Automotive

Analysts say plan may push engine technology into the mainstream

January 7, 2004

By TERRY BOX / The Dallas Morning News

DETROIT – Lexus introduced the industry's first luxury hybrid sport utility vehicle here on Tuesday, promising that the RX 400h will offer true truck power with the gas mileage of a compact car.

It might seem an odd combination: a green power plant in a politically incorrect SUV.

But Denny Clements, Lexus Group vice president and general manager, said he believes that there is a real market for the RX, which will be available at the end of the year. The RX 400h is a hybrid version of Lexus' popular RX 330 SUV.

PAUL SANCYA/AP Lexus says its RX 400h will have 270 horsepower and will get more than 25 miles per gallon in city driving.

"Luxury car buyers are becoming increasingly aware of advanced technology and expect it from an automaker like Lexus," Mr. Clements said at the North American International Auto Show. The RX was among the last of about 60 cars and trucks that were officially unveiled during a three-day media preview of the show attended by 6,000 reporters.

Some industry analysts said they thought Lexus' announcement was one of the more significant of a big show. On Sunday, Lexus maker Toyota Motor Co. said it would offer hybrid power later this year in its midsize Highlander SUV, which shares a platform and basic drivetrain with the RX.

"Maybe we're about to see the biggest breakthrough since, well, cars," said consultant Jim Hossack, vice president of AutoPacifc Inc. of Tustin, Calif., who attended the Detroit show. "This is big."

"What Toyota is doing with the Highlander and RX is moving the whole argument for hybrids beyond ... green," said Todd Turner, president of Car Concepts of Thousand Oaks, Calif., who was also at the show.

Both noted that Toyota and Lexus will put hybrid power into relatively big, useful vehicles that mainstream consumers find appealing.

Into mainstream?

But with the success of Toyota's 2004 Prius hybrid sedan – an award-winning midsize car that reporters at the show voted as this year's North American Car of the Year – Mr. Hossack said he was reconsidering his views.

"I had put my bets on turbo-diesels," said Mr. Hossack, a 30-year veteran of the automobile business. "But now, with the cost of the technology coming down some and the batteries getting better and Toyota standing behind them, you have to wonder if something important is happening here."

At its news conference Sunday, Toyota also suggested that its next generation of Tundra full-size pickups – which will be built in San Antonio beginning in 2007 – would eventually be offered with hybrid power as well.

Hybrids are more efficient and cleaner than conventional gas engines because they use electric motors to assist the gas engine.

In Toyota's system, which it calls "hybrid synergy," electric motors initially accelerate a vehicle from stop, a task that typically consumes a high amount of fuel in a gas engine and increases emissions.

Once the vehicle has reached a moderate speed, the system turns on the gasoline engine. Hybrids do not have to be recharged as electric vehicles do because their gas engines and regenerative braking systems perform that task while the vehicle is being driven.

Although Toyota did not announce a price for the RX 400h, Mr. Hossack said he would expect it to be $2,000 to $3,000 higher than an RX 330. The base price of an RX 330 is $35,650.

Anticipating demand

"Actually, I think it will be interesting to see how many pay it because they want the greater performance," Mr. Turner said.

Though Lexus provided no estimates of anticipated sales volume, the company is confident that the RX 400h will attract buyers, Mr. Clements said.

The 400h will have 270 horsepower – 20 percent more than a conventional RX 330 – and will accelerate faster and get better mileage in city driving than most compacts. Lexus expects the two-ton RX 400h to get more than 25 miles per gallon in city driving.

Most midsize SUVs get about 15 mpg – if that – in the city.

"This [hybrid] system was developed to meet the load-carrying and performance demands of an SUV," Mr. Clements said. "But the RX 400h also will have a range of 600 miles on one tank of gas."

Also on Tuesday

• DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group introduced a convertible version of its Crossfire sports coupe, which dealers in the Dallas area say has gotten off to a slow sales start. While the Crossfire coupe – with its grooved hood, tall 18- and 19-inch wheels and unusual rear end – is attractive in an unconventional way, the convertible is a true head-turner. "It's a drop-top that we think will drop a lot of jaws when it comes to the market this summer," said Wolfgang Bernhard, chief operating officer of the Chrysler Group. No price was announced.

E-mail tbox@dallasnews.com