Nice interior and with stitched leather …looks at that It looks like it has pop up nav but with …an interface system look at that
It sort of looks like the IS but smaller If its in the 20 this thing will be a mega hit
Good job Lexus
When is the Volt coming out again ?

Upper-20’s?
Nice price
Have to say, the styling is more Subaru than Lexus
Hybrid buyers like funky styling
Not enough chrome/wood on the dash, just plastic, which propbably kept the price down
Not lovin’ the black-white interior either
But if it performs, at a sub-$35k price, 30k units will be a very low estimate
DrFill

not a real looker, but show me a small hybrid car that looks decent..

Hats off to toyota for putting in the 2.4l hybrid camry drivetrain rather than the 1.8 in the prius. Good move. Car won’t accelerate like a slug.

I like the cadillac volt or converj or whatever much better though. that thing looks hot! small, efficient coupes for the win.

speaking of which, where’s my ****ing honda cr-z?!?!?!

What kind of batteries? I hope not NiMH like usual for Toyota.

Reminds me of the Toyota Avensis design

It will sell well, but it is really a Lexus level vehicle?

Looks like a gussied up Corolla.

DrFill, I think you’re being too hard on the styling. I can only assume Lexus is banking on Prius customers moving up the food chain and if that is the case they’ve nailed it. There’s no need to offend the faithful here.

cross between a corolla and a camry anyone?

Styling is not a high priority to the eco-conscious
Interesting nugget out of the press release
The HS will be 30% more efficient than any Lexus CURRENTLY avaiable
If they mean the RX400h (26), expect mid-30’s EPA like Camry Hybrid, which shares this engine
If they mean the RX450h (28), than the number rises to 38.

Looks like the Camry Hybrid 2.0 powertrain is not ready yet, and won’t be until the Camry is redesigned in 2011.

I like the profile, and the LS design elements included

At least it doesn’t look like the E-Class
DrFill

That’s really hideous. It does indeed look like a tarted up Corolla, which itself is hideous. It’s not hard to make a good looking car, Toyota.

Its like a corolla and civic got together and had a glorified child.

GO JETS!!

DrFill hit the nail on the head. High design doesn’t always (or, ever?) go with fuel efficiency. Other than the original Honda Insight, a sweet little, unique car, and obviously the ground-breaking Prius shape, now copied by the “new” Honda Insight, but “not copied, it’s for aerodynamics, yadda yadda…” Whatever this Lexus looks like, it gets 40+ mpg and that’s a good thing.

“Nice interior and with stitched leather …looks at that It looks like it has pop up nav but with …an interface system look at that”

Wow, Lexus finally puts a stitched gauge pod cover on one of their cars. You could get that 5 years ago on an upper-line F-150. Where is the stitched dash? (the tiny strips up the center console don’t count either) Funny how you even mention it since you said it didn’t matter. And you said a pop up Nav was old tech, now that Lexus is finally doing it I guess it somehow becomes acceptable. The radio and climate controls look like they came out of a 90’s GM truck. And don’t even get me started on the goofy styling and odd ball placement of the gear shifter. It’s official, Buick is now producing better interiors than Lexus. Lexus is no longer even worthy of being compared to Cadillac.

Another desperate swing by MHW
Nothing is as cheap as old GM truck interiors
They set and hold the record for simple and sorry
DrFill

looks like ****!

DrFill, I just call it as I see it.

Than you need to sell your 1000 shares of GM stock, and get new tri-focules
Caddy looks up to Lexus
Don’t forget the basics
GM wouldn’t know what a hybrid was if Toyota didn’t teach them
DrFill

That is SO obviously a Lexus Corolla with awkward 1st-gen Prius styling cues thrown in to boot!

Totally disappointing effort.

So you are saying that this interior is nicer than what Cadillac is now producing? Perhaps you are the one who needs tri-focules. I will admit to being over the top on the radio and climate controls comment, the point being that they look like they came straight from the corporate parts bin. I am not delusional, Lexus has been a quality nameplate, but it looks as is they are now falling behind the curve.

good car! can’t wait for it to come out! I might just add this to my list if it comes out with RWD/AWD

I see some cost-cutting, but it is a new platform, so they can’t save as much in places you can’t see.
Not going to be my favorite Lexus, but if it gets over 35 MPG combined, worthy of consideration
DrFill

I’m really not liking the grill at all…. what were they thinking?

