That’s a damn bold statement. We’ll see if Toyota can back up such claims.

i will take public transportation before i HAVE to drive a hybrid.

Even if I weren’t anti-Toyota, which I am. I would still think this guy is crazy. Hybrids are a fad that will fade away. Once someone has a car out that runs on hydrogen that will be the new fad and those snooty bastards that drive them will go “Your prius gets 50mpg? Well mine gets unlimited mpg because it doesn’t even burn gasoline, I am the one saving the planet.”

musclemustang94……LOL……..You got it EXACTLY right!

What Toyota is saying is hybrids will become a normal part of automotive technology. Just like fuel injection replace carburators, and overhead valves replaced flatheads. As the technology continues to get cheaper and more effective, there will come a point where a vehicle will not be competitive without it.

i dont think so

musclemustang94……LOL……..You got it EXACTLY right!
Comment by gbb, posted on July11 at 9:51 am

And just when do you think the entire infastructure will be up and running for hydrogen cars. I give it 25+ years.

I am perfectly happy letting my children drive alternative fuel cars; I have no qualms burning up all the gas in the world.

Except if it has a diesel. Face it, hybrids are heavy, aren’t getting advertised MPG, and have batteries that eventually must be disposed of somehow. Diesels have proven that they can get significantly better mileage than gasoline engines, have torque to make up for the horsepower deficit, and weigh less.

You could get better mileage with a IC engine just by using a combination of different forced induction methods. Look at the Volkswagen TSI engine, the prime example, with 170hp from only 1.4 liters. That’s over 100 hp/liter!

Until we find a way to produce the 60 million large batteries a year that we’d need to power our cars (without dropping production of other batteries) and doing it without ruining the entire face of the planet, I don’t think hybrids can be in every car.

Now, a hydraulic system, much like the one shown in Ford’s concept truck a few years back or a plan like Mini’s where regenerative braking provides energy to the battery to run the accessories instead of the alternator off the engines (which would require slightly more battery per car, but not much), might be good solutions that I suppose could be considered hybrid. However, alternate fuels are ultimately where we need to head.

the toyota is is an idiot. eventually …. hybrids will be looked at as a stop gap measure toward electric cars like tesla is building. pure electrics are more likely to replace internal combustion

blow it out your pimply ass Jim Press, ill buy a moped before i buy a prius.

I suppose of the many misstatements Jim Press made in those few sentences, I will single out the comparison he made to Ford’s model T. To think for just a moment that the Prius or any battery/gasoline hybrid is revolutionary by any means is a joke. ANY car manufacturer can slap together batteries and electric motors to create a hybrid. All of the technology needed to do so has been around for quite some time. The most significant achievement Toyota should be praised for is it’s marketing of this gimmick which fired up the greeny weenies! They designed a vehicle that uses less gasoline than typical, but they made it “look” like something new. It’s the look of the Prius that has people gaga over it. The ugliness of the Prius is it’s martyrdom, a sacrifice to the cause. Case in point, the Honda Civic hybrid. The damn thing didn’t sell because it didn’t “look” like a hybrid. It looked just like a regular Civic. It didn’t meet the needs of those who wanted to make a social statement. The Prius is certainly no Model T. I will reserve that comparison for the first mass produced flying car.

Fuel Cells will be the future. When the technology is finally proven, rest assured the infrastructure will be built. Don’t be surprised either that the much hated oil companies will be the ones providing that infrastructure. How’s that for irony.

land cruiser plz…

The difference between the Model T and Prius is that EVERYBODY actually wanted a Model T.

I’m never buying another toyota, but the prius is a car that’s got me thinking I might soon be able to go into the showroom without being violently ill.

I think it’s more PC for hollywood elites to have their status symbol to quote piablo

The ugliness of the Prius is it’s (sic) martyrdom, a sacrifice to the cause.

Why are there no E85 or diesel hybrids?

I proposed a few months back that ford could save itself by switching to an all-hybrid lineup.
Too expensive.

But i’m guessing that at some point, most cars will be hyperefficient, Hydro, Full-electric, BTTF-style garbage burners.

We’ll see.

You guys really need to start reading Car and Evo. Car took a Prius and tested it against a Fiat Panda 100HP. The Fiat ended up making a lot more sense.

hybrids are useless and a waste of time, money and space. wait until hydrogen cars come fully into production if youre interested in “saving the planet”

Everyone keeps wondering how the mighty Toyota will finally slip up – well this is it. They seem like they are betting the farm on hybrids, much in the same fashion how Detroit put all their eggs in the SUV basket. Hybrids are a fad as well as a still unproven technology. If they were really smart, short term r&d would go to cleaner and more efficient diesel technology while long term r&d dollars would go towards electrics and fuel cells. Toyota has come to think they’re more or less invincible now, I’ll love when they fall flat on their face with this.

