Toyota Prius

Outselling the Toyota Prius with a cheaper Prius C

Early numbers indicate the Prius C is hot

Prius C off to a good start, but will it drive Toyota hybrid sales much higher?

A lot of hype on Friday over the first 3 days of Toyota Prius C sales. With 1200 units sold, the Prius C topped February sale’s totals for both the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf, many pointed out. While that’s somewhat interesting, it’s not really surprising based on numerous consumer surveys.

The real benchmark is conventional Toyota Prius sales, followed by total Prius family sales. Read more…

Hybrid explosion when Toyota brings Prius production to US?

Time for US Prius production

A hybrid win for Ford as well?

If the Toyota Yaris hybrid is successful in Europe, Toyota plans to move Hybrid Synergy Drive powertrain production to Europe. As a result, the production of batteries and other hybrid components would move from Japan to Europe, a move that would bring down hybrid costs in Europe according to some Toyota execs.

Based on sales so far in 2012, US Toyota Prius hybrid sales will hit the sale’s numbers necessary to bring localized hybrid powertrain production to the US — at least based on European metrics.

Isn’t it time to bring Prius production, and lower hybrid prices, to the US? Read more…

Maybe the Chevy Volt was hyped a little too much too early

Too much hype too early, despite long term potential

OMG. Did you hear? A Chevy Volt burped!

It seems like the Chevy Volt has been around for years already, yet it’s only been on the market for a little over a year, and hasn’t even achieved 10,000 total sales. Still, the Volt is in the news almost daily.

GM and fans of the Volt might claim all the Volt hoopla — much of it negative — is mostly just political shaninagans, and that all this political spin has hurt Volt sales. Hence, today’s Volt production shutdown announcement has been treated like a major news story.

But I don’t blame politicians for the media circus that the Volt has become. If you’re going to blame someone, you have to blame GM because they set up the big tent for this circus years ago. Read more…

What if every automaker sold almost 30,000 hybrids last month?

Toyota Prius - dumbest idea ever

When optimism is worse than pessimism

I believe one day fuel cells and hydrogen will become viable technologies. When, however, is practically anyone’s guess, but fuel cells prove that avoiding action today while waiting for perfect world solutions tomorrow is a very bad idea. Otherwise, there might have been real change after the Iranian oil embargo that could have prevented 9/11, Iraq, Libya, and now Iran again.

Ironically, last month Toyota sold nearly 30,000 hybrid cars built on technologies largely developed, or at least inspired, here in the US, mostly derived from fuel cell-related technologies significantly subsided by US taxpayers.

That makes me wonder, what if the Big 3 hadn’t given up on hybrids, and all the major automakers sold nearly 30,000 hybrid cars last month?

And, more disconcerting, have plug-ins become a fuel cell-like excuse not to do more today? Read more…

Declining hybrid car interest? Toyota sales up 60 percent

V helps lift Prius, Toyota hybrid sales

Where are all the hybrid-hating geniuses today?

One of the more annoying stories in 2011 was the death of the hybrid car, or at least the serious decline in hybrid interest. According to a slew of auto reporters last year, consumers just aren’t as interested in hybrid cars thanks to some great new small cars that achieve 40 mpg — but only on the highway of course.

Seriously, the fact that hybrid supplies were crushed in the Japanese earthquake/tsunami wasn’t the main cause?

Well, I think Toyota’s 60 percent rise in hybrid sales last month pretty much puts a fork in the opinions of those hacks. Read more…

Just too bad there is only one Toyota Prius

The reliable and cost-effective king of hybrid cars

Reliability. Cost effectiveness. What more do most really need in a car?

Competition. How long I’ve wished for a real battle in the hybrid segment. Sure, it’s gotten a little better through the years, but the hybrid segment is still mostly about the Toyota Prius. Honda kind of tried to take on the Prius, kind of. Everyone else has thus far avoided direct competition.

Can there be only one Toyota Prius? Read more…

Lithium revolution dependent upon Toyota and hybrid cars

Plug-in Prius too rationale for electrification hype

OPUD: Over-promising and under-delivering the battery-powered future

I find it terribly unsettling how often fans of electrification ridicule Toyota. They don’t even use lithium in their conventional hybrid cars, they claim. As if all the lithium powered mild hybrids, full hybrids, plug-in hybrids and electric cars on the market today are dwarfing Toyota’s NiMH-powered sale’s advantage. In fact, if not for Toyota’s NiMH hybrids, there would have been far less cause for other automakers to try to leapfrog Toyota’s Prius with plug-ins like the Volt or the Leaf — which are more halo than sale’s products today.

Likewise, it is often claimed that Toyota’s upcoming plug-in hybrids don’t offer enough electric range, even though it’s beyond obvious that the key to plug-in success isn’t really about range today, it’s about cost.

Even more ironic, it seems quite obvious that the lithium revolution in the automotive space itself has become dependent upon Toyota, at least if it’s going to happen anytime soon. Read more…

Smart buy: Many hybrid cars are an Intellichoice

GM's eAssist makes sense according to Intellichoice

Toyota dominates list of 2012 Best Values

You know the line. Hybrids just don’t add up. The hybrid premium isn’t made up for decades, long after the car has expired. Blah, blah, blah. Yet, over and over numerous forms of analysis regarding such trivial issues as cost of ownership find a lot of hybrid cars do make sense, financial sense.

The Intellichoice Best Values in 2012, for instance, concluded that 5 of the best 24 values were hybrid-only vehicles. Read more…

Toyota’s great hybrid sale’s month foretells a cautionary tale

The larger V couldn't lift Prius sales much in January

A 20 percent improvement should feel better than this

One might assume that a 20 percent improvement in Toyota’s hybrid sales, led by an 8.6 percent gain in Prius sales, is a great hybrid sale’s story compared to last year. It certainly squashes the idea that hybrid sales are declining, especially considering that the Prius C and the plug-in Prius are still on deck for later this year. 2012 only gets better from here, at least in terms of Toyota’s hybrid cars.

But I still would have expected bigger numbers. Read more…

Forget Camry sales: Could the Prius be Toyota’s next Corolla?

The world's best selling car

Forget just US sales, let’s think worldwide

Before the end of this decade, Toyota believes the Prius family will outsell the Camry. Whatever. Why not shoot for the moon?

Within this decade, could a car like the Prius C help the family outsell the Corolla, and I mean in terms of total worldwide sales? Read more…