Toyota to build hybrid batteries in North America

Filed under: Economy, Hybrids/Alternative, Green, Plants/Manufacturing, Toyota

Even with the $5,000 difference between the Prius and non-hybrid Toyotas, there was a time when Toyota lost money on the car. Even when the car entered the black, and even though they halved the cost of the hybrid system from one generation to the next, Toyota still didn't make the margins on it that they did with their go-to sedans. Yet with plans to start making batteries for the Hybrid Synergy Drive in the U.S., Toyota says it should be able to halve costs again, and bring the next-gen Prius profit to near parity with the Corolla.

Toyota doesn't know where or when it will start building batteries in the States. The company says "it's difficult to make the main parts of batteries outside of Japan," but didn't explain why that was the case. From 2010, the Prius will be manufactured in Toyota's Mississippi plant, however, that doesn't mean the battery plant will be nearby.

Toyota moved up the date to offer the plug-in Priuses to government and fleet operators to the end of 2009. Right now, Toyota says the Prius gets 13 miles on battery power alone. If the plug-in Prius does arrive in a year or so, and with a substantially higher range -- and that is a ginormous "if" -- then it has a chance of upstaging the Chevy Volt, which appears to be what Toyota is aiming for.

[Source: Automotive News, sub req'd]

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Honda readies new hybrid attack, calling the Civic Hybrid a mistake

Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative, Sedans/Saloons, Green, Japan, Tech, Honda

Honda CEO Takeo Fukui has said Honda will now take the hybrid war seriously, with a claim that, "The real competition has just begun." Honda is planning to come out with a hybrid-only model in early 2009 that will provide genuine competition for the Toyota Prius.

It seems everyone has been forced to play off the Prius' cues, such as when Fukui says that, "Until now, it has been an image-based competition, not a business-based competition." Which explains the Civic Hybrid being a misstep, because according to CNW research, 50-percent of folks who buy hybrids need the world to know it's a hybrid because they don't want people to think they are burning the remains of giant lizards.

How does Honda plan to get the consumer's attention a year from now? Primarily, sticker shock -- but the good kind. Fukui said he wants the car to come in below the price of the current Civic Hybrid, which is $23,235. The current Prius starts at $20,950, so Honda needs to count a fair number of beans if they want price alone to be the allure. Fukui did say, nevertheless, that he expected the car to have a lighter hybrid engine, which would give better gas mileage. But will either the Prius or new Honda hybrid get better mileage than the MINI Cooper D?

[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req.]

 

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Leave worried, return in style: Gustav evacuee wins Mustang on the way home

Leave worried, return in style: Gustav evacuee wins Mustang on the way home

Filed under: Convertibles, Etc., Ford

Norris Cadiere and his family were among the thousands who evacuated their New Orleans-area homes ahead of Hurricane Gustav last week. The Cadieres, who waited out the storm in Georgia, decided to stop at the Hollywood Casino in Bay St. Louis, MS on the way back to their home in Marrero, which is around 10 miles outside New Orleans. Norris was playing the maximum bet on one of the casino's nickel slots when he got lucky, and the slot machine started going berserk. Cadiere thought he had won himself a thousand bucks or so, but he soon learned that, in fact, he had won a $30,000 2008 Mustang convertible (we're assuming it's a GT, given that price). All too often, violent storms like this result in a loss of some kind for those affected by them. In the Cadieres' case, not only did they wind up with a brand new car, but their house escaped the storm unscathed as well. Little did they know that when they took their unplanned (and almost certainly unwanted) road trip last week, Lady Luck would be riding shotgun the whole time.

[Source: SunHerald.com]

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