Ever since the
Prius unexpectedly became the Xerox of hybrids and a greenie icon,
Toyota
has been trying to figure out how to apply the technology to its other
models. Its results have been decidedly mixed, nowhere more so than with
its luxury lineup. But with the
2013 Lexus GS 450h, Toyota thinks it has finally figured out what a hybrid luxury car should be.
From a sales perspective, the first-generation GS 450h was a disappointment. While
we liked it quite a bit when we test-drove it
a couple years ago, Lexus just hasn't been able to move the metal.
Introduced to much fanfare in 2006 as a 2007 model, the GS was Lexus'
second hybrid and the first rear-wheel-drive hybrid on the market. Lexus
touted it as a performance sedan, even as Toyota was heavily marketing
its hybrids as fuel sippers. Whether
consumers were confused
or not, they never took to the hybrid GS. Sales peaked at just below
1,800 in that first year and have gone down in each successive year. In
2010, Lexus sold barely 300 GS hybrids, roughly four percent of total GS
sales, which were about 7,000.
The cognitive dissonance presented by Lexus hybrids has been an issue since the brand launched its first, the 2006
RX 400h SUV. Only marginally more powerful than the standard RX, its improvement in fuel economy was similarly slight at launch. The
LS 600hL – the brand's halo car before the
LFA
sports car came along – is a six-figure, 20-mile-per-gallon hybrid
marketed as having V12 performance with V8 fuel economy, the rough
equivalent of ordering a Diet Coke with your Super Size Big Mac Extra
Value Meal. The "Lexus Prius"
HS 250h,
with neither particularly good fuel economy (35 mpg combined) nor any
sporting aspirations, has been a critical and sales disaster and is
rumored to be on the chopping block.
While Toyota's simple, "better mileage" definition of its hybrids is
clear, Lexus has combined green machine and muscle car in varying doses,
such that you never quite know what you'll be getting with a
gas-electric Lexus.
While the new GS 450h continues to pay homage to two different masters,
Lexus has, from the outset, done a better job at splitting the
difference. With an entirely new V6 engine and revised hybrid system,
the 2013 model has remarkably improved fuel economy, while sacrificing
just a bit on the raw performance side. According to Lexus, the new
model will be rated at 31 mpg combined (29/34 city/highway), an
improvement of eight miles per gallon over the old 2011 model. Do the
math and that's a 35-percent improvement, which seems like a pretty good
tradeoff for less than half a second in 0-60 time. By Lexus' stopwatch,
the 2013 GS 450h does 0-60 miles per hour in 5.6 seconds, compared to
5.2 seconds for the old GS hybrid.
The 2011 GS was offered with three engine choices: A 303-horsepower
3.5-liter V6, a 342-hp 4.6-liter V8, and a hybrid V6 with a combined
output of 340 hp. Lexus has simplified all that in the 2013 redesign and
now your choices boil down to hybrid or not, with the V8 gone.
According to Lexus, nobody bought the V8-powered GS 460 anyway, and by
its estimation, the new hybrid will serve well as the top-of-the-line
model. The new hybrid V6, while still displacing 3.5 liters, has been
redesigned to run on the Atkinson cycle, hence the improved fuel
economy. Total system output is 338 hp, compared to the non-hybrid's
306.
The hybrid battery pack still uses nickel-metal hydride batteries, but
they have been repackaged to give the GS hybrid more trunk space (13.2
cubic feet, up from 10.6 on the old model). Toyota has also upgraded the
hybrid controller (it's now similar to the one found on the LS 600hL)
for improved cooling and thus, greater efficiency. Maximum voltage is
limited to 500 in eco mode, while peaking as high as 650 volts in Sport
mode. And yes, there is a Sport mode in the 2013 GS 450h, just as in the
standard GS. In fact, there's even a Sport-Plus mode in the hybrid,
which stiffens up the shocks, as well as offers the more aggressive
throttle response and tighter steering feel of the regular Sport mode.
Putting the drive selector into Sport also pulls a nifty trick on the
hybrid's power gauge, which as you can see in our Short Cut video below,
magically turns into a tachometer, not unlike it does in the
CT 200h.
The GS hybrid also has a button-activated EV mode, just like Toyota's
other hybrids, and a button for traversing slush and snow.
Thankfully, we drove the car in Southern California along with the
standard GS 350, so we didn't need to press the latter, opting to leave
the drive selector alone and stay in the same normal mode used for EPA
testing for the majority of our time behind the wheel. During our short
afternoon, we saw 29 miles per gallon during a 100-mile drive that
included some rigorous right-pedal application and manual shifting of
the car with its steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters. The fuel
economy was clearly the thing about the GS 450h that impressed us most,
but the hybrid also benefits from all the styling, interior and chassis
upgrades afforded the standard GS 350,
as detailed in our First Drive.
We're quite fond of the GS overall, and while we're not so sure we
agree with Lexus' proclamation that the hybrid stands atop the model
range – more like beside it – it is the only way to get the optional
bamboo interior trim, which looks quite nice. And how else would you
not-so-subtly let your passengers know that you care about the
environment than to bedeck it with a sustainable plant?
Turning to matters of greater importance, our initial impression was
that the GS 450h felt a lot heavier than the standard GS. Indeed, at
4,190 pounds there's nearly 400 more pounds of Lexus in the hybrid. When
we did punch up the Sport-Plus mode to try and make the car feel
smaller, it helped, but there was still no confusing the hybrid for the
standard GS. Good thing most owners aren't going to have both cars
parked side-by-side in their driveway.
But thanks to the almost-instant torque of the GS 450h's electric
motors, the car can leap off the line with a good bit of aggression,
though dead-stop acceleration in a hybrid is always going to feel
different than it would in a V8. Smooth power delivery is the GS's
forte, and the extra push of the electric motors at speed is blended
with the torque of the engine as well as we've felt in a hybrid. The
brakes, on the other hand, still feel like regenerative brakes. They
bite like real brakes, but then the hybrid system's computer takes over
the car's deceleration and your attempts at modulating them will go for
naught. This is probably the biggest impediment towards making a hybrid
sports sedan feel "right," and suffice it to say that Lexus has yet to
find that magic.
But it has found the right trade-off between performance and fuel
economy. While this "top-of-the-line" model isn't any faster than the GS
350, and given its weight penalty it's not the standard model's dynamic
equal either, the GS 450h still seems more like what a hybrid Lexus
should be. Lexus made a big deal at its introduction about the GS 350
being a "no compromises" sports sedan, but the irony here is that
Toyota's engineers made a lot of good compromises to make the hybrid
turn out this well.
Pricing of the GS 450h won't be announced until March 2012, ahead of an April release.
Lexus is holding firm on the GS 350
at a base price of $46,900 (plus $875 handling), but there's no telling
if it will do similarly with the hybrid. The outgoing GS 450h carried a
hefty $12,050 price premium over the base GS, but did include a higher
level of standard equipment. Lexus has some ambitious expectations for
the hybrid GS, especially when you consider that it hasn't cracked
four-digit sales since 2007. Lexus reps said they expect 10 percent of
GS sales to be hybrids, which would put annual sales of the GS 450h at
about 2,400. Yes, that's a projected 800 percent improvement.
But before we deride this as simply crazy talk, it's worth reflecting on
the most recent hybrid to join the Lexus lineup, the 2011
CT 200h. The 42-mpg compact hatchback has far outpaced expectations, selling over 12,000 units through November. Its
raison d'etre
is to offer high mileage first, albeit wrapped in a sporty package.
That the GS 450h is now following suit shows that perhaps Lexus has
finally decided paying fealty to fuel economy makes as much sense for it
as it does for Toyota.
