Quite frankly I don't understand Templin's comments. Plug ins make great sense for urban driving and Lexus/Toyota is falling behind other manufacturers like GM and Hyundai. IMO Templin is rationalizing, not explaining.
His comments make perfect sense for me.
For me as well: I was reading a very interesting interview to Alain Uyttenhoven appeared on the most important italian car magazine/website "Quattroruote" and I'll try to translate his words although my english is everything but good:
Question: "Plug-in hybrid: the Germans are focusing very much. Will also time to Lexus?" Answer: Toyota was the first to come in with the Prius Plug-in. As Lexus, we could start at any time, but for that we are observing the plug-in hybrid will only work in countries where there are very substantial incentives. Without these, we must add between 7 and 10 thousand euro to the price just to have larger batteries, not to mention the increase in weight, around one hundred pounds. Unlike batteries of hybrid, also, the batteries of plug-ins have a limited longevity: in Europe there are some taxi Prius traveling between 500 thousand and one million kilometers. If the laws and regulations of some countries would change we could move right away, but now the plug-in is not the best solution."