Mike Rigby, "That is the equivalent of driving the car around the world six times." Even the air freight shipping company was surprised, with a spokesman quoted as saying, "Obviously we were happy for the business but everyone was shocked. The carbon footprint must be enormous." McCartney is reportedly rather unhappy about the chosen method for delivery. Thanks for the tip, Pat!

[Source: New Car Net, The Telegraph]

Photo by OrangeLimey. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.

Starting in a few weeks (mid- to late-May) a Prius will cost you $400 more than it used to. Toyota announced across-the-board price increases to 2008 and 2009 Toyota and Lexus models today (Scion were "adjusted" back in April), and all Toyota models included in the list are up between $100 (the Tundra) and $500 (the Highlander hybrid). The price of the 2009 Camry hybrid has been upped $300 to $25,650. As for the smiling icon, the 2008 Prius' MSRP's new base price is $21,500 or 1.8 percent higher than before. On the Lexus side, the RX 400h is now $300 more and will cost you $41,580. As our friends at Autoblog point out probably won't slow down sales: in April 2008, 53.8 percent more Priuses were sold on average per day than in April 2007. Full list of price increases after the jump.

In the name of increased efficiency, and quite possibly playing the game of automotive one-upmanship, luxury automakers such as Mercedes Benz, BMW and Lexus have been adding more and more gear ratios to their automatic transmissions. By allowing a computer to choose the most appropriate ratio for any given scenario, the vehicle's engine is required to only make as much power as absolutely necessary, potentially saving fuel in the process. ZF, one of the largest transmission makers in the world, claims that their new 8-speed unit boasts an efficiency increase of eleven percent over its older 6-speed unit. The transmission giant has just developed a new modification, though, which could increase the overall vehicle efficiency even further. By adding a hydraulic impulse storage unit, the new ZF unit can support stop/start functionality, which they claim can result in an additional five percent reduction in fuel consumption.

[Source: Just-Auto - sub. req'd.]

Hybrids help you save gas at the pump, this is something we all know. We also know why burning less gasoline is good: fewer greenhouse gases are emitted to the atmosphere, it reduces our dependence on foreign oil and we spend less money at the pump. However, there is always the question about what is the overall impact of using a hybrid versus using a non-hybrid version. There are currently 17 hybrid models available in the U. S. market and all but one have a corresponding non-hybrid counterpart to compare with. As part of our Earth Day coverage today, we took a closer look at the following two questions:

• Question #1: How far can we drive with a hybrid powertrain compared to a non-hybrid?
• Question #2: When will the hybrid investment pay for itself through gas savings?

Before we go to the complete list let me explain the criteria we used. First of all we chose the "economy" powertrains, when we had the option. Therefore we'll be comparing mostly 4-cylinder models. In the case of SUVs, we chose the AWD/4WD versions. For a few models, we've compared them to the European diesel versions data, although this should be taken with a pinch of salt due to the EU's different driving cycles. Finally, we used $3.5/gal as the price of gasoline and added the car's MRSP price. Don't forget that some of these vehicles will qualify for various tax breaks, so you might have to recalculate our numbers for yourself. Got all that? Good, let's see the results (after the jump).

The Toyota Prius needs no introduction to any reader of AutoblogGreen. The hybrid has gained iconic status and is the poster-child for the green automotive movement. While we appreciate the current Prius, we're really excited at the prospect of plugging in the next-generation version. Even better would be a plug-in Lexus Prius with lithium ion batteries and all the best bells and whistles that accompany the Lexus name.

Check out Number 3.

A pair of student teams from opposite ends of the country, both literally and figuratively, have won the Lexus Environmental Challenge. A pair of $75,000 grand prizes are going to a team of 6th graders from Academy 1 Middle School in Jersey City, NJ and a group of high school students from W.R. Farrington High School in Honolulu. The New Jersey team's project involved teaching other students in the city about the dangers of dumping trash in the oceans. They also stenciled storm drains near all the schools in Jersey City with warnings not dump anything because those drains empty out into the ocean.

The Hawaii-based team's effort involved educating people around the world about the benefits of renewable energy. The students used social media to help spread the word. They created videos, blogs and websites in various languages to inform people about wind, solar and hydro-power. In addition to the grand prize winners, 14 other teams won first place prizes of $50,000. Each of the 16 winning schools also received a sculptural cistern to promote the idea of collecting rain water.

[Source: Lexus]

Over on the VWvortex Forums, forum member DoctorNo says that what you see above is a rendering of the new Lexus Prius. This new hybrid (in more than one sense) will feature lithium-ion batteries, all the luxury amenities one would expect from the brand and should be available in late 2010 or early 2011. This redesigned Prius would blend elements that made the Prius so popular (the hybrid synergy drive, of course, and some of design language) while moving into a Lexus look and a $30,000+ price tag. If li-ion batteries are included, then that's not too bad. No rumors about a plug, though.

Also, according to what DoctorNo translates from the scanned Japanese magazine text, Toyota's next Prius will use the 1.8L 2ZR engine instead of 1NZ.

[Source: VWvortex Forums]