BillT Posted November 14, 2004 Posted November 14, 2004 No new information appeared at the Sacramento Auto Show. I did get some clarification about what Lexus has already stated in their announcements. The evaluation for mileage has started this month, November, and we should hear the results soon. The term "pre-sales confirmed orders" refers to the people who have paid deposites. Because of the demand, Lexus has ordered dealers to stopped taking deposites. People can now only get on the waiting list referred to as the "wish list". If you have paid a deposite, they consider you one of the really early persons, and therefore likely to actually to get a 400H. They have not yet started telling people when their personal car will arrive. The U.S has about 200 Lexus dealerships, who wil get a total of 9000 400H for model year 2006, or 45 for each dealer. Lexus has ordered people to stop saying the the 400H costs up to $4000 more than the RX330. According to the show person, this means it can cost more than $4000 extra. Extra information. The sound from the rear entertainment system can go through the audio system while the car moves. The video can not. In other words, you do not need head phones to listen to a DVD moving while the car moves. The new 5 inch by 9 inch white brochure feels like leather. More wood will appear in models made after the first production runs. The first ones will have a hi-tech metal look.
Lexusfreak Posted November 14, 2004 Posted November 14, 2004 The RX 400h will arrived in dealers starting next spring if what I have read is correct. B) I'm not 100% sure if it will be built at either the Japan or Ontario plants.
wwest Posted November 14, 2004 Posted November 14, 2004 At the Seattle auto show I was assured that shipments would begin in March. Within a week Lexus was saying April 15th.
denslexusgx470 Posted November 14, 2004 Posted November 14, 2004 At the Seattle auto show I was assured that shipments would begin in March. Within a week Lexus was saying April 15th. ← yup, April 15, 2005 is the official launch of the RX400h at all dealers, at a starting price of $42k (i think) :D
LexRexBlue Posted November 15, 2004 Posted November 15, 2004 No new information appeared at the Sacramento Auto Show. I did get some clarification about what Lexus has already stated in their announcements.The evaluation for mileage has started this month, November, and we should hear the results soon. The term "pre-sales confirmed orders" refers to the people who have paid deposites. Because of the demand, Lexus has ordered dealers to stopped taking deposites. People can now only get on the waiting list referred to as the "wish list". If you have paid a deposite, they consider you one of the really early persons, and therefore likely to actually to get a 400H. They have not yet started telling people when their personal car will arrive. The U.S has about 200 Lexus dealerships, who wil get a total of 9000 400H for model year 2006, or 45 for each dealer. Lexus has ordered people to stop saying the the 400H costs up to $4000 more than the RX330. According to the show person, this means it can cost more than $4000 extra. Extra information. The sound from the rear entertainment system can go through the audio system while the car moves. The video can not. In other words, you do not need head phones to listen to a DVD moving while the car moves. The new 5 inch by 9 inch white brochure feels like leather. More wood will appear in models made after the first production runs. The first ones will have a hi-tech metal look. ← Where did you get the new 5x9" brochure? I haven't seen it anywhere.
BillT Posted November 15, 2004 Author Posted November 15, 2004 Where did you get the new 5x9" brochure? I haven't seen it anywhere. ← The Lexus Representitive at the show gave it to me after I had asked about explicitly about the 400H. I have not seen it anywhere else.
denslexusgx470 Posted November 15, 2004 Posted November 15, 2004 hey when does the Sacramento Car Show usually run? I wanna go to that next year!
