Toyota aims to cut cost of hybrid cars - GreenHybrid

Jason · #1 (**permalink**) 09-13-2005, 10:51 AM

Quote:

Toyota Motor said it aimed to narrow the price difference between hybrid vehicles and conventional petrol-powered cars, as soaring oil prices stir interest in the fuel-efficient engines. Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe told investors in New York that the company planned to halve the gap between the production and development costs of the two types of vehicles as soon as possible, a company spokesman said.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...a_050913121318

Schwa · #2 (**permalink**) 09-13-2005, 04:45 PM

Toyota is making all the right moves in this game of chess. Already having hybrids out in the market for so long, and now already working on cutting the costs down will give them a big advantage in the coming years as oil consumption goes through the roof and production tapers off. They better have some skunk works projects for EVs though, unless they plan on buying Mitsubishi or something.

AZCivic · #3 (**permalink**) 09-13-2005, 09:20 PM

Toyota already produced the RAV4 EV, so I know they have experience with EV production. The Prius is already partly EV, so honestly I think Toyota is the best positioned of all the automakers for pure EV's.

Schwa · #4 (**permalink**) 09-14-2005, 12:06 AM

That's true, and they are manufacturing (and scaling up production) large traction motors that can be used in EVs, so if and when there's competition in that department they can re-launch EVs into the market pretty fast with a bit of lead time.

stevejust · #5 (**permalink**) 09-15-2005, 04:23 PM

yeah it's funny... I drive a HCH, but if I were going to bet on either Honda or Toyota in terms of investing in their stock, I'd go Toyota. I wonder how that makes any sense.

Atomic Frog · #6 (**permalink**) 09-15-2005, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AZCivic

Toyota already produced the RAV4 EV, so I know they have experience with EV production. The Prius is already partly EV, so honestly I think Toyota is the best positioned of all the automakers for pure EV's.

With their experience with EV, I think it would be appropo to offer the next gen Prius as a plug in (or perhaps have a plug in option?). To me, it would seem a natural fit: Toyota knows their hybrids (Drove a Prius today for first time. It was pretty sexy, I must admit!) and they know their EV's. Combine the two like that College prof. did out in California and BOOM! ~100 mpg!

Schwa · #7 (**permalink**) 09-15-2005, 06:55 PM

They already said they won't do that and gave some lame excuses such as "electricity being generated with coal" and the battery pack being too expensive. I tend to agree with the pack being too expensive, I don't think people will want to pay an extra $10k for the plug-in option, but I really think the government should be allowing that to be returned through income tax like the $15k Hummer tax break. Even just for a few years will be enough to bring the cost of batteries down due to large scale production, then it's a matter of applying it to more vehicles.