Renewable Gossip

Never again let it be said that high-mileage hybrids are grim, joyless, or Spartan. The 2010 Lexus HS 250h sedan is the smallest and most economical car Lexus has ever built, but it’s unquestionably luxurious. Lexus has noted that more than 60 percent of luxury-car buyers would consider a hybrid if one were available. Well, now those buyers have a new option.

Official EPA mileage for the HS 250h is 35 mpg in the city and 34 on the highway. Lexus says the HS 250h qualify as a Super-Ultra-Low-Emission-Vehicle (SULEV). The new Lexus HS will go on sale in August 2009.

The HS 250h is the Lexus brand’s first dedicated hybrid, just as the Prius was for its parent brand Toyota. Previous Lexus hybrids were adaptations of existing vehicles, including the popular RX 400h crossover—replaced for 2010 by the RX 450h—the GS 450h sports sedan, and the full-size luxury barge LS 600h. But the HS will be sold just as a hybrid, with no gasoline-only version.

The comparison to the 2010 Prius is apt, since the two cars share the same basic platform. They both ride on a 106.3-inch wheelbase, though the Lexus HS 250h is 2 inches wider, half an inch higher, and a full 9 inches longer than its hatchback relative. The HS also has a larger 2.4-liter engine—similar to the one in the Toyota Camry Hybrid—against the 1.8-liter engine used by the 2010 Prius. The complete hybrid system in the Lexus is fully 40 percent more powerful than that of the Prius: 187 horsepower compared to 134.

So while the two cars have different bodies, different engine sizes, and certainly different personas, you can view the HS 250h as a new Prius with a trunk, a raft of luxury accoutrements, and a different tradeoff between fuel economy and features.

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