Hybrid vehicles: Can Honda slay the Prius?
Honda won't be the only automaker with a big hybrid announcement in 2009"Prius-killer". That's what some over at Honda have been calling the automaker's latest hybrid primed for launch next year - a unique, hybrid-only model with Honda Clarity design cues, better-than-Civic hybrid fuel economy, yet cheaper than a Civic hybrid.
Still, Honda isn't the only automaker with a big hybrid announcement planned for '09.
Toyota will be launching the Third Generation Hybrid Synergy Drive in hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius some time next year, in addition to debuting a few new production-ready hybrid-only vehicles at NAIAS 2009. In fact, one of those new hybrid debuts might just be smaller and cheaper than the current Prius (Toyota's new Honda hybrid-killer?).
So, can the latest Honda hybrid do what no other hybrid has come close to achieving - slaying the mighty Toyota Prius? Probably not, but who really cares? More selection, cheaper and better hybrids - isn't that what consumers really care about anyway?
Labels: honda civic hybrid, Hybrid Vehicles, toyota prius
posted by Dahcredyns at
11:04 AM
4 Comments:
Ok, let's have a real conversation about the Prius...
http://www.velvetron.com/blog/cars_and_transportation/the-toyota-prius-sucks/
Nice post webguru4peace. Are we just splogging for link relevance? You can enter the conversation and leave a link, right?
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So, I checked out this "real conversation", which is really just a rehash of old news.
Anyway, here is the post I left on this site.
"You believe that electric cars are the future but that hybrids don't make sense? Isn't that oxymoronic? Hybrids are a perfect step towards the electrification of the automobile. The path to cost-effective plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles will be bridged by today's hybrid vehicles, such as the Toyota Prius. That's what the Hybrid Synergy Drive, for example, is all about - an adaptable electric drive train.
The reality of electric vehicles requires advanced, cheap mass-produced batteries - something that today's hybrid cars are pushing automakers towards. You can't see that? You can't see that hybrid technology is just emerging? You can't see that the potential of hybrid technology is only just being tapped? Please.
If your standards had been used on computers, society would still be dominated by desktop calculators.
And your fuel efficiency test above - whatever! Most unbiased tests of the Prius have put mileage at about 45 mpg. Still, I know plenty of people that regularly achieve more than 60 mpg with their Prii."
ah.... com'on now dahcredyns, or soultek, or whatev.... are you really interested in a conversation or just...? you did a hit'n'run, but the conversation has continued on since then, and it is intelligent and balanced. I love all real conversation, so I'll keep checking in...peace
"C'mon"? I'm sorry, but please..
You didn't respond to my response to your comment until 3 days later. Plus, was your first comment really part of a conversation?
You basically put just a link on my post - a story about a Honda hybrid versus the Prius - to an article about how the Prius sucks. How is that adding to the conversation of my post? That wasn't really even on topic in my opinion.
The fact is, Honda plans to make 200,000 Prius-fighters next year, Toyota is planning to produce 450,000 Prius hybrids next year. That's 650,000 hybrids in the small car segment - that's newsworthy in and of itself regardless of your hybrid beliefs.
Anyway, I'm a big fan of small cars, but small cars are no excuse not to develop hybrids, especially if you believe in the electrification of the automobile.
Besides, if the small cars you referenced in your piece were tested under today's EPA requirements, while being updated to achieve today's safety standards, I'd bet you'd see a pretty significant drop in fuel economy, especially in congestion - a factor which still isn't measured well by today's EPA standards, even though congestion is the number one transportation issue facing the majority of commuters.
More interesting, why is Honda developing a Prius-fighter if Honda could more easily develop more fuel efficient and cheaper compact cars to fight the Prius?
Is Honda conspiring with Toyota on a who can be more stupid quest?
Inevitably, the technology that will takes today's hybrid technology to the next level will largely be the same technology that turned 4 mb computers into 1000x cheaper 4 gb laptops - at least that's what Toyota believes, and I guess considering the success of Toyota the last two decades, I'm inclined to concur.
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