World's First Performance Hybrid SUV

Lexus introduces the premium RX400h four-wheel drive sport utility vehicle, calling it the world’s first performance hybrid SUV.

Pictured on page 1, the RX400h is powered by Lexus’s Hybrid Synergy Drive, a full hybrid system that allows the vehicle to operate in gasoline or electric mode alone or in a combination of both, according to driving conditions. This produces a combination of high performance, quiet, seamless progress, frugal fuel consumption and ultra-low carbon dioxide emissions for its class. The car can accelerate from rest to 62mph in 7.6 seconds, yet in combined cycle driving can match the fuel consumption of a four-cylinder gas engine.

The powertrain comprises a conventional 3.3-litre V6 gas engine with front and rear electric motors, together delivering a maximum power output of 268bhp via a seamless, continuously variable automatic transmission and intelligent electric four-wheel drive.

European sales of the Lexus RX400h will commence in the first half of 2005.