Confirmed: Hybrid Lexus SUV delayed
James R. Healey, USA TODAY
Lexus says it has put off until February the U.S. launch of its RX 400h gas-electric hybrid sport-utility vehicle, originally scheduled to go on sale in December.

The delay, widely assumed but only now confirmed by the automaker, gives Lexus time to:

• Have engineers perform additional checks to make sure the vehicles escape some of the teething problems that have beset other gas-electric hybrids.

• Build inventories. One of the biggest disappointments about hybrids is how long it takes to get them. Toyota dealers, for example, have quit taking orders for the Prius hybrid because the backlog is so great. Lexus says dealers have more than 8,000 deposits for the RX 400h. About 24,000 a year are planned for the U.S. market, or about 10% of all RX sales.

It also would allow Lexus to call the RX 400h a 2006 model. A December launch would have required an '05 designation.

High performance, not just high fuel economy, is the RX 400h's big lure. It will be rated at about 270 horsepower, vs. 230 hp for the gasoline-powered RX 330.

Lexus says the combined city-highway fuel economy of the hybrid RX will be at least 28 miles per gallon. The gas-powered RX 330's combined rating is 21 mpg.

Honda's Civic hybrid and Insight two-seater and Toyota's Prius are the only hybrids on sale. Ford joins with a hybrid Escape SUV this month.

Honda plans to add a hybrid Accord V-6 to its lineup this fall. In addition to the Lexus RX 400h, Toyota plans hybrid versions of its Highlander SUV and Sienna minivan next year.

Gasoline prices close to $2 a gallon are pushing buyers toward more fuel-efficient models. Hybrids "could be much more successful than skeptics — and even some proponents — expect," said a report earlier this year from consultants J.D. Power and Associates.

Toyota Announces 50-Percent Boost
In 2005 Prius Hybrid Production
To Meet Unprecedented Demand
08/03/2004 Torrance, CA

At a press conference in Nagoya, Japan earlier today, Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) announced that it will boost monthly production of the Prius gas-electric hybrid sedan from approximately 10,000 units per month to 15,000, in order to meet global demand. Toyota Motor Sales (TMS) U.S.A., Inc., announced today that it is negotiating with TMC to significantly increase its North American allocation of the Prius for model-year 2005, to help meet the vehicle's unprecedented demand in the U.S. market.

"When the all-new second-generation Prius was launched in mid-October of last year, we had an annual sales plan of about 36,000 units," said Don Esmond, Toyota Division senior vice president and general manager. "Two months later, in December 2003, we announced a 31-percent increase in our sales plan to 47,000 units annually, and promised that if we needed more, we would build more. Clearly, the extraordinary response to Prius took us by surprise. With demand far-outstripping supply, customers have been forced to wait many months for delivery. Our announcement to increase production by fifty percent, should prove to our dealers and our customers that we are good on our word."

The additional 5,000 units per month will be built on an existing assembly line at an existing production facility in Japan. The specific location of the plant will be announced at a later date. Production will begin during the first half of 2005.

Prius (the name comes from the Latin "to go before") was the world's first mass-produced gas-electric hybrid vehicle when introduced in Japan in 1997. In 2000, it was introduced in the U.S. market and has since become the best-selling hybrid vehicle in the world.

Improved in every metric of comparison, the second-generation, 2004 Prius is the first hybrid vehicle to provide the room, comfort and features of a midsize sedan. The new Prius is the first Toyota product to employ Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive, gas-electric hybrid power-train technology. The new system produces more power from both the gasoline engine and the electric motor, giving the Prius acceleration comparable to the Camry midsize sedan. It carries an estimated EPA rating of 60 MPG in city driving and 51 MPG on the highway, with a combined EPA mileage estimate of 55 MPG compared to 48 MPG for the previous-generation Prius. And like the previous model, Prius never needs to be plugged in for recharging.

In addition to its best-in-class fuel economy, the new Prius emits 30 percent fewer emissions than the previous model. That equates to producing nearly 90 percent fewer smog-forming emissions than a conventional internal combustion engine vehicle. Prius has been certified as a Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle (SULEV) and an Advanced Technology Partial Zero Emission Vehicle (AT-PZEV) category vehicle in California and those states adopting California standards.