By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
 
It was a Lexus in the sky, with carbon, and it is causing Paul McCartney and Lexus no end of grief.
 
The former Beatle was given a Lexus by Toyota Motor Corp. for his help in promoting the raaather posh and expensive Lexus LS600H. In Great Britain, the hybrid costs the equivalent of $165,000.
 
Sir Paul, as the Brits like to call the knighted entertainer and environmental activist, asked that the leather upholstery be stripped out and replaced with cloth (he's an animal rights supporter and a vegan).
 
Then Lexus loaded the car, which also has a special paint job, onto a Korean air jet and flew it to Britain.
 
The British press is having a field day, going on about how that flight created a carbon footprint almost 100 times larger than if the car had been shipped by sea, as is usual.
 
The Telegraph, for instance, quotes an unidentified source in its story as saying McCartney will be "horrified after learning it was delivered by plane."
 
The paper says that a carbon-offset company, CO₂balance.com, said the plane flight "caused a carbon footprint of 38,050 kilograms [23,591 pounds] compared to 397 kg [246 lbs.] for a three-week boat journey."
 
McCartney hasn't said anything, but Nancy Hubbell, a Lexus spokeswoman at the company's North American headquarters just south of Los Angeles, called it a case of mistaken assumptions.
 
"It was a scheduled flight, so the carbon footprint was there whether we shipped the car or not," she said, adding that McCartney shouldn't be shocked or horrified as the decision to ship the car by air "was a joint one."
 
Lexus and McCartney's people jointly decided to do the air shipment to help protect the expensive paint and to speed delivery to fit into Lexus' plans to use the car in several upcoming promotional events in Britain, she said.
 
But even had the car come by boat, there still would have been grumbling.
 
The Telegraph quotes a spokesman for the anti-aviation lobby Plane Stupid complaining that "for anyone to pretend that a private limousine is in any way eco-friendly is like pretending a private jet is. It's total greenwash."
 
McCartney and Lexus have a long relationship stemming from the carmakers' sponsorship of his 2005 U.S. tour. The singer has publicly lauded Lexus for making hybrids because they use less fuel -- and have a reduced carbon footprint.

A fierce battle among Japanese automakers is likely to be staged during the Group of Eight summit in Japan this July, with carmakers using the session as a showcase for their fuel-efficient cars, including hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles.

Toyota,  Mitsubishi and other automakers will provide about 100 fuel-efficient cars to transport participants at the summit meeting, The Yomiuri Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper, reports in Tuesday's edition.

Toyota will provide about 80 hybrid cars, including luxury Lexus models, minivans and compact cars for participants making short trips around the venue. The company also is planning to provide plug-in hybrid electric cars for participants' use.

Mitsubishi will be holding test rides of its iMIEV battery-powered city car. Mazda reportedly will make a hydrogen-fueled sports car available for use. Honda is considering providing hybrid and fuel-cell cars for participants' use.

Environmental problems will be one of the major topics at this year's summit. The G8 countries consist of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.

Scott Doggett, Contributor

Egads! First there were only the econobox models: Honda's two-seat Insight and the first-generation Toyota Prius. Now there are more than half-a-dozen hybrid sedans and SUVs and more coming.

Even the luxury market is becoming crowded, giving dual meaning to the term "green car."

Toyota's Lexus brand kicked off the luxe hybrid segment with its Lexus RX 400h crossover SUV. That was followed by the LS 600h sedan. Coming soon are hybrids from Audi, BMW, Cadillac and Mercedes-Benz. Exotic carmaker Fisker Automotive will show its hybrid performance car next week at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

And now comes word that Porsche plans a hybrid version of the upcoming four-door Panamera GT.

The gas-electric hybrid will use the same system as the Cayenne Hybrid scheduled to hit the market in 2009.

Porsche said the high-performance four-door will carry its electric batteries under the luggage area with the electric drive unit mounted between the engine and transmission.

It will operate as a two-mode hybrid, able to run either in all-electric mode for short distances, or in all-gas mode or with both systems engaged as a sort of electrically supercharged power plant..

Although several reports published last summer had Porsche introducing the hybrid version right away, the automaker said it plans to introduce the Panamera next year with traditional internal combustion power plants and will add the hybrid system at an undisclosed future date.

Can the gas-electric Ferrari be far behind?

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Image courtesy of Porsche Cars North America, Inc.

If the present pace doesn't change, the million-mark could be surpassed by the end of the year .

That's not  one million a year, however, but one million hybrids since the first model, Honda's now-defunct Insight, was introduced in late 1999.

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