{"id":36654,"date":"2026-09-08T16:47:30","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T20:47:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=36654"},"modified":"2026-09-08T16:47:30","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T20:47:30","slug":"as-ev-rush-fades-automakers-pivot-to-multi-energy-platforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/as-ev-rush-fades-automakers-pivot-to-multi-energy-platforms","title":{"rendered":"As EV rush fades, automakers pivot to multi-energy platforms"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.detroitnews.com\/gcdn\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2026\/09\/04\/PDTN\/91612171007-lexus-es-hybridfr-34.jpg?width=660&amp;height=372&amp;fit=crop&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"You'll know the 2026 Lexus ES 350h hybrid by the mail slot in its front fascia (versus the 2026 Lexus ES EV).\" width=\"516\" height=\"291\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"gnt_pg_img_cap\"><em>You&#8217;ll know the 2026 Lexus ES 350h hybrid by the mail slot in its front fascia (versus the 2026 Lexus ES EV).<\/em><\/div>\n<p><em>Henry Payne, The Detroit News<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Indeed, the eighth-generation ES was originally planned as an electric model as U.S. and California regulations pushed automakers toward EVs \u2014 and as Lexus targeted the Chinese market in addition to its traditional U.S. and Japanese markets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Despite the government mandates, however, U.S. EV demand\u00a0<a class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" href=\"https:\/\/www.detroitnews.com\/story\/business\/autos\/2025\/07\/22\/payne-winners-losers-movers-highlights-of-u-s-auto-sales-six-months-in\/85321373007\/?gps-source=CPINLROADBLOCK&amp;itm_medium=onsite&amp;itm_source=digital&amp;itm_content=inlinelearnmore&amp;itm_campaign=2026ENTAUGBAU\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\">plateaued around 8% of the market<\/a>\u00a0in 2025. When a new Republican administration in Washington relaxed federal-and-state-imposed regulations and EV demand fell, Lexus shifted gears.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">\u201cThe original intent was for the ES to be predominantly a battery-electric vehicle. But when we were given more flexibility and listened to our customers and what they were asking for, we made the shift into being more of a 80% hybrid, 20% BEV\u201d mix, continued Hurlow. \u201c(We were) able to make that shift as the market shifted on us. That&#8217;s the flexibility the multi-pathway approach (gives us).\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.detroitnews.com\/story\/business\/autos\/2026\/09\/08\/facing-uncertain-future-automakers-turn-to-multi-energy-platforms\/91599146007\/\">Read full article here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You&#8217;ll know the 2026 Lexus ES 350h hybrid by the mail slot in its front fascia (versus the 2026 Lexus ES EV). Henry Payne, The Detroit News Indeed, the eighth-generation ES was originally planned as an electric model as U.S. and California regulations pushed automakers toward EVs \u2014 and as Lexus targeted the Chinese market [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36654"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36654"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36655,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36654\/revisions\/36655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}