Lexus HS 250h Video with Mark Templin
This latest video from Lexus USA features General Manager Mark Templin talking up the new HS 250h:
A quote from the video:
“I like being at Lexus because we get to try new things, we get to change the world, we get to do things the right way instead of the same old way they were always done. The HS is a great example of that.”
Sure, there’s more than a little marketing speak in there, but it’s certainly bold and as far removed from the general automotive pessimism as I’ve seen lately.
Even more than that, it brings up a good point about the HS 250h—it’s a vehicle designed to move things forward. After all, even with three hybrid models, the company needs to strengthen the green connection. What better way than to have a Prius equivalent in the lineup?
Similar Stories:
Comments
To enable your avatar, please sign up with the Gravatar service.
Please keep your comments relevant to this news story. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.
Debate is welcome and encouraged, but no personal attacks will be allowed. Failure to respect all participants on this website could result in removal and blocked access.
I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE Lexus! That quote is one of the reasons I love Lexus so much.
lol, did he get contacts for this interview?
im not too thrilled about the HS but this was a good video
Must have had a fashion update.
Hi,
I drive a Lexus IS 220 DIESEL (only available in Europe) as Luxury Line and that car gets - with a 180 HP engine - about 39 mpg…how about the HS, ‘cause he said that it’s the Lexus with the highest mpg ever.
However, I gotta say that I’m kinda disappointed by the car since first of all it was close to $50.000 (and this is not due to taxes but because Lexus sells them at a much higher net price than in the US, where you get a nice IS 350 for that which is not even available in EU), up to now it’s been the car I had to take to the dealership the most often times of all the cars I’ve ever owned (4 so far) (seatbelts (changed), seats (changed), dash board was rattling, had to change injection nozzle, steering wheel is rattling, brakes where changed in a recall, 4th gear of the MT will plop out, transmission makes weird noises, CD-changer will “eat” CDs, car won’t lock up and all that sort of things within 3 years and 65.000 miles!!! Mostly guarantee, but still I got other stuff to do than hangin’ out at a dealership) and the dealer is an idiot who does not really care for his customers (Problem: Lexus is not very well established in Europe and there are only very few dealers over here!).
I was really looking forward to owning a Lexus since they always win costumer satisfaction, their plant is so highly praised and Japanese cars are supposed to be so dependable. All paired with the incredible design and the exclusiveness of NOT having a Merc, Bimmer or an Audi like everybody else around here does.
I really love the design of the Lexus IS, which was the main reason I bought it even in a country where “we” supposedly built the best cars in the world - Germany - and I earned some bad looks from our neighbors for buying a “jap-car”...but the quality is so poor. Hope they do better with the HS and all the others!
P.S. Lexus IS 250C Luxury (again 350 n.a.) with Nav and full line HERE is around $95.000…go figure…
why did you buy a diesel???
I’m surprised to hear about your IS troubles, and wish you luck getting everything worked out. Very nice to hear a perspective from Germany, thanks for sharing.
Because a gallon of gas was about $12 when I bought it
Diesel was “only” $8 back then and is now around $5.60 and Gas $7.20…the diesel gets an mpg of 39 and sometimes higher, depending on how you are on the accelerator (my record with the Lexus is 57.37 mpg over 50 miles!) while the gasoline engine is much worse. Now take into consideration, that I do more than 20k miles each year, do the math and you know why =)
Only three or four years ago, diesel sales were more than 50% all over Europe, explaining why for example VW and Audi are so “strongly” trying to push their TurboDieselInjections (TDI) in the States or why even BMW has their X5 as a diesel version offered in the US. This is also the reason why German car makers are so “bad” in the entire hybrid thing…they were putting all on diesel engines since you don’t fool around with TWO engines (or even more) but only have one. But one that is very efficient. I can only recommend test driving a diesel since I have never understood why Americans don’t like it (lived in the States for over a year) - the diesel actually suits the American way of driving where you won’t go incredibly fast compared to our Autobahns, rather drive slowly or do the silly 4-way-stop thing where you need a big “kick” at low rpm…all this is offered by the diesel. My IS 220d has its maximum torque between 1.800 rpm up to 3.000 rpm….
Plus, forget all the predjudices. It won’t stink, it won’t rattle, it has tons of torque and is very quite. It will start immediately even with temperatures below freezing. Many people won’t believe that my Lexus is a diesel…
Any more questions? I’m happy to answer ‘em!
Best regards from Germany
P.S. I’m a student at a German University…I have an English test in half an hour - wish me well
It’s just so sickening - the brochure you get with the car that has all dealers IN THE ENTIRE EUROPEAN CONTINENT listed has 4 pages, 2 pages being cover and back plus legal notes and copyright issues.
No one over here knows Lexus - I guess you could kind of compare it to AUDI over there - it’s just not in the costumers mind - great cars, but not noticed except for the Hybrids every now and then.
Another problem with the Lexus cars is that they are made for the American market - you will notice that in many very small details that get on your nerves from time to time AFTER having bought the car.
Before that, I was driving a French Peugeot (< also great cars and not those crappy unreliable means of transportation that they used to be - most sold car in Europe is French!). You could change the onboard computer to every language you’d liked - it even made a difference between Portugues for Portugal and Portugues for Brazil! The stupid $50k LEXUS can’t display anything but English. It’s not that I won’t understand it, it’s just a matter of “how do I honor a costumer”! Where’s the problem for Lexus to have the warnings and informations translated into German/French/Italian/Spanish…it had already been done for most Toyota models!
Next thing is the turn signal. Traffic in Europe is more hectical and roads are much more winding than in the US. You often need to signal even though you’re not moving the steering wheel more than 45° and we have a lot of “roundabouts”. If you exit a roundabout one needs to signal but you won’t do a perfect 90° angle like you do on most corners were you signal in the US…so the turn signal switch won’t move back into it’s “zero” postion automatically. It’s just a very small thing - I know that it sounds kind of stupid - but it’s awfully getting on your nerves when you drive a lot and always have to “reset” the turn signal switch manually, if you know every 20 year old crap car can do better.
There are many more examples were you “feel” that as a European costumer, you’re a costumer of 2nd level.
Next thing is that the DIESEL engine itself is very, very awesome and also available in many Toyota models (Auris, Avensis, Verso) over here with front wheel drive. The Lexus is the only car equipped with a rear wheel drive and this engine…because the engine is only offered in Europe were Lexus knows they won’t sell many cars they refused to develop an entire new transmission. Solution for them was TO PUT IN A MANUAL TRANSMISSION FORMERLY USED IN A TOYOTA MID-HEAVY-DUTY TRUCK!!! only sold in Japan (also with rear wheel drive)...now imagine how Lexus-like this transmission could be.
Why I bought it then? Well, I test drove the Toyota Avensis with the Diesel engine and the Lexus IS 250 w/ MT, liked both and then PRE-ORDERED (due to Lexus’ great reputation!) the combination of Diesel and IS, never expecting the turn out to be so poor…
Hope your test went well, Fabian!
The biggest problem with diesel was the new gas quality law passed in the USA—this effectively killed the sale of new vehicles with a diesel engine until changes were made. Now that manufacturers have adjusted, there’s sure to be a sales increase.
Hard to disagree with you here, I can certainly understand your frustration. I suppose the only good news is that Lexus looks very committed to improving their standing in Europe, so hopefully there’s some changes for the better.