Lexus Europe boss Dimitris Tripospitis has expressed confidence in the relevance of hybrid cars, despite the UK government’s looming ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars. From 2030, new cars without a “significant zero-emissions capability” will be banned, although the government has yet to define what this means for manufacturers. In the meantime, a sales mandate for zero-emissions vehicles will be introduced, requiring 22% of a maker’s deliveries to be ZEVs from next year and ramping up thereafter. Tripospitis said that the launch of the new Lexus LBX hybrid, set to begin deliveries in Q1 2024, would not be affected by the potentially short shelf life of the crossover.

Hybrid technology is still relevant

Tripospitis stated that hybrid technology is still relevant because it has all the benefits. He added that the “self-charging” hybrid in its fifth generation has a lot of technology benefits. Autocar recently reported that Toyota, parent company of Lexus, believes that its parallel-hybrid powertrains perform enough zero-emissions running to qualify as significant-zero-emission vehicles. Richard Kenworthy, Toyota UK manufacturing boss, said that “80% of the time and 50% of the distance is zero-emissions for hybrids in urban environments.” Kenworthy added that “we believe hybrid is part of the solution that allows us to get carbon down as quickly as possible.”

The new Lexus LBX

The new Lexus LBX will only be offered with a petrol-electric hybrid powertrain. Product manager Bart Eelen told journalists that “over 50% of EV running is what we expect” and its CO2 emissions are likely to be “comfortably below 120g/km.” Tripospitis pointed to the strong residual values of non-EVs in markets with a high ratio of electrification as reason not to be concerned. He said that in Norway, which is the most electrified market in the world, the used car value of non-EVs is very high, although the market is 85% EV already. This suggests that non-EVs are still in demand and can fetch a good price. Tripospitis believes that the UK is an important market for Lexus, and he hopes that they can sell a lot of the new LBX hybrid.

Anticipating the future

Tripospitis stated that Lexus studies a lot and anticipates things. He expects his colleagues from Lexus UK to analyze the market and make assumptions about the future based on the government’s decisions. He believes that there will be countermeasures over the strategies about it. This will happen in every market, and this will play its role. He hopes that there will be either a second-hand or first-hand role for the LBX, but he thinks they are not there yet. There are a few more years to go.

Conclusion

Lexus Europe boss Dimitris Tripospitis is confident that hybrid cars are still relevant despite the UK government’s looming ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars. The new Lexus LBX hybrid will be launched in Q1 2024 and will only be offered with a petrol-electric hybrid powertrain. Tripospitis pointed to the strong residual values of non-EVs in markets with a high ratio of electrification as reason not to be concerned. He believes that the UK is an important market for Lexus, and he hopes that they can sell a lot of the new LBX hybrid. Lexus studies a lot and anticipates things, and Tripospitis expects his colleagues from Lexus UK to analyze the market and make assumptions about the future based on the government’s decisions.