ˆ Ford may pass Honda as second best hybrid seller in U.S.

tags : ford escape hybrid , ford fusion hybrid , ford hybrid , ford hybrid sales , ford mustang , fordescapehybrid , fordfusionhybrid , fordhybrid , fordhybridsales , fordmustang , honda , honda hybrid , honda hybrid sales , honda insight , hondahybrid , hondahybridsales , hondainsight , toyota , toyota hybrid , toyota hybrid sales , toyota prius , toyotahybrid , toyotahybridsales , toyotaprius

There's no doubt about which automaker leads the hybrid vehicle race. Toyota – and particularly the Japanese automaker's Prius hybrid – outsells all other manufacturers combined. In total, Automotive News calculates that Toyota sold 144,351 hybrid vehicles in the first nine months of 2009, which actually represents a 28-percent drop from the previous year.

So far this year, Honda has come in second with its new Insight, but that position is currently in jeopardy. The 26,016 hybrid vehicles sold by Ford in the first nine months of the year represents an impressive 73-percent gain from last year. Honda has sold 29,958 hybrids so far in '09, representing a much smaller eight-percent increase. In both July and September, Ford actually sold more hybrids than Honda.

In other words, Ford, led by its Escape Hybrid and new-for-2010 Fusion Hybrid, is gaining on Honda at a very rapid pace. Moving on down the line, General Motors slots in at number four with 12,556 total hybrid so far this year and Nissan's 7,713 units make it the number five hybrid seller in the U.S.
 

posted : 10/27/2009 @7:36:16 PM

ˆ Toyota to offer cheaper Prius to compete with Honda Insight

tags : 2010 toyota prius , 2010toyotaprius , green , honda insight , hondainsight , low cost hybrid , lowcosthybrid , toyota hybrid , toyota low-cost hybrid , toyota prius , toyotahybrid , toyotalow-costhybrid , toyotaprius

According to the ever-flowing and always active rumormill, Toyota may be working on a new low-cost hybrid to do battle with the revived Honda Insight, which is a bit smaller than its rival from Toyota and undercuts its price by a few thousand dollars (or a few million yen). Likely due in no small part to its low point of entry, Honda managed to move 18,000 Insight hybrids in Japan in its first month on sale, which is well above the automaker's early projections. The new hybrid from Toyota would use similar hybrid components as the Prius but would use a smaller engine and cost 20-30% less. Even if these rumors are true, Toyota still plans to continue selling its previous-generation Prius in Japan for at least the 2010 model year alongside the new model, which features better performance from an enlarged 1.8-liter engine while still managing to reduce fuel consumption. So far, there's no indication that Toyota will sell a lower-cost hybrid model in the U.S.

posted : 6/1/2009 @10:13:27 AM

ˆ Toyota seriously considering separate Prius brand

tags : alternative fuel , alternativefuel , electric car , electriccar , hybrids , prius , prius brand , priusbrand , scion , toyota hybrid , toyota prius , toyotahybrid , toyotaprius

This isn't the first time we've heard that Toyota might spin off the Prius as a separate brand much like Scion. But we now have the most concrete news about the automaker's plans we've seen yet. Micheline Maynard of The New York Times talked with James E. Lentz, president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. recently who said he was actively lobbying Toyota for the Prius brand spinoff and that the company was working on future models to expand the lineup. Lentz said he was pushing for a Yaris-sized Prius and a "Prius on steroids." He wouldn't comment on rumors of a Prius crossover, however. Lentz also said the new line would be sold alongside Toyota vehicles instead of separately like the company's Lexus brand. When might this new Prius brand be approved by Toyota? Lentz would only say that he has a meeting in Japan next month. Maynard writes that in all her years covering Toyota, "...I can say that executives rarely talk this much about an idea unless it is under active discussion, so the chances of a Prius brand are probably pretty good."

posted : 10/15/2008 @9:07:47 PM

ˆ Toyota iQ platform will spawn new compact cars

tags : 2011 , 2011 toyota yaris , 2011toyotayaris , iq , platform , toyota , toyota hybrid , toyotahybrid , yaris

Toyota developed an all-new architecture for its iQ city car, but in an effort to defray the costs the automaker will be using the platform to underpin three new models. The first will be the next-generation Yaris, due out in 2011, which will be packaged more efficiently to improve interior volume and be a more competent competitor to the Honda Fit. A new hybrid model is also in the works that takes aim at another Honda – the new 2009 Insight – while a seven-seat people mover is also slated to be built atop the iQ's architecture. MotorTrend sat down with the iQ's chief engineer, Hiroki Nakajima, to discuss a half-dozen innovative packaging solutions employed on the city car, including a differential moved to the front of the engine to allow more interior room, a higher-mounted steering rack and wiper motor assembly, a smaller, more efficient climate control system and a flat, thin fuel tank that lies beneath the passenger seats. All these innovations have cost some serious coin to develop, but over the iQ's lifetime, along with the implementation of these systems on other models, Toyota is confident that the expense is worth it for both the automaker and consumers.

posted : 9/26/2008 @7:27:40 AM

ˆ Report: In 2020, all cars will be hybrids, Toyota think so too

tags : fuel cell , fuelcell , hybrid , hybrid car , hybrid cars , hybrid future , hybrid powertrain , hybridcar , hybridcars , hybridfuture , hybridpowertrain , toyota fuel cell , toyota hybrid , toyotafuelcell , toyotahybrid

In the future, we'll eat all our meals from toothpaste tubes, everyone will be beautiful and healthy, and we won't need cars, what with the proliferation of nuclear-powered jet packs. Prediction is such thorny business, though Toyota isn't making such a fantastical claim by suggesting that each of its vehicles will have a hybrid option available by 2020. Wired's blog seems to agree that by 2020, hybrids will have proliferated like rabbits, and we'll be awash in electron propulsion systems.We still feel a little cheated that eight years into the 21st century, we still don't have all those things promised to us fifty years ago, but at least automakers are hard at work pushing alternative systems toward viability. Justin Ward, a manager at the Toyota Technical Center overseeing advanced powertrain programs, told a Management Briefing Seminar in Traverse city that work continues on fuel cells to overcome challenges like climate extremes and range. Battery technology, too, will continue to advance, making the current Hybrid Synergy Drive even more efficient. Toyota is still holding off on diesels, and plug-ins present some issues when you consider where that electricity is generated, so it's looking like Toyota will continue to develop its fuel cell technology for the long term and bolster its hybrid offerings in the near future.

posted : 9/1/2008 @6:11:24 PM