Building the 400h will raise awareness of hybrid vehicles among luxury buyers, Clements noted.
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| According to Toyota, Lexus has more than 9,500 confirmed pre-sold orders for its upcoming luxury hybrid. (Photo: Lexus) |
"Our dealers have already taken a huge number of orders, just on the word-of-mouth off of Prius," Clements said. "I think what we have, when you talk to our customers, is that there are a lot of very affluent people who would like to make a statement about Middle East oil; would like to make a statement about who they are; but don't want to make the sacrifices in terms of performance or luxury amenities. We think it's going to really resonate in the marketplace, but we will see what the market tells us."
Just how huge are the orders for the RX 400h? According to Toyota, Lexus has more than 9,500 confirmed pre-sold orders for its luxury hybrid. The new model, going on sale on April 15, 2005, will be manufactured at Toyota's Kyushu plant in Japan.