Toyota launches HS250h sedan in Lexus line-up

Toyota Motor Corporation, of Japan, has launched the HS250h sedan – the car maker’s first dedicated hybrid model, under the premium Lexus brand.  Toyota, the biggest automobile manufacturer in the world, says it has got orders worth 6 months of targeted sales in Japan.

The launch of the HS250h sedan is seen as part of Toyota’s latest efforts to bring fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles into the mainstream as governments worldwide are making rules on emissions and fuel economy stricter, along with offering consumers incentives to buy cars that pollute less.

The HS250h sedan starts at 3.95 million yen ($42,460) in Japan, thus making it the cheapest model in the Lexus brand and the care is also eligible for up to 267,000 yen ($2,870) in ‘eco-car’ tax breaks.

The HS250h sedan, powered by a 2.5-litre engine, has a listed mileage in Japan of 23.0 km/liter. This is comparable to a Vitz subcompact.  Toyota says it expects to sell, on average, 500 units of the HS250h a month in Japan.

Though the HS250h does not have the distinctive design characteristics of the Toyota Prius hybrid, it is, like the Prius, available only as a gasoline-electric model.  The Japanese car maker intends to sell the HS250h sedan in the United States and Canada from September 2009.

Until the end of 2009, Toyota plans to make around 3,000 units a month.

Toyota says it aims to sell at least 1 million hybrid vehicles a year over the next few years and it will offer the hybrid option on all of its models by around 2020.

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