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| A visitor looks at Toyota Motor Corp's Prius hybrid car at the Toyota Motor Corp showroom in Tokyo in this August 2010 file photo. (Reuters/Christian Science Monitor) |
Even as GM is dropping more hybrids,
except for the very-costly-to-build Chevy Volt, to which it's chained its
future like a lead anchor, Toyota is ready to kick some fuel economy butt.
It has announced it's rolling out 21 new hybrids. No, that's not a
typo. Even the base-level Scion division of the company looks like it's going
to get at least one hybrid. And, not some long distance away, but in 2015.
And, since Toyota, on moderate volumes,
is now profitable on the Prius, the story is right on that aspect. Profit
margins may be smaller, in general, but with enough volume, these new hybrids
will be profitable soon enough.
The New York Times, on its Wheels blog, notes that Honda is also
going to expand its hybrid offerings.
Now, as Ford has moderate hybrid
offerings, GM has pledged to basically have none, and Chrysler has none now,
with no real word of future developments, will the formerly Big Three do what
Ford did with its hybrid Escape and buy hybrid technology from Toyota (or
Honda) for licensing? And, with EPA fuel economy requirements set to hit 54.5
mpg by 2025 (ignoring the various loopholes in there, such as for flex-fuel
vehicles), will Toyota or Honda be willing sellers?
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