Republican presidential candidate John McCain has come under fire from the United Auto Workers over his daughter's Toyota Prius—and how exactly she paid for it. McCain originally told The New York Times that he had purchased the imported hybrid sedan for daughter Meghan, but recently changed his tune in an interview with a local Detroit newscast, saying that she "bought it, I believe, herself."
Toyota has always been a patient company that plans for the long term. After 10 years and countless billions of dollars, its efforts to dominate the market for hybrid cars continue to pay off.
Less than a month after a dealer starting taking deposits for delivery of plug-in hybrid Priuses, that dealer is now returning them to the customers. Toyota clamped down on the plan, which the dealer—Magnussen’s Toyota of Palo Alto, Calif.—said was simply a way of responding to customers who wanted to make sure they were first in line for the promised plug-ins.
Magnussen’s Toyota of Palo Alto, Calif., took the bold step of starting to take $500 deposits for 2010 plug-in Priuses—even before a grid-capable Prius has been announced as an official product. Eric Doebert, business development manager for Magnussen’s, said, "It makes sense that people should get in line now in order to have a shot of even taking delivery in the first year that the vehicle is available."
Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe told reporters in Tokyo yesterday that fleet tests of an experimental Prius, modified to be rechargeable, will be moved up to late next year from 2010. Bob Lutz, General Motors product czar, told reporters at a press event that its plug-in hybrid, the Chevy Volt, “wasn’t even comparable” to a Prius converted to plug into the electric grid. The race continues.
In recent years, the State of California has become the unofficial capital of plug-in hybrid technology. But proposed certification standards from the California Air Resource Board (CARB) could create an obstacle for small companies selling plug-in hybrid conversion kits.
In early July, various print and online media announced that Toyota would offer a rooftop solar panel as an option on the next generation Prius due in 2010. Some hybrid fans got excited about the possibility of on-board solar energy generation, while solar power and automotive experts cast the news aside as fluff.
The American automobile industry is very large and very complex. In a recent conference held in Las Vegas, David Kiley of BusinessWeek and Peter De Lorenzo of Autoextremist.com tried to make sense of it. They talked about cars that run on green beans, vapor and tinsel marketing, and dying roses.
A sobering reminder of the hazards in adding plug-in capabilities to hybrids comes from reports that a plug-in Prius conversion was destroyed in a fire. The news spread quickly through the online community of plug-in enthusiasts, bringing calls for all known information to be publicized as quickly as possible.
With gasoline topping $4 a gallon, hybrids are so hot that the auto industry can’t produce enough to satisfy demand. Carmakers point to a shortage of battery packs, but auto battery expert Menahem Anderman told HybridCars.com that the real shortage is a “shortage of planning.”
Despite the current mad rush for fuel-efficient vehicles, sales of the most popular hybrid car, the Toyota Prius, are unlikely to mushroom this year. In fact, most dealers in Toyota’s western region are out of stock. “Unless Toyota sends a lot more cars, we’re going to see Prius wait lists spin out again to about six months,” said Toby Parks, sales managers at Toyota of Berkeley, in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Unless you have limitless amounts of money to spend on gasoline, buying an SUV recently has proven to be a losing gamble on oil prices staying low. And the pain doesn't end at the pump—resale values of SUVs and light trucks have dropped precipitously with the increase in gas prices. Hybrid owners on the other hand, have seen their used Priuses' residual values go up just as dramatically as those of the gas-guzzlers have fallen.
For years, sporadic anecdotes about hybrid battery failures have been reported by individual hybrid drivers. But finally, the automakers are reporting the first numbers about the likelihood of batteries failing after the warranty expired.
This week, Toyota will raise the price of a few of its cars, including a $400 hike on the Toyota Prius and a bump on the Camry Hybrid by $300. But in the past four weeks, the average price of regular gasoline increased by almost 30 cents a gallon. Therefore, in actual ownership costs, the price of Toyota hybrids is cheaper this week than it was a month ago. Welcome to the new hybrid math.
In a personality shift that would make Madonna jealous, the hybrid gas-electric vehicle is being transformed from ecoweenie-mobile to lean green crime-fighting machine. Law enforcement departments across the country are considering the use of hybrid vehicles as police cruisers.
After speaking with a “well-placed Toyota source,” Edmunds’s Auto Observer is reporting a few details about the third-generation Prius, due out in 2009. The quintessential hybrid will be bigger, faster, and more fuel-efficient.
When Jim Press was the top executive for Toyota USA, he said that the Japanese government never directly aided the company in the development of the Toyota Prius. Now, as president of Chrysler, he says that the Prius had 100 percent government backing. Why would Mr. Press flip-flop?
Toyota and Honda plan to significantly step up production in order to keep up with the global demand for hybrid vehicles.
ZAP, the California-based electric car maker, is teaming up with Colorado-based Hybrids Plus to offer plug-in conversion systems for the Toyota Prius and Ford Escape Hybrid.
A mock ad for the Toyota Prius depicts a hybrid driver soliciting the services of a prostitute. The clever piece of "culture-jamming" simultaneously mocks the self-righteous tendencies of hybrid drivers and subverts the do-good jingoism of corporations pushing their so-called green wares.
Lexus will introduce a hybrid wagon, based on the hybrid architecture of the next-generation Prius, at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show, according to a report from Motor Trend.
California-based OEMtek says it can outfit a Prius with a bigger battery pack and double its fuel economy to more than 100 miles per gallon—for a cost of $12,500.
One of the industry’s top contenders in the race to manufacture more powerful next-generation batteries for the auto industry has integrated a lithium ion battery into a Toyota Prius. EnerDel, based in Indianapolis, Ind., exhibited the research vehicle with the new battery pack at the International Electric Vehicle Symposium (EVS-23) in Anaheim, California.
In an ironic twist, one of the cleanest running cars on the road, the Toyota Prius, is having trouble passing the Georgia emissions test. This problem was first reported in April, 2007. Prius owners have become dumbfounded and frustrated over the ordeal.
via Atlanta Journal-Constitution
November 28, 2007
Toyota unveiled visual design concepts for their next hybrids at the 2007 Geneva International Motor Show.
When an unknown musician becomes an overnight sensation with a runaway hit album, expectations for the follow-up release often rise to unrealistic levels. Toyota faces similar anticipation from loyal fans waiting for the next-generation Prius.
The Toyota Prius will be celebrating its 10th anniversary later this year. Looking back to the birth of the Prius, the engineers behind the vehicle were apprehensive about being able to achieve what appeared to be an impossible goal. But that task may be child’s play compared to the next 10 years for the Prius.