RX400h Posted November 15, 2004 Posted November 15, 2004 No new information appeared at the Sacramento Auto Show. I did get some clarification about what Lexus has already stated in their announcements.The evaluation for mileage has started this month, November, and we should hear the results soon. The term "pre-sales confirmed orders" refers to the people who have paid deposites. Because of the demand, Lexus has ordered dealers to stopped taking deposites. People can now only get on the waiting list referred to as the "wish list". If you have paid a deposite, they consider you one of the really early persons, and therefore likely to actually to get a 400H. They have not yet started telling people when their personal car will arrive. The U.S has about 200 Lexus dealerships, who wil get a total of 9000 400H for model year 2006, or 45 for each dealer. I'm guessing then, that each dealership will receive approx. 5 per month. Since I'm number 15 on our dealer's list, I may not see mine until the Summer - we'll see. Lexus has ordered people to stop saying the the 400H costs up to $4000 more than the RX330. According to the show person, this means it can cost more than $4000 extra. That statement by the show person makes no sense to me. How could "up to" mean "more than"? Extra information. The sound from the rear entertainment system can go through the audio system while the car moves. The video can not. In other words, you do not need head phones to listen to a DVD moving while the car moves. The new 5 inch by 9 inch white brochure feels like leather. More wood will appear in models made after the first production runs. The first ones will have a hi-tech metal look. I think Lexus customers will prefer wood, although that shouldn't be a show-stopper for me. ← Thanks for the info; I look forward to getting a brochure.
BillT Posted November 16, 2004 Author Posted November 16, 2004 hey when does the Sacramento Car Show usually run? I wanna go to that next year! ← Keep checking URL http://sacautoshow.com
denslexusgx470 Posted November 17, 2004 Posted November 17, 2004 hey when does the Sacramento Car Show usually run? I wanna go to that next year! ← Keep checking URL http://sacautoshow.com ← ok, thanx! B)
denslexusgx470 Posted November 17, 2004 Posted November 17, 2004 hey when does the Sacramento Car Show usually run? I wanna go to that next year! ← Keep checking URL http://sacautoshow.com ← ok, thanx! B) :cheers: ← oh man! i just missed it! <_<
jgoodman Posted November 17, 2004 Posted November 17, 2004 does anyone know what the current MPG estimates are for the 400h? thankee
denslexusgx470 Posted November 17, 2004 Posted November 17, 2004 does anyone know what the current MPG estimates are for the 400h?thankee ← don't quote me on this, but i got this from another site: Here's the latest article from today's Wall Street Journal on the hybrids. Toyota says the new RX hybrid only gets 28mpg and there's a premium over the conventional engines. Not sure about you guys out there but 28mpg is a HUGE disappointment for a hyrbid as far as I am concerned. I was hoping it would get mid to high 30s on fuel mileage. Why bother with this hybrid when there's so little improvement in fuel economy??? For consumers considering a new car, 2004 promises to bring a new breed of gasoline-electric hybrids: fuel-sipping sport-utility vehicles that Toyota Motor Corp. executive Jim Press likens to "eating a rich chocolate souffle without any of the calories." A trio of hybrid SUVs this year from Toyota and Ford Motor Co., expected to be unveiled this week at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, offer V6- or V8-like acceleration with the fuel economy of a compact car. That's good news for consumers looking to ease the guilt in buying a gas-guzzling SUV. But the auto makers are taking a risk that buyers could be disappointed by the new hybrids. That's because the gas-electric SUVs aren't likely to provide the eye-popping fuel economy that has attracted buyers to hybrid small cars such as Toyota's Prius or Honda Motor Co.'s Insight. To boost hybrids' appeal, auto makers are making upcoming versions bigger, more rugged and more powerful -- and compromising on the technology's original selling point: fuel economy. The auto makers are hoping that consumers will compare the new hybrid SUVs not to cars like the Prius, which Toyota claims averages about 55 miles to a gallon, but to big SUVs like the Ford Expedition, which is rated at just 15 miles per gallon in combined city and highway driving. Ford will officially unveil a hybrid version of the popular compact Escape SUV, which is expected to go on sale in late summer, and Toyota will show off two hybrid SUVs based on the Lexus RX330 and the Toyota Highlander, due also later this year. Though they