Video from Toyota’s concept debut in Detroit

I can’t say I think much of the video game music used during the reveal but I love the car. I would, quite frankly, love to see a small, two-person vehicle as well.

The most interesting thing is Mr. Lentz’s recapitulation of this morning’s press release announcing that Toyota USA would be working towards building a family of Prius models. Something which, if you haven’t been following too closely, was raised about two years but apparently squashed by Japan. With the go ahead from Japan the question becomes, how will Toyota fill out the Prius family? What will see first? I still the natural would be a Prius wagon and a Prius sports coupe. Maybe, since Toyota has not yet announced a US hybrid mini-van, maybe a Prius mini-van (though I think that whole mini-van concept is really played out).

I am also glad to see Toyota talking, publicly, about moving towards an entire line of electric vehicles. I think that is what the future holds for us and to pretend that gas will (or even should) be around forever is silly. If for no other reason, we need oil for a lot of other important things, we can use electricity to move us from place to place. So cheers to Toyota to taking a big public step and saying, yes, we’re going electric.

What do you think?

Toyota’s official press release statement on the Prius Family

Straight from Toyota to you…

DETROIT, January 11, 2010—Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A, Inc., today unveiled the FT-CH dedicated hybrid concept at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit. The FT-CH is a concept that would address Toyota’s stated strategy to offer a wider variety of conventional hybrid choices to its customers, as it begins to introduce plug-in hybrids (PHVs) and battery electrics (BEVs) in model year 2012, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCHVs) in 2015 in global markets. Read the rest of this entry »

Bad Influence

One way to find out what will not be happening in the consumer trends for just about anything is to listen or read “industry analysts”. I tend read a lot of this stuff and I’m astonished at how often these people can be staggeringly wrong and go on to make fourteen new predictions the next week as though they’ve never stumbled.

Here’s a piece from the Detroit Free Press on why EV’s will continue to be a very small niche product until at least 2020 according to the Boston Consulting Group. BCG is a gun for hire, management consulting company. The obvious question here is, who’s paying for this study?

Curiously enough, there was an interesting link in the Free Press story by Justin Hyde, this blog post from, of all places, gm-volt.com, says that the Mini-E chokes in the cold, badly. I’m somewhat surprised to hear this but this is exactly companies test prototypes before going to production.

According to the writer of the gm-volt.com blog post, who is testing of the Mini-E’s, not only are the batteries battered by the cold but the driving performance in snow and ice renders the car almost unusable. The writer admits he hasn’t followed BMW’s recommendation to change the all-season tires to snow tires however.

Wild speculation

Toyota is officially teasing people with a portion of the new dedicated hybrid model they will debut at the Detroit auto show on Monday. It seems obvious it will be the Scion iQ. I could be wrong, but I’m not unsure. Sure, Toyota could be debuting a brand new, never seen before model but that seems unlikely and a bit un-Toyota-like. It seems more likely to me that the iQ will be the vehicle for two reasons;

-First Scion hybrid (Scion needs one hybrid in their lineup)
-Cheaper hybrid than the Prius or Camry, so it makes sense that it’s a Scion rather than a Toyota

All told, my blathering doesn’t matter much and we’ll know in a few days.

Here’s the iQ concept shot:

And here’s the teaser pic from Toyota:

It’s close, not a perfect match but very close.

Stop trying to be stupid

Come on Mark Phelan of the Detroit Free Press, it’s your job to cover cars, this is obviously dumb…

The Insight’s styling screams hybrid, largely because it’s nearly indistinguishable from the Prius. Honda insists that’s coincidental — looks dictated by aerodynamics, not a calculated marketing decision. Perhaps, and maybe the $10 knock-off purses sold on the street just happen to look a lot like designer Gucci bags.

And this is from an article that’s otherwise halfway decent.

Success, built on a firm foundation of failure

Note to the Detroit Free Press’s Mark Phelan.

-Comparing the Kia Rio, the Chevy Cobalt to the Toyota Prius is at best stupid, most likely disingenuous. The Corolla, no, that’s just dumb. You should have gone for the Yaris. (/head-desk)

-The great part of your article is obscured by the above need to paint the Prius as somehow not a great car. Your solid point, it’s awesome when (and “if” I would point out) someone in a large vehicle can save additional even just a few additional MPG. Those seemingly piddly few miles can make a big difference.

Cash for clunkers

From the Detroit Free Press…

The program would apply only to new vehicles built in North America, with cars having to hit at least 27 miles per gallon on the highway if built in the United States and 30 m.p.g. if built in Canada or Mexico. Truck models would have to make 24 m.p.g. on the highway.

The old vehicles traded in under the program would have to be crushed or recycled. And in a nod to plug-in hybrids such as the Chevrolet Volt, the bill would offer a $7,500 voucher toward any U.S.-made vehicle that garners 100 m.p.g.

All the new vehicles would have to carry sticker prices less than $35,000.

