GreenHybrid - Hybrid Cars - View Single Post - Prius story, from the beginning, Toyota source

Schwa · #8 (**permalink**) 07-10-2005, 07:28 AM

I found an interesting NZ site with some history:
http://www.cleangreencar.co.nz/page/prius-history

Quote:

1993
The Partnership for the Next Generation of Vehicles (PNGV) was founded. It was a 10-year project setup in America by the Clinton administration to help fund research into developing family-sized vehicles that could deliver 80 MPG efficiency. All the American automotive companies were invited to participate, using the money the government provided. Toyota was denied the opportunity to join because they were a Japanese automotive company. Toyota, very upset by not being included, secretly began a project of its own.

October 1995
Toyota revealed a concept car called "Prius". It used a new propulsion system Toyota had created called EMS, which stands for "Energy Management System". That design consisted of an electric motor connected to a regular gasoline engine using a Cone & Belt type CVT. The storage device for electricity was an ultra-capacitor, rather than a battery-pack.

October 1997
Toyota revealed the production version of Prius, claiming it would be available for purchase in just 3 months. It was no longer a concept vehicle, or even a prototype. It was the real thing, ready for sales to begin soon. That absolutely horrified the American automotive companies. Toyota already had a hybrid vehicle and they didn't even have prototypes developed yet. This model used THS (Toyota Hybrid System), a design advanced beyond EMS. It added another motor, replaced the ultra-capacitor with a battery-pack, and replaced the Cone & Belt CVT with the planetary type.

1997
Sales of the "Generation I” Prius began in Japan. Worldwide sales of the Prius would not begin until 3 years later.

Generation I Prius was on sale in Japan only in the years 1997, 1998, 1999, (some Generation I Prius, although only manufactured until the end of 1999, weren’t registered in Japan until early 2000 so these were registered as 2000 cars.)

December 1999
Toyota announced the next version of Prius would be available for sale on the American market in the second half of 2000, and began displaying a locked 2000 model at Auto Shows throughout the United States.

2000
Sales of the "Generation II” Prius began in Asia, America, UK, Europe and Australia in limited numbers. This immediately resulted in a massive backorder delays in all countries the Prius was released in due to an overwhelming surge in consumer demand. (The Generation II Prius was not released onto the New Zealand market, probably because there simply wasn’t enough.)

This model was a major upgrade to the Prius design. The battery-pack became smaller & lighter, yet more powerful. (The packaging for the modules within the battery-pack was changed from the standard "D" to flat-rectangular. Besides the obvious physical benefits the change also reduced the internal resistance, which gives a significant electrical benefit.) The engine was modified to provide greater horsepower (from 58 to 72) and help increase acceleration speed (from 14.1 to 12.5 seconds from 0 – 96km). The Multi-Display was changed to a touch-sensitive model, eliminating the need for external buttons.

This was sold as model years: 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003.

Late 2002
Toyota announced they were now making a profit from the sale of each Prius. The success of hybrids had now become apparent.

April 2003
Toyota announced another significant upgrade to Prius hybrid system, called HSD (Hybrid Synergy Drive), as well as a fundamental body change.

September 2003
Demand for the upcoming new Prius had already exceeded the anticipated supply, even though deliveries had not even begun yet.

October 2003
Deliveries of the “Generation III” Prius began in some countries. It was an overwhelming success. The backorder list grew even bigger, forcing Toyota to increase production.

November 2003
Toyota New Zealand does the official release of the “Generation III” Prius.

December 2003
Toyota announced an increase in Prius production, but it still wasn't enough to satisfying the rapidly growing demand.

Perhaps the reason they gave it the name Prius was to make it sound like Pre-US, as in beating the US manufacturers to the market, kind of like when Apple released their first computer with built-in audio recording capability they included a system beep sound called Sosumi, in reference to Apple Records trying to sue Apple Computer becuase they thought they would be trying to steal their recording market share. The sound name was pronounced 'So Sue Me'

Ironically now Apple is actually in the business of selling music for the RIAA.