Toyota to add 10 hybrids to lineup

[NNadir]

"In its attempt to be the leading environmentally friendly automaker, Toyota (TM) says it will add 10 hybrid cars to its lineup and plans to sell 600,000 hybrids annually, or 25% of its total sales, in the USA in the next decade...

... Consumers are demanding more environmentally friendly cars, and Press called on the auto industry to come together and find ways to address consumer concerns.


'To do that, I propose we put together a meeting of top automotive leaders in a neutral location where we all leave our company name badges at the door," Press said at the Center for Automotive Research's Management Briefing Seminar. "That way, we can engage in candid dialogue, unify and come out with a positive direction.'"

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20050804/bs_usatoday/toyotatoadd10hybridstolineup

[Deep13]

1. "Consumers are demanding more environmentally friendly cars"

Yeah, no one cares about the environment and people are not willing to conserve. That's why they cannot keep these hybrids in stock.

[carnie_sf]

2. And the "American" car companies

wonder why they are going out of business

[amandabeech]

14. Ford is light-years ahead of GM.

Ford actually developed the full hybrid technology for its hybrid small Escape SUV because it wanted to understand the technology in a way that is impossible when you only buy it.

The Ford technology was similar to that of Toyota, however, and Ford risked lawsuits from Toyota if it did not receive a license to some Toyota patents. Ford then offered Toyota some patents it holds on diesel technology, and entered into a cross-licensing agreement with Toyota.

The Escape hybrid is supposedly very popular, but Ford can't get enough of the components which are made in Japan mostly and come from Toyota's suppliers.

Obviously, the next step for Ford, if it is smart, would be to figure out or license the methods used to make the parts and manufacture, or convince a supplier to manufacture, more of the components, preferably here.

I would expect DaimlerChrysler to be more involved in the small diesel market when the cleaner diesel becomes available. Mercedes has a lot of experience in diesels and should be able to give VW, with its TDI engine, a run for its money.

[AndyTiedye]

18. The Escape Hybrid Has Made a Happy Ford Customer Out of Me

Good mileage and plenty of power. Not too big and not too small.
Bigger and more comfortable than the RAV-4 we traded for it, but
it burns much less fuel.

Surprisingly few people even know that Ford makes a hybrid SUV,
and has been doing so for over a year. I bought mine last November.
Even then, there was more talk about Toyota's hybrid SUVs
(that nobody had even seen yet) than about the Ford, which was
available from dealers with no wait.

They Escape hybrid gets better mileage than the Toyota SUVs
because the Toyotas have 6-cyl engines, which seems like overkill
given the performance Ford gets from the 4-cyl. (Better in both
cases than for a gas engine of that size by itself, since the
electric motor is also delivering power, and it can do so faster
than any gas engine).

[FuzzyDicePHL]

4. Would somebody please tell

the dumbasses in my neck of the woods who run around as the sole passenger in ginormous SUVs that "consumers are demanding more environmentally-friendly cars?"

Wish I could remember which stand-up comic did the joke about folks whizzing by in their red convertibles as she would call out, "Sorry about your penis!" She should dust the joke off and change it to vanity SUVs and trucks.

[phantom power]

5. I think the focus on "environmentally friendly" may be missing the point.

These cars make economic sense. If they didn't, people would not be buying them in such large numbers.

Of course, "environmentalism" is, underneath, about good economics. And health. And jobs. And other topics relating to enlightened self-interest.

That is the blunder that GM is making. They're still stuck in the mindset that this is about pandering to some mythical "tree-hugger" target market. They appear to be blind to the economics of it all.

[NNadir]

6. Excellent points.

An environmental approach for the long term is always the one that makes economic sense.

Short term thinking, which is unfortunately ascendent for the moment in the US (which will have hell to pay long term) is different.

If the US economy collapses, and well it might, it will be because of its fixation on environmentally unsustainable technlogies.

[Coastie for Truth]

7. Issue is not "Environmentally Friendly" but "Patriotic"

We can't keep pissing away American lives in far away places with strange sounding names, where the people quickly grow to hate us, just to feed our "heroin-meth-crack" addiction to gasoline.

We have to live within our energy budget - simple patriotism.

[phantom power]

8. Yes, I've often wondered why that argument doesn't get more traction.

Maybe it's because most people aren't making that argument? Our "president" certainly never made it. One of the many things I'll never forgive him for.

Imagine a parallel universe in which Bush wasn't an utter dick. On September 12th, he gets up in front of cameras, and tells America "we must all pull together to reduce our oil consumption, and never again be dependent on middle eastern oil!"