I agree with you 100% AMG. Thats exactly what I thought when I read this. What goes around eventually comes around. Just like thte domestics bet the farm on SUV’s, Toyota seems to be doing the same with Hydbirds. In response to the dude concerning hydrogen cars infrastructure. I doubt it will take that long, and if they started in major cities and work their way out it would make alot of sense. Since that where pollution problems are the worse and stop and go traffic consumes the most fuel. I am not saying hydrogen will be the future, i am saying hybrids are a fad, whether its ethanol, hydrogen, plug ins, etc, hybrids will be replaced by another fad car. Personally I think what chevy is doing with the volt makes a helluva lot more sense then putting a hybrid powertrain in everything .

With interest in Toyota growing and with shares above 120 I’d say thats a big yes!

Just as a reminder to some people here. Hybird means that the car has one electric engine and a fuel powered engine. BUT that fuel can be anything, like diesel, methanol, ethanol, butanol and EVEN HYDROGEN, it’s not exclusive in anyway or form to just gasoline.

Think about it, we know gas is not going to be around much longer, Hydrogen is making it’s strides and we have E85 and hybrids to humor us for the time being. I say burn it up while you can… Also, no one talks much about NGV don’t they run like %90 cleaner then gasoline??

I love it when my buddy fires up his good ol’ 1973 Chevy 3/4 ton truck complete with a 496 inch big block that barks out 540hp. Can you say 5mpg hehe =)

What an incredibly short-sighted and unrealistic comment by the company’s N.A. president. They really are a stupid company in general. That stupidity will be their downfall, sooner or later.

thanks WEKS, i was thinking the same thing…. an ethonol hybrid or any other alternative fuel hybrid is coming down the pike. and im certain the battery system on hybrids now will be archaeic in the near future, meaning higher and higher efficiency and mileage. i could care less what i look like in my prius, (i also have an 07cts and a 79 trans am) i put 50-60,000 miles a year on my work vehicle and the prius is saving me a butt load of money….period. and at 22,000 miles, not one problem.

First of all, I think Priuses (Prii?) are uglier than hell.

But secondly, I don’t think his statements are too far-fetched. We might not be comparing the Prius to the Model T, but I don’t see how anyone can deny that the Prius (and I’m not a fan of the Prius’s styling at all) is significant- historically and environmentally speaking. Hydrogen technology is too expensive. Hybrid technology (which doesn’t necessarily mean 1/2 gasoline, but could also entail 1/2 hydrogen, methanol, ethanol, etc. as WEKS pointed out), with all of its drawbacks, is still more practical, and will be so until we can find make our alternatives more reasonable and affordable.

Jim Press might have his head in the clouds, but I think a lot of the posters in here are ignorant. Funny how people like to resort to calling Toyota Motor Co “snooty bastards” and “pimply asses” without having anything else of substance to say. The public has responded to hybrids well, and other car companies are following suit. Toyota is doing something right, and see how they’re not putting all their “eggs” in the hybrid basket at once. Such a move would be frivolous. They’re not stupid. I would say Toyota, love it or hate it, is the most important player in this game.

I WANT GAS!!!!! I WANT TO HEAR THAT RUMBLE OF XXX HP UNDER MY HOOD NOT THE HUM OF XXX HORSEPOWER! IT’S BS! I’LL PAY THE TAX JUST DON’T MAKE IT SO I CAN’T CONCEIVABLY DRIVE A GAS VEHICLE.

I’m sure that the big 3 US makers & old Companies will try to put the kybosh on hydrogen vehicles, the same way that they did when Honda created an engine so clean it wouldn’t need a cat. They lobbied so much pressure that they made a cat a requirement – solely because they had bought into Cat making companies, thereby making hondas cat free clean engine a non-starter.

Spud – I’d be interested to see an article about that. I remember that engine from Honda. When running say in a city like LA, the exhaust would actually be cleaner than the air it took in. But I ended up hearing the engine was too expensive to manufacture for production vehicles.

I love how Murphy is so impressed that his Prius has had no problems so far at a whopping 22,000 miles. So much so that he calls it out here. Impressed??? **** Murphy – I EXPECT a car to have no problems at 22k miles … unless it’s some POS german make. No problems at 22k is not impressive at all, and I have taken Ford and Hondas hundreds of thousands of miles with no issues outside of routine maintenance items.

Didn’t Honda invent a clean engine that didn’t need a cat back in the 70s (CVCC engine)? I know that was replaced by better technologies eventually.

I didn’t read anyone else’s comments yet, I vote for Diesel over hybrids any day of the week.

Definitely an interesting take on the Prius, not sure if that’s how it’ll work out, but certainly something interesting to think about.

ricardohead, i was not stating my mileage on the prius to make it look like it was a major accomplishment, just an update at where im at. as the miles churn on i will continue to update on the reliability. i feel i am the high mileage tester of this car and will let everyone know how it is doing, bad or good…..

murphy1 – Let us know how much the batteries and all those fancy drivetrain components will cost to replace once they’re out of warranty.

i know they are over 4 grand, but like i said, i had to take shot with all the miles i put on. ive already saved $1400 in the first 6 months over my old vehicle,it will be interesting…… it did surprisingly well in the carolina mountains.

THATS A HUGE STEP……DO IT RIGHT.

IMPROVING