rai

I was reading Prius selling 12000/month in the US, and still waiting list full price or possibly mark-ups. Then they bring the noise with $50K RX400 sold-out take a number have a nice day. And did I mention the Highlander hybrid?

with the gas price (hype IMO) and the media blitz on hybrids, gas hype etc.. and Toyotas limited supply it adds up to free pub plus I'm sure huge profits.

Its a case of the rich getting richer.

Toyota is going to dominate the hybrid market, they plan on selling (maybe) 1/3 of their cars as hybrids in the near future.

PsychoBen

If any auto manufacturer is going to prosper, I am glad it is the one that was willing to front the money to push the envelop on alternative-power cars. Hopefully, more will follow suit, and we can all become less dependent on crude oil.

marthafokker

I just picked up a Prius for my wife on Monday night. While I was visiting my cousin last night, he test drove it... and guess what, he loved it.

He was a big hater of Hybrid because he said it is an under power (and expensive) car. And a car mechanic at that. You know... displacement, turbochargers, superchargers, etc are the only way to get power... etc.

Now that he drove it, he thought that "toy" was like a v6 Camry. Had him drop the hammer and he said he could not believe how much torque that thing generated.

I am happy Toyota took the risk. I just can't believe GM/Ford/Chrysler could not get anything close when our tax money was given to them to do this very thing. Hydrogen my Arse!!!! Guess what? Toyota said they can use this electrical powerplant in a Hydrogen fuel cell car as well. Just replace the gas engine with a hydrogen fuel cell engine.

Ford and its hybrid technology? They now have to pay Toyota royalty because they found out their Engineers were basically re-inventing a Toyota design. So when you buy a Ford hybrid, Toyota gets a small profit for it.

The state of America is so so SAD.

rai

Porsche is working with Toyota for a possible hybrid Cayenne.


I read about GM cobbled together a hybrid colorado PU truck. C&D I think. It sounded like a sad joke or something a HS shop put together. The engine shut-off worked at odd times and power delivery was fits and starts.

I'm not saying GM can't do it, but IMO it's like the Indy 500 and Toyota has a 100 lap lead.

Funny thing GM had the EV-1 and you'd think they'd be in the lead.

BPUKiller

Toyota is licensing their technology to Ford as well. They are just fattening their coffers.

Sam

marthafokker

GM/Ford just went into Junk status by S&P this morning...

I hope we (tax payers) do not have to pickup all those retirement pensions if/when GM/Ford goes under...

rockville

This is a bit miss leading. Ford actually developed their own system. The problem was they came up with the same solution as Toyota. Toyota already filed the patents so Ford had to either work around the problem or pay off Toyota. I've heard (though can not find a source) that Toyota also license some Ford hybrid patents.

As a parallel, the three big US based jet engine companies were GE, Pratt & Whitney and Allison Engine (now part of Rolls Royce). Every year they would meet and basically declare what patents they would be infringing on that year. They spent so much money fighting each other over IP claims that it became cheeper just to tell each other what they were doing.

hpark

i don't understand why people think that buying a hybrid is "saving money"
the savings on gas vs the additional $$$ paid for the hybrid about even out.....wait a few years until hybrid prices drop IMO.

CBeyond

.. or wait a few years until gas prices go up another dollar or two per gallon. Instant savings. I don't care what reason people use to justify buying a hybrid vehicle. It consumes less fossil fuel, and that's a good thing in the long run. The world's oil resources are FINITE.

b0mbrman

[QUOTE=CBeyond,May 5 2005, 03:46 PM] .. or wait a few years until gas prices go up another dollar or two per gallon.