Japanese newspaper Nikkei business daily is reporting that a new Toyota hybrid will be introduced next year:

Toyota Motor Corp plans to produce 100,000 units a year of a new hybrid-only model slated for release in 2009 at a subsidiary in southern Japan, the Nikkei business daily reported on Saturday.

The new car, which will be Toyota's second dedicated hybrid model after the hot-selling Prius, will have a 2- to 2.5-litre engine and will also be sold under the company's luxury Lexus brandname, the paper said.

You may remember last month's announcement/retraction about this very vehicle, but to recap: Toyota VP of R&D Masatami Takimoto stated that there would be three hybrids announced; the next-gen Prius, a new Toyota, and a new Lexus. However, this was later retracted by Toyota, who said that it was one Toyota & one Lexus.

What's the big deal? Well, the common opinion is that the new Lexus hybrid will be a variation on the Prius, but that's less likely if indeed there's a new Toyota in the works. If you consider the Toyota lineup, I would say a hybrid Rav4 is the best fit, which means Lexus may have a BMW X3 competitor on the way.

[Source: Reuters]

The Fonz is trading in his motorcycle for a Lexus RX 400h, as Henry Winkler is making his way across Britain on a children's book tour to support the government's 2008 National Year of Reading:

Winkler, world famous for his role as "The Fonz" in the hit television show Happy Days., is now the author of a best-selling series of children's novels about a boy called Hank Zipzer, the World's Greatest Underachiever. Winkler based Hank on his own experiences as a boy with dyslexia.

The tour kicked off on 30 June and will continue until 10 July. First News and Winkler are visiting 11 schools* during their tour and stopping off at branches of W.H. Smith in Kingston upon Thames, Birmingham and Manchester along the way, where Winkler will be signing copies of his books.

I'll be honest, I had no idea that Winkler was a successful children's author, but I do know that this is my second "Celebrity drives hybrid in Britain" story today, and that definitely counts for something.

[Source: Autoblog Green]

Considering the furor it created, I had fully expected the LS 600hL gift that Lexus airfreighted to Paul McCartney would never see the light of day. However, Sir Paul was recently spotted being chauffeured around London in the dark maple red hybrid. Also of note:

Such is vegetarian Sir Paul's passion for issues surrounding animal rights and the environment that he took out the leather interior and had it replaced with cloth.

The singer demanded that no animal products were used in his new car and it has been fitted with a hand-stitched green woven fabric.

Lexus said of the decision to send the vehicle by plane: 'To ensure the car's quality and security, as well as to meet marketing deadlines, it was airshipped on a regularly-scheduled commercial flight to the UK.'

Ok, enough of about that. I feel like a gossip columnist.

[Source: The Daily Mail]

In contrast to the current US sales situation, Lexus Canada had their best June ever, posting a 22.4% increase over last year.

At 1,557 total units sold, the number pales in comparison to the US sales volume, but the rate of growth is very impressive, particularly in regard to the SUV market. Lexus Canada sold 623, which is good enough for a 55% increase over June 2007. The cars had a more modest gain of 7.4%, or 934 total sales.

The biggest eye-opener is the increase in hybrid sales, which at 192 units sold, represents a 97.9% increase over last year, and made up over 12% of all Lexus Canada sales.

[Source: Toyota]

Toyota's Open Road blog has posted a clarification concerning last week's report that three hybrids would be introduced at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show:

A report in Monday’s news indicating that Toyota might be showing a new third hybrid car at the Detroit show was the result of an apparent misunderstanding.

We’d like to clarify this: We will show one Toyota hybrid and one new Lexus hybrid.

The apparent misunderstanding was some quotes from Masatami Takimoto, the executive vice president in charge of R&D, who said that the new Toyota would be "a totally new car" and larger than the Prius.

I wonder then, could Takimoto have been talking about the new Lexus?

When the Lexus LS 600hL was released, the automotive press was quick to point out its "flaws", especially when it came to gas mileage. Being a hybrid, the flagship sedan was expected to have exceptional fuel economy, and at first glance, that didn't seem to be the case at all.

It's taken a few months for some journalists to look at the LS 600hL in a different light. We saw it first with the great review by Jonny Lieberman, and now Automobile Magazine has weighed in with a very positive take:

Unlike most hybrids, the LS isn't about outright fuel economy - this car's mission is quite clearly to give the V-8 the relaxed demeanor of a V-12 by eliminating the need to rev it quickly in normal driving. It does that...Twenty-seven mpg on the highway is nothing to be ashamed of - in fact, it's quite impressive - but the almost-as-quick LS460L is also much less expensive.

If you keep reminding yourself that Lexus doesn't want the LS to be a Japanese 7-series, you'll agree that it does a fantastic job at making its driver think he's driving on a cloud - with a million horsepower under his right foot. And there's no better reminder of that than feeling big surges of smooth, quiet torque while the tach needle rises lazily to 1300 rpm. Very V-12-like indeed.

Most mainstream reviews ignored the fact that the LSh was meant to go up against V-12 competition, no matter how well it actually performed. Quick fact: the LS 600hL, with its 5.2 second 0-60mph, is actually faster than the V12 Audi A8 (5.8) & BMW 750iL (5.4). What's more, it's only 0.1 seconds slower than a twin-turbo Mercedes S600. Very V-12-like indeed.