Everybody would have gotten on board. Everybody. They were ready to do anything he asked them. It's the kind of opportunity that maybe one president in a generation gets. Given that completely historic opportunity, he asked them to go shopping, be good obedient consumers, and vote republican.

[Coastie for Truth]

9. Three reasons why

1. Bush is an oil man.

2. Bush is scientifically/technologically challenged.

3. Michigan's "Macomb County Reagan Democrats" are against raising CAFE. (To learn about the "Macomb County Reagan Democrats" - Google "Vincent Chin")

[phantom power]

10. Jeez, I never heard that story.

I heard plenty of stories about mature behavior like keying japanese cars, etc. (which I predict will make a comeback any day now)

I often fantasize that some day, the unemployed American auto workers will beat to death the people who really deserve it: their own CEOs.

[Coastie for Truth]

12. "Tucker - The Man and His Dream" and "Roger and Me" Double Feature

Back in the 1980's when times were really bleak in the "industry" we went to a (log gone) "Mom and Pop" neighborhood theater in the Ferndale section of the Detroit suburbs to see a "Tucker - The Man and His Dream" and "Roger and Me" double feature.

That was back when Henry II was "kind of neutral", Iacocca was loved, and Roger Smith was absolutely hated. Based on the cheering during the double feature you would have thought that "the unemployed American auto workers would beat to death the people who really deserve it: their own CEOs" at any moment.

[phantom power]

13. It's a start...

I note with dissapointment that Chin is dead, and the CEOs are not only alive and non-beaten, but filthy rich.

[rfkrfk]

16. Cafe is not the problem, its non-Cafe

raising Cafe won't help is two out of
three '''cars''' on the road are junior Freightliners.

[krkaufman]

20. Heck, aren't most Michiganders against raising CAFE standards?

I used to live there, and most of those I talked to seemed to have bought into the "increased CAFE standards means loss of jobs" propaganda.

[phantom power]

21. Sure, that's what the Big Three tell them, and they believe it.

Cuz our Wise And Benevolent Captains Of Industry would never lie.

[krkaufman]

22. Exactly.

Heck, even the Dem MI Senators vote against increasing CAFE standards, don't they (due to this warped public perception)?

But then... weren't the labor unions also against increasing CAFE standards?

[phantom power]

23. Yes, but they're all in the same little group-think circle.

The labor unions, the car companies, the GOP, Dems in auto-states, they're all just repeating the same old story to each other: "making efficient cars is bad for business!"

They've been telling this story to each other for so long, that they can't stop now, even while Toyota is preparing to clean their clock in the hybrid market, and gasoline is $2.50/gallon, and headed nowhere but up.

[krkaufman]

19. GM is simply trying to cling to the profit margin they get...

... of these behemoths. Small cars and enviro-friendly cars don't net the same profit % per car.

[rfkrfk]

15. different part of the body, is the problem

I think the problem is arthritis, back problems,
and people being overweight, and-or otherwise just huge.

IMO, I think a lot of people don't like falling
down into a normal car. because, sooner or later,
they will want to get out,
and there might not be a hoist available.

[Coastie for Truth]

17. You're obviously quite a bit younger then my wife and I

(we are in our 60's) -- and my wife has severe "brittle bone disease" (both osteoporosis - beyond "Fosamax" - she is on clinical trials of Lilly "Forteo" - and scoliosis plus osteoarthritis; she has already broken her hip, her ankle, and compression fractured a vertebra).

She has no problems getting into our out of her Prius (the original "Echo" version - and a Scion xB mini school bus). She had a rough time getting in and out of our SUV (when we lived in the snow belt and needed AWD).

My Dad (former 1930's college football player and WW2 bomber pilot) never really liked his SUV --- too hard to get in and out -- and went back to an Olds Cutlass.

You need the hoist get in and out of an SUV - not a Scion, Camry, Corolla, Accord, or Civic.

[AX10]

3. and you wonder why GM is falling behind?!?

[phantom power]

11. I wonder what 10 models they are talking about.

I wish I could have gotten my Volvo wagon in a hybrid.

[Massacure]

24. I want a quasiturbine engine that is hybrided to an electric motor.

The best part about it is that it is not fuel specific. That would be my dream car. :loveya:

[NNadir]

25. A hybrid turbine would be cool.

[dcfirefighter]

26. Yes, a turbine

But, I think it would have to look at least a little outlandish (like the prius - much more successful than it's hybrid-in-sheep's clothing competitors from honda and ford)

Actually, I think I'd want it to look like this: http://www.motortrend.com/future/concepts/112_0107microbus/