Lol everybody is copying Ford’s grills now a days. Not bad looking, but not good enough for a Lexus. I hope they do some revising on it before production, especially on the face.

It’s official, Buick is now producing better interiors than Lexus. Lexus is no longer even worthy of being compared to Cadillac.
Keep going I love hearing ridiculous boasting without proof or logic from you Its all you do anyway

With that sub-$30k pricing, I’m expecting NiMH.

But what would be nice is having the more upscale models having that one more expensive battery in it. Or wait, it’s still not safe enough… ?

Anyways, is Toyota trying to say that we can’t get hybrid + looks? Oh well.

I still think this is sub-standard aesthetically for the L-finesse language. Oh well.

It’s okay. At least they made good use of the new RX’s headlights…

But at a nice price like that, who would want a Prius anymore?

-eat your cereal

Ah, lithium ion batteries. That’s what I was thinking of.

-eat your cereal

Exterior styling should have been better.
than an IS250? Is the back seat even going to be usable?

People will still want a Prius because a Prius is cheaper and has more passenger and cargo space.

Impressive! NOT!

Take a slightly modified Toyota Avensis exterior (with a Honda style grille, no less), throw in a hybrid powertrain, and (Voila!) a Lexus dedicated hybrid sedan appears. How pathetic!

tripleonefive,
if you think that cadillac interiors are better of quality than lexus, you must be smokin the biggest joint on earth!!! care to hook me up:)

Boring and uglier than Camry!

No Im not smoking If Im high on anything its patriotism bc the Gm products are clearly proven reliable Just look in JD Powers they tested the GM cars for 90 days and even though they are a MR company I believe them A car doesnt have to lkast past 90 days or 3 years bc the economy is has been so good that people can get a brand new car every 3 years and once that car is 3 years old it wont get sold to anyone else bc there is no preowned car market. I mean it and MHW TrippleoneFlipper Injuraiv and Sj79 will back me up on this

This is HILARIOUS …. after seeing the previous thread of the new Caddy, then seeing this piece of SHIAT … my comment in that thread applies in the most timely way.

This lump of poo looks like an embarassment. Why ANYONE would pay money to buy this can only be explained by the same reason that a fly likes poo. The fly is worthless and the poo is worthless. The buyer is worthless and the car is worthless.

GM makes Honda and Toyota look like any one of the Chinese losers. Did Ssangyong designers bail recently to work at Honda and Toyota?

Look at it this way
It’s a slightly smaller Lexus version of the Camry Hybrid
For less than $35k, if it’s EPA is 35 MPG combined, it’s a nice value
I thought Lexus was going to make an ES Hybrid, but that may wait until the Camry Hybrid 2.0 comes out in 2011
DrFill

Jesus christ…. i don’t even know where to start with this car the grill …. thing isn’t even a grill it is a faux grill… WHY on a lexus. it has a sticker for a badge. god i thought lexus had been eating the paint chips when they made an IS-F.

If Lexus was a family this car would be the weird brother that goes around and humps peoples legs at family gatherings

I like it alot. I see some Honda Clarient in this cars design, but other than that I say bravo to Toyota. For saying to the responsible Wealthy to say hey I care about the environment. Some might laugh but I think its important to see the True luxury in life is not necessarily the most powerful thing. Just great technology that works together and give the consumer more. Good job to Toyota for being an Example to the rest of the automotive World

This thing looks like a corolla.

That grille is absolute, 100%, undeniably first generation Ford Fusion. But the real question is…
WHY?

@shane train, you beat me to it. I wonder how much Lexus paid Ford to license the Fusion’s grille?

I also agree with those who think the interior isn’t up to Lexus standards, and that it isn’t as near as attractive as the new Buick interiors.

And as I’ve said before about other cars… haven’t we had enough of the clear taillights?

FlyingB- it seems to have attached itself to the upper part of the Honda Insight (good, I usually slip and call it Honda Prius). Just look, right in that top grille on the Insight is three razors with a kink that angles back to the headlights.

It’s strange, really. I mean it seems like such an obvious thing to steal.

