January 07, 2004
Green Business is Big Money for Toyota
Toyota has unveiled the first hybrid luxury SUV under the Lexus brand name, after the popular Prius was picked as car of the year at the Detroit auto show and by Motor Trends.
The Lexus RX400h sport utility vehicle (SUV), based on Toyota's second-generation hybrid technology, will be more fuel-efficient than an average compact sedan and have peak output of almost 20 percent above the non-hybrid RX330 SUV. Hybrid vehicles use electricity to boost fuel efficiency and reduce noxious exhaust emissions.
"In real-world terms, you can drive the new 400h from Los Angeles to New York and back nine times -- that's 54,000 miles -- and produce less smog-forming emissions than painting a room with a gallon of house paint," Lexus group Vice President Denny Clements said at the unveiling at the Detroit auto show. ...
GM, however, thinks that the Prius is the wrong way to go. Their hybrid trucks are only available for fleet purchase. GM, Ford, and Chrysler saw market share fall in 2003, while Honda and Toyota increased theirs. There's probably more to that than hybrids, but it doesn't seem to have hurt either Japanese automaker to offer them.
Posted by natasha at January 7, 2004 08:28 PM | TrackBackThe US auto manufacturers once again proved why they are going to lose this game. They just don't get that Toyota isn't just doing good, they are actually learning how to build the technology of the future and figuring out how to do it better, cheaper, faster as this alternet article about solar power shows. Prius is a top seller in both Japan and Europe where any improvement in mileage is greatly appreciated. Our US car makers must believe that only the US market matters because they clearly aren't addressing the overseas market where gas is MUCH MORE than $1.50 per gallon.
Besides which, it isn't just the mileage that makes the Prius an environmentalist's friend -- it is the ultra low emissions! If you have to drive any distance, cutting your pollution to almost nothing is really a winner even if you don't get 72 gallons per mile.
Stupid Detriot thinks that short term profits (and outright greed) obtained by selling polluting SUVs is the way to make their business grow. Wait until people have a real choice.
Posted by: Mary on January 8, 2004 12:42 AM