The Lexus HS is the Lexus that answered a simple question — how much car can this badge carry? — with 110 kW from 2.4 . It was built from 2009 to 2018, in the decade of stability control, dual-clutch gearboxes and the first serious hybrids. Kengo Matsumoto, Naoya Suzuki, Satoshi Yokoi and Shinichi Hiranaka (pre-facelift) drew it.
How it came about
The Lexus HS (Japanese: レクサス・HS, Rekusasu HS) is a dedicated hybrid vehicle introduced by Lexus as a compact executive car sedan in 2009. Using the Toyota New MC platform, it is classified as a compact under Japanese regulations concerning vehicle exterior dimensions and engine displacement. Presented at the North American International Auto Show in January 2009, the HS 250h went on sale in July 2009 in Japan, followed by the United States in August 2009 as a 2010 model. The HS 250h represented the first dedicated hybrid vehicle in the Lexus lineup, as well as the first offered with an inline-four gasoline engine. Bioplastic materials are used for the vehicle interior.
With a total length of 4,700 mm (190 in), the Lexus HS is slightly larger than the Lexus IS, but smaller than the mid-size Lexus ES. Like the smaller Lexus CT, the larger Lexus ES and the Lexus RX FWD (which has also shared the same production line), the HS features front-wheel drive, and as such has been offered as IS's front-wheel drive counterpart. In the U.S., sales for the HS 250h lagged other models, and dropped by nearly three-quarters in 2011, despite its success in Japan. Between late May and early June 2012, Lexus removed the HS 250h from its U.S. sales lineup, while a larger front-wheel drive hybrid sedan, the ES 300h, went on sale for the latter half of 2012. According to Lexus, the HS designation stands for Harmonious Sedan.
The hardware
Power comes from 2.4 110 kW is the published figure. It weighs 1640 –. Work it out per tonne and you get about 67 horsepower — unhurried — enough for the job, not for the bragging. It shifts through a eCVT. The layout matters: the engine drives the front wheels, the packaging choice that gives a small car a big cabin. The wheelbase is 2700 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
Its family tree is legible: it took over from the Toyota Windom (XV30) (Japan); its successor was the Lexus IS (XE30) / Lexus IS 300h (AVE30) (international); assembly was at Miyawaka, Fukuoka (Toyota Motor Kyushu), Japan. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Changan Automobile Changan Alsvin, the Daihatsu Luxio, the Toyota Sai — show what else the money bought that year. Its Lexus stablemates include the Lexus ES (V20) and the Lexus GS 450h.
What it costs now
The money question first: $10,000–$15,900 is the typical asking range today, and running it — fuel and maintenance at its age — costs about $3,390–$5,145 a year. Insurance sits around $1,300–$1,920 a year. The figures are class-level estimates from the federal record, with the formula on the methodology page; the model-year pages carry complaints, recalls and repair costs year by year.