thelawnet

Here's a history of the LS460/600h in the UK.

LS460 introduced late 2006, pricing on the road:

LS460 £57,000
LS460 SE £65,000
LS460 SE-L £71,000

Standard spec included:
* basic cruise control
* adaptive variable air suspension with normal/comfort sport modes
* 8" satnav with DVD maps
* Bluetooth
* Voice control
* Dual climate
* 10-speaker 6-disc cd changer with fm radio
* Parking sensors + rear parking camera
* Bi-xenon headlights

Options for the £57,000 base model were:

Rear Seat Upgrade package £3,550 (cool box, door armrest leather, four zone climate with separate rear aircon, multi-function central armrest, electric memory rear seats, electric rear headrests, rear airbags, roof climate diffusers, electric sunshades)
Upholstery upgrade package £1,500 (semi-aniline seats, alcantara roof lining and pillar finishing, leather door integrated armrest)
Adaptive cruise control/pre-crash safety system (advanced obstacle detection with radar and camera, drive monitoring, emergency steering assist) £2,200
Advanced safety pack (as above, plus lane keep assist, lane departure warning, rear pre-crash safety system) £3,750
19" alloys £1500 (245/45)
Mark Levinson Audio (FM/MW 19-speaker 6-slot in-dash DVD changer, with Surround sound) £1560
Sunroof £900
Intelligent Park Assist £400 (self parking)
Power Boot Closer £350
Smart Card Entry £210
Rear Seat Entertainment (9" roof-mounted screen with remote control and twin wireless headphones) £2500
Heated wooden steering wheel £600

The SE included the Rear Seat Upgrade, Mark Levinson Audio, Sunroof, Power Boot Closer, and Rear Seat Entertainment.
The SE-L (which is a SWB - there was no LWB) included everything on the options list, excluding the heated steering wheel.

The first LS460 was produced from 2006 until 2009. It was cancelled possibly in part because of taxation advantages for hybrid cars (now eliminated).

Sales of this first model were:
Trim: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
Base: 4, 56, 15, 9
SE: 23, 52, 17, 5
SE-L: 126, 313, 108, 58

Model differences:

Base - larger boot at 505 litres compared to around 400 for the SE and SE-L, which have rear seat upgrade
The SE has the upgraded audio, fold-down screen and rear seat upgrade, but it's missing Lane Keep Assist, Adaptive Cruise and Self Parking, among others.

An AWD SE-L was announced, but only one car was produced.

In 2007, the LS600h was introduced in the UK.

Models were
LS600h £84,375
LS600h L (LWB) £86,935
LS600h L (LWB) Rear Seat Relaxation £91,195

Specifications for all LS600h cars were the same as the LS460 SE-L, except:

LED headlights instead of bi-xenon
No Lane Keep Assist (due to LED headlights)
AWD instead of RWD
All-leather dashboard option
Different wheel design (19")
Even smaller boot (330 litres) due to the hybrid batteries

The Rear Seat Relaxation option added:
Left-rear footrest, Infrared rear climate sensors, rear massage seats, wooden table, fixed wood rear console

Sales:
2007 2008 2009 2010
LS600h 19 43 11 7
LS600h L 25 83 35 -
LS600h L RSR 70 83 49 33

The car was refreshed in 2010, changes were:

* All LS460s deleted, LS600h L non-RSR deleted, only LS600h and LS600h L (with RSR as standard) available
* Boot size increased to 390 litres
* Only the LS600h L had the rear screen, and there was a choice of either 4-seat or 5-seat cars
* Adaptive cruise control and Pre-Crash safety was made optional instead of standard on the SWB
* Satnav changed to a hard disk model

2010 prices:

LS600h £90,636
LS600h L £100,086

Sales
Model 2010 2011 2012
LS600h 1 2 0
LS600h L 9 18 13

In late 2012 the new LS was introduced, with 12" blu-ray satnav/central console, and DAB radio

Models were:

LS460 Luxury £71,995 (with 18" wheels)
LS460 F-Sport £74,495 (with 19" wheels sport suspension and F sport styling)

LS600h L Premier £99,995

The new LS460 models basically offered the spec of the previous BASE model, and there was no option to add back the missing features.

Standard features on the new LS460 are:

* Power boot closer
* Mark Levinson
* Heated steering wheel (previously an option)

So compared with the previous LS460 SE-L, which the new models priced alongside, you lost, and with no chance to buy them back:

* rear seat entertainment
* Reat Seat Upgrade
* 19" wheels (probably not a bad thing!)
* the leather upgrade
* The advanced safety pack - including lane keep assist, adaptive cruise control and lane departure warning, drive monitoring
* The standard sunroof (now optional, at £1000)

The boot was almost twice the size of the SE-L, at 560 litres, albeit with the spare wheel gone, replaced by a repair kit.

The LS600h, meanwhile, retained the previous upgrades, and also gained Lane Keep Assist for the first time. Night Vision Monitor was added as a £1515 option. The boot also lacks a spare wheel and now offers a very useful 420 litres of capacity.

Sales 2012 2013 2014(Q1+2)
LS460 Luxury 3 40 18
LS460 F-Sport 0 1 6
LS600h L Premier 0 28 10

For used buyers, the LS600h offers £285 rather than £500 annual car tax, and better urban fuel consumption.

Early LS460s can be had from £10,000 with over 100,000 miles. A good early LS600h is around £20,000, it seems a little pointless to pay more for the SWB version than the LS460 SE-L, but they are still expensive. The LWB with Rear Seat Relaxation is obviously a different proposition.

Newer (2010+) LS600hs are better, but rare to market, and still generally quite expensive.