on 2040-cars

Auto blog

US buyers show little interest in big hybrids

The idea of producing large, luxury-vehicle hybrids is turning into a "what were they thinking?" exercise in futility, USA Today reports. General Motors is discontinuing hybrid versions of the Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon SUVs, while Mercedes-Benz and Toyota's Lexus division are doing the same with their S-Class hybrid and LS hybrid sedans, respectively. The culprit? Big price increases for fuel economy improvements that border on the unimpressive. Granted, the Escalade hybrid gets 31 percent better fuel economy than the standard version, but that still maps out to a combined fuel-efficiency rating of just 21 miles per gallon. That can be seen as a worthwhile increase, if it didn't cost over $8,000 extra. The 2014 Escalade Hybrid, for example, starts at $74,425 while the non-hybrid can be had for $66,295. Meanwhile, the Lexus full-size hybrid costs $6,000 more than the regular version but only gets 1-2 mpg better combined fuel economy. The result of all these high costs? Low sales. Through April, GM sold 82 of its hybrid SUVs and pickups, down from 541 a year earlier. And the LS hybrid sales were in single-digit territory for April. That isn't stopping Lexus from promoting its hybrids as the right solution (with the wrong facts), though. There are still automakers giving big hybrid vehicles a shot, though. Nissan's Infiniti division is selling a hybrid version of its QX60 and says an impressive 10 percent of QX60 buyers choose the hybrid, which costs just $3,000 more. Looks like money talks. Featured Gallery 2015 Cadillac Escalade: First Drive View 35 Photos News Source: USA TodayImage Credit: Copyright 2014 Brandon Turkus / AOL Green Infiniti Lexus Mercedes-Benz Hybrid lexus ls gmc yukon mercedes-benz s-class infiniti qx60 chevrolet tahoe

The Lexus Sriracha IS is the hottest Lexus ever

For this year's Los Angeles auto show, Lexus created its hottest IS ever: the Sriracha IS. And the company did so by putting Sriracha sauce in everything! It's in the paint, the steering wheel, and even in the trunk! Check out the video if you don't believe us. Ok, so Lexus didn't really put Sriracha in everything. In reality, the company partnered with Huy Fong Foods to produce this one-off car, and turned to West Coast Customs to execute it. It features a custom paint job designed to emulate the look of Sriracha sauce, and green accents on the grille, mirrors, brake calipers, and exhaust tips are a call back to the food company's sauce bottles. View 13 Photos Inside, West Coast Customs created some clever and surprisingly subtle changes. The climate controls only show increasing heat levels, and the seat heater buttons are bright red with little flames above the seat icons. The drive selector trades sport mode for "Sriracha" mode. The seats get red and green inserts along with logos stitched into the seat backs. Other parts of the interior have green contrast stitching, too. The steering wheel is a particularly unique piece. West Coast Customs found a liquid that looks similar to sriracha, put it a resin container and shaped it to fit the steering wheel, so now it looks like there's sriracha in the steering wheel. It also has a warning sticker for "hot handling." And lest you think there isn't any real Sriracha anywhere in the car, you'll find 43 bottles of the stuff in the trunk, and the key fob dispenses some as well. As for how Lexus tops this, perhaps they could make a habanero or ghost pepper car. Or maybe they could show us a real IS F successor. We think another V8 Lexus would come across as pretty hot. Related Video:

Toyota to pay $17.35M federal fine for delayed Lexus RX recall

This summer, we brought you news that Lexus was recalling over 150,000 RX and RX hybrid crossovers tied to its massive pedal entrapment issue. An update to that story included word from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that it was considering launching a federal investigation into potential delays by the automaker in notifying owners about the problem. Now comes news that parent company Toyota will pay a hefty $17.35 million in fines for delaying its recall of the 2010 Lexus RX 350 and RX 450h. According to The Detroit News, the Japanese automaker is being forced to pay the maximum fine for delaying recalls - and this isn't the first time. In fact, this is the fourth time since 2010 that Toyota has been required to do so, including paying $48.8M in civil penalties in 2010 for failing to recall vehicles in a timely manner - in three separate campaigns.
In addition to the fines, Toyota has agreed to restructure the way it handles quality control and review "safety-related issues." Though the Japanese automaker has not admitted any wrongdoing, Toyota has agreed to meet with NHTSA for six months on the matter and may extend the meetings another six months.
US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says he is counting on Toyota to improve its ability to address such safety issues: "With today's announcement, I expect Toyota to rigorously reinforce its commitment to adhering to the United States safety regulations," he said in a statement.