You know the hybrid car market has evolved when some models are “dedicated” hybrids and others aren’t. What’s a dedicated hybrid? According to Toyota, it’s one that’s been built from scratch, as opposed to an existing model that’s been modified to accept a hybrid system.

Sounds a little like splitting hairs, but according to Toyota Canada’s managing director, Stephen Beatty, the new Lexus HS250h is “the world’s first hybrid-only luxury vehicle”.

It’s also part of the company’s push to get more Lexus hybrid vehicles onto the roads of North America. Thanks in large part to the success of the Prius, Toyota has sold almost two million hybrids worldwide thus far, with its luxury division accounting for about 184,000 of those. At this point, Lexus sells one hybrid vehicle for every five of its other models sold. Toyota/Lexus thinks that Canadian consumers need more upscale hybrid vehicles, and in keeping with a depressed market and all-time-low automobile sales, the new HS250h is the company’s first four-cylinder version. “It’s a luxury car with a conscience,” Beatty claims.

Dedicated it may be, but the HS250h is still built on an existing platform. In this case, it’s that of the Avensis sedan, which is manufactured in the U.K. and sold throughout Europe. It has a 2.4-litre four-cylinder gas engine—also based on the power plant of an existing model, the Venza—mated to an electric motor with a nickel-metal-hydride battery pack made by Panasonic and a continuously variable transmission, for a total power output of about 187 horsepower and about 138 foot-pounds of torque.

“About” because these numbers can fluctuate, especially torque output, due to the fact that the drive train’s efficiency largely depends on the state of the battery pack’s charge, engine load, and driving mode. While driving, you can stay in Normal mode, or choose between Power and Eco modes, and the performance differences are dramatic.

Either way, Lexus is claiming impressive fuel-consumption figures for the HS250h: some 5.7 litres per 100 kilometres combined rating, which puts it leagues ahead of anything else in this class. In fact, there really isn’t anything else quite like it at this stage of the game, and it is indeed the only four-cylinder hybrid luxury car on the market. Lexus is pitting it against the likes of the Acura TSX, the BMW 335d, and the Mercedes-Benz C300.

Unsurprisingly, the HS250h has a plethora of intriguing engineering features, not the least of which is a unique heat-recovery system that takes heat from the exhaust system and uses it to warm up the engine’s coolant more quickly. This, in turn, allows the hybrid drive system to revert to battery power and shut off the gas engine more readily when it’s not needed, and in the process improve fuel economy—by over seven percent, according to Lexus’s manager of advanced technology and power train, Marc Stuyver. Lexus held the Canadian launch of the HS250h in Winnipeg, and this particular feature is bound to be welcomed by drivers come wintertime. As well as upping fuel economy, it means a warmer cab, faster, when the mercury starts to drop.

Lexus has also made fairly extensive use of ecologically friendly materials in the construction of the HS250h. Things like seat cushions, luggage trim, and various upholstery parts are made from nonrecycled plant matter such as castor beans, and the volume of recycled materials used throughout the car is said to be some 50 percent more than in most conventional models.

Lexus introduced an “Eco-Vehicle Assessment System” in 2005—in a nutshell, this measures a car’s environmental impact, taking into account things like emissions produced during its construction, carbon dioxide created during disposal of the car at the end of its life, and emissions produced during its operation. Apparently, the HS250h produces 33 percent fewer emissions during its life cycle than a nonhybrid vehicle in the same market segment.

For all its technological sophistication and environmental responsibility, the HS250h feels very much like a Camry or a Prius behind the wheel. There are differences, of course, but assembly quality is as tight as a drum and performance is comparable to that of a four-cylinder version of Toyota’s best-selling sedan. A couple of small things to mention: the back seat doesn’t fold down or have a pass-through because that’s where many of the hybrid drive train components are located. You can order Lexus’s centre-console-located Remote Touch system, which is essentially a mouse that lets you access things like the sound system, climate control, GPS, and so on. Virtually identical to the same feature found in Lexus’s RX 350 SUV, it works a treat and is very easy to get along with. I figured it out almost immediately, and it’s quite user-friendly. Still, the overall driving experience of the HS250h would have to be rated as reassuring and placid, rather than spirited or exciting.

Which will likely suit prospective buyers down to the ground. “First and foremost,” Beatty explains, “customers are looking for the luxury car experience. We like to think of the HS250h as purposeful technology wrapped up in a thoughtful design.”