Toyota to Offer Hybrid Lexus Sedan in 2006

Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s largest seller of gasoline-electric autos, said its next hybrid would be a Lexus luxury sedan able to accelerate from zero to 60 mph in less than six seconds.

The Lexus GS 450h will start sales next year and will be Toyota’s first hybrid with rear-wheel drive, the company said. Toyota said the sedan’s combination of a V-6 engine and an electric motor would get about 30 miles per gallon of gasoline.