This is a proposal for a bill in congress. While I do think it has some merit the next time an “American” company starts whining about government support or crying for “free trade”, I want to remember this.

2010 options

Via Toyota PR and the kickingtires blog, an outline of trim packages for the new, 2010 Prius…

Prius II
Electronic stability control
Tilt/telescoping steering wheel with audio and climate controls, plus Touch Tracer system
Hybrid informational display
Auto up/down power windows on all four windows
Push-button start
Cruise control

Prius III adds
Eight-speaker stereo w/CD changer, XM Satellite Radio, eight speakers
Bluetooth

Prius IV adds
Advanced smart key system
Leather seats with heated front seats
Illuminated entry
Auto-dimming rearview mirror

Prius V adds
17-inch wheels
LED auto-leveling headlights w/washers and fog lamps
There are three option packages, which cannot be included on every trim level:

Navigation Package with backup camera (available on Prius III, IV, V)

Solar Roof Package includes Navigation Package and adds solar ventilation system and remote A/C system (available on Prius III and IV)
Advance Technology Package includes Navigation Package and adds pre-collision system, dynamic radar cruise control, Lane-Keeping Assist and Intelligent Park Assist (available on Prius V)

Kicking Tires expressed some confusion over the combinations of options available. For instance, why you can’t get the sunroof with larger wheels and some fo the advanced technology options. When I asked this question at the Detroit debut a Toyota executive told me it had to do with parasitic weight and vehicle performance. I suspect that’s not the entire story. I suspect it’s also the result of negotiations between TMC (Japan) and TMS (US) on how to package these options. Sometimes things don’t make sense, they just are though I agree with David Thomas at Kicking Tires, it would be nice to have seen some of the advanced technology stuff available with the sunroof. If you think there is some self-interest on my part involved, you would be correct.

Like oil and water

Political commentators now feel it’s time to get clever when writing about cars. Problem is, most of them aren’t all that clever when writing about politicas, take them out their own realm and the writing gets even worse. To wit;

The Plank and The New Republic is their blog, except they’re too cool to call it a blog, it’s a journal. And the problem they tackle today is this great, awesome hybrid that is so cool you don’t even think it’s a hybrid. And it gets great MPG.

Surprise! It’s not one of those Japanese cars, it’s a Ford! Woo-Hoo!

Reality check, it’s great Ford is making and marketing another hybrid, more choices is good for the consumer, that’s us.

That said, the Fusion is left standing at the curb MPG wise. The new Prius (and the old Prius) stomp it on MPG. And, the really bad news, the Fusion is more expensive. Again, if you want a Detroit alternative, there it is but let’s be clear about where that alternative ranks amongst the competition in price and performance.

Old school

In this case old school isn’t just a nostalgic of way of looking at things, it’s dumb. Here’s the money quote from this article at motorauthority.com about Toyota US scaling back plans to produce a new Supra (or other sports cars)…

Toyota’s FT-HS concept, shown in 2007 at the Detroit Auto Show, had revived hope that Toyota still retained some of its former interest in providing vehicles that were more than just transportation appliances.

Do I even need to point out where most of us are financially right now? Do I need to point out how immature and silly it is to pine for something that is ever more out of context with where we’re going as a planet, much less a country.

Look, the FT-HS is a beautiful car. It’s a shame we may not see it any time soon. But surely we can find some better way to work out our collective petrochemical masculinity than sports cars?

Whether or not motorauthority gets it, I think many American car buyers do get it. The end of the horse powered era didn’t kill horse racing. It’s odd to see these people clinging to an ever more irrelevant past.

You want to be one of the first to drive the new 3G 2010 Prius?

Now you have a chance…

The Prius Team would like to extend a few extra Prius Connection invitations to our online enthusiasts. For those of you who reside in the Greater Los Angeles and San Francisco areas, we’re offering the opportunity to get well-acquainted with the 2010 Prius before it’s available to the general public. In fact, for these events, there’s a special surprise planned so follow the link below if you’d like to be considered to attend. (Please note: These events are intended for local residents and Toyota is not providing reimbursements for any travel incurred.)

If you’d like to be considered for one of the following local events, please click on this link to our website Prius Connection for submitting your request to attend.

Los Angeles, CA: Sunday, March 1, 2009; 11am-2pm
San Francisco, CA: Sunday, March 8, 2009; 11am-2pm

All invitation requests received in the first 48 hours of this post will be reviewed by Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. All invitation decisions are the sole decision of Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. Please understand that space is highly limited so we would appreciate submissions from those certain they plan to attend apply.

If you live in or near LA of SF, I highly recommend you put in a request. These are unique opportunities (as you’ve seen from the photographs I’ve posted from Detroit, Washington D.C., Chicago and New York). Don’t miss this opportunity if you can make it.

Bob Wilson is my hero

Big Cheers to the Detroit News for being the first one to publish anything responding to this fake, “killer crisis” the National Federation of the Blind is inexplicably pushing.