won't be shown at the auto show, General Motors Corp. has said it plans to launch later in the decade hybrid versions of its full-size SUVs such as the Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon. Ford says it sacrificed little of the regular gasoline-engine Escape's rugged capabilities when it transformed the compact, car-based SUV into a hybrid that couples a four-cylinder engine with an electric motor. Toyota says both the Lexus and Toyota SUV hybrids use an electric-propulsion system coupled to a V6 engine to not only boost fuel economy but also enhance acceleration and give the vehicles all-wheel-drive capability. Ford and Toyota say they plan to charge extra for the hybrid SUVs, though neither of them would say how much the premium is likely to be. The questions are how much extra fuel efficiency consumers are going to expect in return for the extra cash, and how much they will value the status of having one of the first gasoline-electric SUVs on the block. A hybrid SUV based on the Lexus RX330 should get about 28 miles per gallon, up from the 20-22 mpg of the standard version. The front-wheel-drive Escape hybrid should get 35-40 miles per gallon in city driving, with an all-wheel-drive configuration getting "mildly lower" fuel efficiency than that, says Shari Shapiro, an Escape hybrid marketing manager. (Unlike conventional gasoline-engine vehicles, many hybrids get better mileage in the city. That's because their electric motor kicks in more often at slower speeds, saving fuel.) In actual day-to-day driving, the front-wheel-drive Escape hybrid might get average fuel economy somewhere in the 25-to-30-mpg range, and a four-wheel-drive version would get even less. The regular V6 Escape is rated to average 21 mpg, while a four-cylinder Escape is supposed to get 25 mpg. Toyota, meanwhile, is aiming to squeeze 35 miles of driving out of a gallon of gas on average with both its Lexus and Toyota SUV hybrids. But that's an "engineering target," and in actual day-to-day driving, customers are expected to get as much as 20% less, averaging about 28 mpg. A conventional V6 RX330 is rated to get 20-22 mpg. A conventional V6 version of the Highlander, which is based on a chassis and mechanical systems similar to the RX, goes 20-21 miles on a gallon of gas. A four-cylinder Highlander is supposed to get 23-24 mpg. Ernest Bastien, a Toyota Motor Sales manager in Torrance, Calif., says the hybrid mileage advantage is still "significant" since both hybrids would deliver V8-like performance. Still, Toyota officials worry that consumers' expectations of hybrid-electric vehicles are too high. "The best feature people like in the Prius is its fuel economy," says George Yamashina, head of Toyota's product-development center in Ann Arbor, Mich. But their expectations are so lofty that "the biggest complaint we get about the Prius is its fuel economy." Mindful of such consumer tendencies, Honda will likely pass on developing a hybrid SUV or minivan in the U.S. for now. Instead, Honda plans to sell in a year or two a V6 hybrid sedan, most likely a version of the Accord car, to add to its hybrid lineup of the small Insight and Civic hybrid cars. Despite such worries, Ford's Ms. Shapiro says the Dearborn, Mich., company expects to sell more than 20,000 Escape hybrids a year. Toyota expects more than 10% of RX330 and Highlander sales, which run about 90,000 and 120,000 annually, respectively, to come from their hybrid versions. Both Toyota and Ford say they are ready to take a big step in selling hybrids to more mainstream consumers by making little differentiation in terms of styling between hybrid SUVs and the gasoline-engine versions of the same vehicles. While those decisions may disappoint environmentalists and trend-conscious consumers in California and certain other states, ultimately that's the right move, says Jerry Reynolds, a longtime Ford dealer and the Car Guy on a weekly AM radio talk show in Dallas. That's because even in a state like Texas, where "the biggest drivers of automotive sales are power and style," more consumers are showing interest in hybrids, Mr. Reynolds says. But most of those people, he says, "don't want to tell the whole wide world [they] drive a hybrid," and want to look cool in a rugged SUV even if it's a hybrid.
BillT Posted January 13, 2005 Author Posted January 13, 2005 Greetings, The Sacramento CA dealer sales Associate sent me a letter saying nothing we of this forum did not already know. I called him for more information. He said he expected to have a show room 400h arrive in February. We probably could not drive it, but at least we could look at it. He hopes it will have a window sticker showing the options and price. Sincerely, Bill Thomas
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now