@shane train: yes, it’s almost as if the car’s designers have been locked in a closet for a number of years. Like you said, it’s so obvious that one wonders how they couldn’t have known that people would make the comparison.

(And my apologies for such a poorly worded sentence above. I should have written, “it isn’t nearly as attractive…” Let this be a warning of the dangers of pre-coffee posting. )

This is hilariously bad for a Lexus…more evidence of complacency at the top. Seriously? Toyota said this is the first “dedicated luxury hybrid vehicle”? This might pass as a Toyota hybrid (though it looks like a Civic), but luxury?

Let’s see…luxury hybrid vehicle. Hmmm. Where could I find that? Oh yeah, the Cadillac Converj (admittedly, its a concept, but $100 says the production version will walk all over this poo burger).

ochy38: ‘Its like a corolla and civic got together and had a glorified child.’ Yup, I agree but I do like it.

zoomzoomer: ‘That is SO obviously a Lexus Corolla with awkward 1st-gen Prius styling cues thrown in to boot!’ The Lexus IS250 was nothing but a Corolla… so what is your point.

That grill is straight from the new Honda City. Check it out guys. It’s a real clone. Can’t believe Lexus is copying lower end Honda.

Actually I like it even more. It says about itself. ZERO BS all Substance. If your taking note Ford this is the area that Lincoln could shine in

There’s NO WAY this car will be in the upper $20’s. A loaded Prius is already in the upper $20’s. This car will start in the mid-to-upper $30’s, and full loaded will probably be around $40k+.

The interior is very nice, but the outside shows it’s a Prius too much. Lexus runs a serious risk of diluting their brand image with this car, similar to what Cadillac experienced with the bad idea called the Cimarron in the 1980’s.

The Prius is an economy car. Platform sharing a luxury car with an economy car is never a good idea.

How well this car sells will be a good indicator of how stupid the average American car buyer really is. Lexus pretty much owes it’s existence to American car buyer stupidity.

I love America. What sucks is my lack of ability to come up with my own jokes. My new thing guys is to make you think I alike domestic cars and love my country. Is’nt that funny? LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL. I love putting LOL behind stuff I say so that you guys know I am saying something funny. Otherwise you would not know.
Here I will try again… I love the American flag and blind patriotism , whatever that is. Get it?? LOL LOL.
or here’s another ditty I came up with…Aian cars suck. HAHAH LOL LOL LOL . Do you guys get it?
It will work greta on the new guys on here, see Ilikebadsake or whatever his name is fell for it. That person does not even realize that I hate America and all things it stands for. I sure hope my hero’s Al Qaeda come up with something real soon , 9/11 is so yesterday. I love it when stupid innocent Americans die the worse possible kind of deaths. Japan and Acura rules.

Oh well, gotta go. My Mom needs me trim her bikini line again. When she is done working at the plasics factory in town, she works the third shift at the truck lot at the Pilot off the highway. Not sure what it is she does there. Lube jobs I guess.

Tripleoneflipper you got some serious issues are you sure your not Bi-polar.

This car is nice and it will Serve Lexus well. Lincoln get a Move on. You need either a Sports coupe or something economy like the Lincoln C but not too small. This size would be perfect and a Hybrid.

TripleOneFlipper is hilarious. I hope that other guy sees that…=D

Uh, it does look like a Corolla, but it’s priced really nicely. Think about it: you’ll be getting 2nd gen Prius MPG and you’ll be driving a Lexus. All of this under $31K? They’ll be flying off the lots. If people are conent enough with Prius styling to buy one, they should have no problem buying this. It’s a Lexus, after all.

I like it, specially is the price here is going to be the real thing.
I just hope it has a lot of headroom for a tall guy or a no moonroof option.

yawn

This car may not be beautiful, but it’s certainly “okay looking”. But the looks aren’t the point. This car fits a niche. People that want and can afford a nice car — maybe even with a little brand cachet — , but want a car that’s more enviro-friendly. Instead of a car that gets me to 60 in six seconds, I’m content to get there in nine seconds and get 35 mpg. Instead of the “long and low” ideal that Detroit’s been pushing for decades, I’ll take a shorter car that’s 59-60 inches tall, so it’s easier to get in and out of on short errands. This is my next car.