Toyota Motor Corp.'s Lexus unit, struggling with the worst slump of its 20-year history, aims to sell 25,000 new luxury hybrid Lexus sedans a year in hopes the fuel-efficient model can revive demand for the brand.
The HS250h, the seventh gasoline-electric auto in Toyota's U.S. lineup, should get 35 miles (56 kilometers) per gallon of gasoline in combined city and highway driving when it goes on sale in late August, Greg Thome, a Lexus spokesman, said yesterday. Toyota hasn't announced pricing yet.
Sales for Lexus fell 37 percent through April, mirroring the overall plunge in U.S. demand for autos this year. Toyota's Prius and other gasoline-electric models have also lost popularity as fuel prices in the U.S. dropped 38 percent over the last 12 months.
"Given where fuel prices are likely to be later this year, 25,000 sounds pretty optimistic," said Jack Nerad, executive market analyst at Kelley Blue Book, an Irvine, California-based automotive research firm. "Without fuel prices that are consistently higher, it's hard to know the true size of the hybrid market."
U.S. hybrid sales, which jumped for part of last year when gasoline prices surged to more than $4 a gallon, have since dropped 40 percent this year to 74,640, according to Bloomberg data. U.S. gasoline prices now average $2.425 a gallon, according to AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report Web site.
