Hi All:

___Someone posted over in one of the Edmunds Hybrid forums this evening that the Lexus RXh 400 SUV will retail at $52,000! That is a $10,000 premium over and above the Lexus RX330! If so, we now know where the greed really lye’s. Or that Hybridization actually does cost between $3,500 and $10,000 in real world OEM costs? These outrageous MSRP’s and ADM’s are going to be the death of the Hybrid as we know it if this type of garbage continues. I cannot wait to see those 9,000 Lexus RXh owners with down payments already in place swallow that $10K as they write the check out for the balance. That is one huge markup if I do say so myself. Not an hour or two later, someone posted a link to an online First Look on the RXh which stated just a $4,000 premium? We shall se soon enough.

___As a sidebar, I have been discussing the $8,000 premium for the Accord Hybrid over and above the PZEV based I4 Accord EX-L w/ NAVI in the same forums. I will never be able to except an $8,000 premium for the same car with a bit more performance, small amount more fuel economy (possibly?), and higher emissions. In the case of the Accord I4, the fuel economy of the AH might actually be less when both are driven by the same Hypermiler under the exact same conditions.

___Good Luck to us all as we are going to need it

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net