How do those prices compare to the outgoing model?

 

I hope Lexus.ca has their prices wrong because $18k a hefty jump.

 

Outgoing is 94$. But they have a 10k incentive right now

 

No thanx to the 500h LOL ......

 

Agreed.....a darn nice car, but, IMO, still not worth 100K +/-. The gas LS is a substantially better value.

 

You have to pay for that second, parallel electric drivetrain (and new, fancy 10-speed hybrid transmission) somehow. You can't expect Lexus to give it away for free.

 

If I don't want to buy it, they don't have to give anything away for free

 

One does not usually buy or lease a vehicle in this price/luxury class to save gas....Andrew is not alone LOL. Lexus (apparently) doesn't break down LS vs. LS-hybrid sales-figures, but, from what I've seen, the hybrid simply has not sold like the regular LS.

 

This is true, in the USA. Hybrid sales might be a bit more brisk in Europe where gas is $6 a gallon. Also it depends on how much of a tax break(if any) you get for buying the hybrid.

Some countries in Europe tax you out the *** on things like engine displacement, tax you more for a diesel car, tax you more for a gas car, tax you more for a hybrid car, tax you for C02 emissions, tax you for a turbocharger, horsepower, physical size of the car, price bracket of the car, ground clearance of the car, etc. Basically if you dare drive something other than a ****box Dacia Sandero 1.0 liter 3 cylinder diesel, you get taxed out the *** in some European countries.

 

I agree they overtax (don't want to get too far off-topic with this)....but that does pay some dividends. Notice how much smoother and better condition they keep the roads and bridges in places like France and Germany, compared to the northern U.S. (British roads have been suffering some lately). That extra tax money, though invasive of one's wallet, sometimes makes a difference.

 

I cannot understand what Lexus is thinking pricing the hybrid so high. It still boggles the mind that you are paying more money for less performance and power. I just don't get it. The whole idea of downsizing the V8 to a 3.5 turbo is to save money on gas. But the hybrid at the price point just makes little sense. Worst part is that you can't even plug it in.

Perhaps. A better approach would to be to just ditch the gas version and all out hybrid. I would have much less criticism of Lexus if they just went a more forward thinking all hybrid LS route.

 

Lexus usually has additional standard features for their hybrids which inflate the price compared to base gasoline models. It looks like the Canadian LS500h has included at least the Luxury Package and maybe even the Executive package in the base price of the hybrid. Depending on what these equipment levels are, the spread between 500 and 500h could be much less than the $32K it appears to be.

The only road tests I have seen on the 500h show a really loaded car with the cut glass trim and folded door trim.

Steve

 

And that's exactly is the point of discussion. Sure, Toyota has the most seamless and refined hybrid technology out there with some decent fuel efficiency but in Lexus case it's been way too pricey and they are loosing the focus real fast. I can justify this CVT+4spd in niche LC range, especially since both gasoline and hybrid start at the same price point but when it comes to bread and butter sedan Lexus has completely fallen of the cliff. No one needs that kind of complexity and hefty price gap between V6TT and V6Hybrid. Lexus RWD Hybrid tech is expensive as it is and now imagine the next step in evolution being PHEV, how much that thing is going to cost once they add big battery which can run for about 30 miles or so? They need to go light on hybrid tech if they want to go PHEV. Yes they need to get rid of that refinement and complexity in order to accommodate huge battery. LS500h is not the way to go into the future. LS hybrid should have been a big battery PHEV 4 banger turbo with one electric motor right on 8 speed torque converter in order to provide some decent EV mileage. That's it.

Lexus Hybrid Drive technology has hit the wall. They went overboard chasing something completely irrelevant in 2017 while totally neglecting PHEV coming out and running the EV race.

 

Nobody buys a hybrid just to save gas and no one buys a hybrid as a performance car; we have had this discussion before. But I have learned that I am talking to a brick wall, so I will say no more on this subject in this thread.

 

I don't either. I would have thought they would have figured out by now why their hybrids sell so poorly is because they are so much more expensive over the non hybrid versions. The hybrids don't accelerate or handle as well as the non hybrids, you lose some trunk space, and the fuel savings is not that impressive and makes no financial sense.

I don't think buyers want hybrids in this market so making them standard would not be a good idea, it would likely hurt sales.