TORRANCE, CA - The Lexus HS 250h will be the first vehicle to offer Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), USA, Inc.'s all-new telematics systems. Lexus Enform with Safety Connect will be available on the dedicated luxury hybrid sedan when it goes on sale late this summer, according to the manufacturer.

"We are proud to introduce these services and advance our relationships with our Lexus customers by providing them the features they need to feel safer and more secure while on the road," said Jon Bucci, TMS vice president, Advanced Technology Department.

Available by subscription and offered on navigation-equipped HS vehicles, Lexus Enform with Safety Connect is a service built on the foundation of valuable safety and security services with the added layer of more convenience-oriented features and specialized advanced technologies. Safety Connect services will be available separate of Lexus Enform on all non-navigation HS sedans, also by subscription.

Safety Connect serves as the cornerstone of the HS 250h's new telematics offerings and will provide fundamental safety and security services to help extend confidence to HS drivers on the road.

Safety Connect will include the following four safety and security facets:

• Automatic Collision Notification (ACN)

• Stolen Vehicle Location (SVL)

• Emergency Assistance Button (SOS)

• Roadside Assistance

All Safety Connect calls will be sent directly to Toyota's dedicated, specialized telematics response center operated by ATX Group, a leading provider of global automotive telematics services for over a decade.

Lexus Enform services will provide a new level of care to HS drivers, with a diverse assortment of offerings ranging from operator-assisted destination entry to up-to-the-minute weather reports. The cornerstones of Lexus Enform are two convenience-based services: Destination Assist and eDestination. With these features, the HS 250h becomes a virtual information tool-giving drivers the ability to send and receive the data they choose and need along the way. Both services also rest on the solid foundation of Toyota's dedicated ATX call center.

Live-operator assistance with finding destinations will be just the press of a button away with Destination Assist. While either parked or driving, subscribed HS drivers will be able to easily connect to an operator to ask for help finding local points of interest from dining to gas stations, dry cleaners to museums. As an added bonus to Lexus drivers, Zagat's best-in-breed restaurant content will also be available via Destination Assist.

Destination Assist operators will help steer drivers to the nearest or preferred destination, locating either the specific business or address requested or offering nearby choices for, for example, a specific type of cuisine or nearby business or service. Once the driver tells the operator their choice, the destination is sent wirelessly to the vehicle's navigation system.

An expedient self-service feature of Lexus Enform is eDestination, which will allow the HS drivers to go online, via the Lexus.com owners' Web site, to select and organize destinations of their choice and then send them wirelessly to their vehicle. From a personal computer, Lexus Enform-subscribed HS owners will be able to simply log in to their account and search for destinations by one of three options, point of interest (POI) name, category, or address, in Lexus' POI database-the same nationwide database in the vehicle's navigation system.

By entering either a city and state or a Zip code with their search option, users will receive a numbered list of relevant choices all called out on a map screen. The user will then simply select the destination of their choice and save it to either an existing or new folder. When finished, the user simply selects "save to vehicle" and their personalized destinations will be available to load into the vehicle's navigation system upon the next start up. Going hand in hand with the quality Lexus drivers have come to expect and rely upon in Lexus vehicles, Lexus Enform drivers will also have easy online access to Zagat-rated restaurants nationwide via eDestination.

With eDestination, subscribed HS drivers will be able to build a destination library of up to 20 customized folders, with up to 10 destinations per folder-meaning an unprecedented total of 200 personalized destinations being sent to the vehicle. The folder cache will remain online for users to save or update as they see fit. For example, folders with the addresses of friends, family, or favorite local restaurants can be saved and maintained while new folders can be created for specific occasions-a vacation ("Road Trip to Boston") or business meetings ("LA Biz Travel")-and updated to meet current plans. With this feature, HS drivers will be able to plan trips easily and in advance, and even update along the way using a personal computer.

The HS 250h's Lexus Enform navigation platform will automatically include the updated voice recognition system currently only available on the MY2010 Lexus RX. This new voice recognition system, called voice command, features VoiceBox Technology's award-winning, patented Conversational Voice Search, and allows drivers more flexible, easier access and control.

Voice command software enhances standard voice recognition and functions as a supplementary layer "on top" of the existing voice recognition system, an application not seen before in the automotive world. Without voice command, users must speak commands in a specific order, e.g., "Phone > Dial by Name > Dial Bob." Now this same task can be completed simply by saying, "Call Bob at home."

Additionally, the HS will feature XM NavTraffic and XM NavWeatherservices.