Equipment issues not on Lexus ES radar

Luxury brand Lexus has defended its decision to make sophisticated safety equipment optional in the cheapest version of its new ES sedan, when it is standard in all other versions of the car.

The $63,000 ES 300h Luxury petrol-electric hybrid comes without a millimetre-wave length radar sensor in the grille that is standard in all other models, including the equivalent $65,000 V6 petrol ES 350.

Lexus charges $3000 for the radar in the ES 300 h Luxury, boosting its price to $66,000.

The four model ES line-up, which goes on-sale today, also includes the $72,000 ES 300 h Sports Luxury and the $74,000 ES 350 Sports Luxury.

Lexus Australia has widely promoted the fact that it offers a hybrid in the ES range as the price leader.

The radar provides input for the Lexus Pre-Collision Safety System (PCS) and active (distance and speed measuring) cruise control. PCS combines active and passive safety features, including Pre-Collision Brake Assist.

“At a base level we believe this car is carrying a good level of safety specification,” said Lexus Australia chief executive Sean Hanley. “So the hybrid equation doesn’t come into that pricing strategy at all.

“We are not compromising safety to bring that hybrid to market at $63,000.”

Lexus argues that rather than the hybrid losing out, the V6 is gaining equipment the Luxury specification level wouldn’t normally receive.

So why is it important to go cheaper with hybrid? Hanley again.

“The decision to lead ES line pricing with hybrid is a result of higher consumer demand and the commercialisation of hybrid technology.

“More than 30 per cent of Lexus customers locally choose hybrid as their preferred drivetrain and we believe ES will grow that proportion as we edge ever closer to our goal of 50 per cent hybrid.”

At 60 per cent of sales, the ES hybrid target is even higher.

The ES is back on sale in Australia after a seven year gap. It was essentially a re-bodied luxury version of the Toyota Camry when it departed our shores at the end of the fourth generation in 2006, after a 14 year run posting 7000 sales.

Through its various iterations it retained a conservative look, a 3.0-litre V6 engine and a front-wheel drive platform. Pricing crept as high as $84,990.

Its run ended because the fifth generation was not built in right-hand drive, but that decision has now been acknowledged as a mistake and reversed. The sixth generation ES, complete with a new stronger, longer platform shared with the US market Avalon (not Camry) is back with us, featuring a conservative evocation of the Lexus corporate spindle grille.

So why is the ES back?

“We believe that both ES models offer a very compelling proposition to luxury vehicle buyers by combining peerless levels of comfort, space and refinement,” Lexus Australia chief executive Sean Hanley said.

"Over the past seven years luxury vehicle customers have been looking for a vehicle like ES and we are happy to welcome them to the Lexus family."

The proposition boils down to this: it's big and spacious, it's got heaps of gear and it costs much the same as smaller German luxury cars.

Standard ES features include 10 airbags, satellite navigation, reversing camera, parking sonar, blind spot monitor, moon roof, eight-speaker audio, smart entry and start, digital radio, a leather-accented interior and dual zone climate control.

Sports Luxury models add tri-zone climate control, HID headlights, 15-speaker Mark Levinson audio, heated and ventilated front seats, a power bootlid, manual side sun shades, rear centre armrest-mounted controls and semi-aniline leather-accented interior.

Both drivetrains comes from families familiar to Australian Toyota and Lexus buyers.

The 2GR-FE V6 is offered in the locally-built Toyota Aurion, while the hybrid drivetrain is employed in the recently launched Lexus IS 300h and is scheduled to go into a new GS 300h in early 2014. It's also used by the locally-built Toyota Camry Hybrid.

The all-alloy 60 degree DOHC V6 makes 204kW at 6200rpm, 346Nm at 4700rpm, accelerates from 0-100km/h in 7.4 seconds, consumes 95 RON at a claimed average of 9.5L/100km, emits 224 grams of CO2 per kilometre and drives via a six-speed automatic transmission.

The hybrid’s 2.5-litre 2AR-FXE four-cylinder Atkinson cycle engine and two electric motors produce a combined 151kW and an unspecified max torque output around 270Nm.

The 300h regenerates electricity by braking, which is stored in a nickel-metal hydride battery – rather than latest tech lithium-ion type.

Claimed average fuel consumption is a miserly 5.5L/100km and CO2 emissions just 130g/km. It accelerates from 0-100km/h in 8.5 seconds and drives its front wheels via a planetary gear-type continuously variable transmission (CVT). It can run for short periods of time as an EV at speeds up to 45km/h.

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