Toyota Hopes To Cut Hybrid Marginal Costs In Half - USA Today

[hatrack]

NEW YORK — The president of Toyota Motor says he has told his engineering chief to find a way to cut in half the price difference between fuel-efficient gas-electric hybrids and similar gasoline models.

Katsuaki Watanabe also said here Monday that Toyota will sell 1 million hybrid vehicles a year worldwide by early next decade, up from a planned 300,000 this year, about 60% in the USA. And he said Toyota is developing fuel-efficient diesel-power vehicles for the U.S. market but "not in the short term." Watanabe's remarks were at a briefing for Wall Street investment analysts and members of the business media.

Toyota's intentions are significant because it is big enough and respected enough in the USA that rivals often must match what Toyota does. Watanabe's remarks suggest that other automakers must begin to aggressively slice the costs of developing hybrids so they can, in turn, cut prices. And it appears there will be no immediate pressure from Toyota to develop clean-burning diesel vehicles, which use 20% to 40% less fuel than similar gas models and can be tuned to pollute less than gasoline engines.

Honda Motor, which is the No. 2 hybrid seller in the USA, said it will remain price-competitive with Toyota. Honda's hybrid system is simpler than Toyota's and that should mean lower costs "that can be transferred to the customer," spokesman Chris Naughton says.

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http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2005-09-12-toyota-hybrid_x.htm

[RawMaterials]

1. thats great

To bad GM and Ford cant sell market Similar Hybrids.
I would have less of a problem with SUV's if they were hybrids that got 30-40 MPG.

[amandabeech]

6. Ford makes a full hybrid version of the Escape smallish SUV.

They are supposed to get mileage in the low to mid 30s in city driving. They are quite hard to get, in part because Ford is having difficulties getting enought of the electronic parts and batteries. My view is that Ford should manufacture its own.

[midnight armadillo]

2. The car I want to buy

A diesel-electric hybrid minivan. I could run it on homemade biodiesel and feel very smug. Seriously though, when loaded up with kids & stuff the huge torque from the diesel-electric drivetrain would kick ass.

Ford has a concept, the Mercy Meta One: http://www.mercuryvehicles.com/vehicles/metaone/features/default.asp

It's a PZEV diesel-electic system with ~250 hp and 431 ft-lbs of torque. Cool. I'd buy one.

[papau]

3. add plug in ability and you have the ultimate urban area commute car

:-)

[midnight armadillo]

4. You got it!

I have a fantasy for doing an electric car conversion too. I only do 25 miles a day, and as long as I could cruise at 70 mph it would work for me.

That's going to wait until a) I'm out of debt, a work in rapid progress and b) I own a garage, which is two-three years away.

[freethought]

5. Well, that is another nail in the coffin

of the great American auto makers. If Toyota decided to market hybrid diesels then that will be the next nail.

[Kolesar]

8. This is great. I cannot wait for the Big 3 to fail.

:eyes:

[NNadir]

9. I don't wish for them to fail. Millions of people's lives depend on these

industries.

What I wish - perhaps with decreasing hope - is that they will make a serious effort to catch up.

[Kolesar]

10. I was being sarcastic

GM has over a dozen plants in my state, each of which employs thousands of people.

[freethought]

11. I hated to sound callous but

Let's face it, the Big Three are their own worst enemies. Averse to innovation, when they do innovate they are oftel slow to do so or do so only 'kicking and screaming'. My father used to work for GM many years ago. At the assembly plant in Framingham, MA. I don't know who owns it now.
I can empathize with workers but it is very hard for me to have any sympathy for the industry.

[NickB79]

7. They're bringing over the Yaris hatchback next spring

A 3-door hatchback popular in Europe, based off the Toyota Echo that went belly-up here in the US. I already drive a Scion xA (offshoot of Toyota) that gets 32/40 city/highway mileage, and will probably need a second car next year. The Yaris, or the new, smaller-than-the-Civic hatchback Honda is supposed to be bringing out, are what I'm looking at. The Yaris already gets 40+ mpg; give that baby a hybrid drive and I'd be in heaven.

There are so many options that they can capitalize on; I'm almost afraid to get a new car because something better will just come along the year after :-)