The Lexus LS Hybrid takes the brand’s best luxury engineering and imbues it with an efficient and potent hybrid system. It’s a niche segment, and so the LS Hybrid doesn’t have any direct competitors, per se. It carries forward into 2020 with no changes.

All LS Hybrids are badged LS 500h. What that gets you is a rather complex powertrain, consisting of a 3.5-liter V6, a small electric battery, two electric motor/generators, and a continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT) and four-speed automatic transmission in series with one another. This system puts out 354 system horsepower and a zero-to-sixty time of 5.3 seconds. Rear-wheel drive (RWD) is standard, but you can add all-wheel drive (AWD). Fuel economy is as high as 23 city mpg, 31 highway and 26 combined, albeit on premium fuel.

The LS Hybrid comes with a long list of standard items: keyless access and start, 19-inch wheels, an adaptive suspension, power-closing doors, a power-closing trunk, heated and ventilated front power seats, LED headlights, a sunroof, a power rear sunshade, 16-way power front seats, a 12.3-inch infotainment display with Apple CarPlay connectivity, navigation, and a 12-speaker audio system. You can add air suspension, adaptive LED headlights, a Mark Levinson audio system, a heated steering wheel, 28-way power front seats, power rear seats, and a panoramic sunroof.

Lexus gives every LS Hybrid the Lexus Safety System+ 2.0, which bundles forward-collision warning, automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, lane-keeping assist, and full-speed dynamic cruise control. Advanced stop-and-go cruise control is an extra-cost feature. Neither the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) nor the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has crash-tested any member of the LS family for safety, but that’s fairly normal for cars at this price range.

The 2020 LS Hybrid is the flagship example of what a brand as determined as Lexus can do to create a quiet, advanced, brisk, and engaging large sedan.