Sales of hybrid gas-electric cars outperformed the overall market in January—showing an 11 percent gain compared to January 2009. Prius continues to carry the weight for the whole hybrid market, representing about half of all hybrid sales. The rise in Prius sales—4.5 percent compared to a year ago—was enough to lift the entire market by the 11 percent. Even though the Toyota brand and the Prius’s image suffered blows in the past few weeks, we don’t expect January’s pattern to significantly change for most of this year.
James Sikes, a 61-year-old San Diego-based real estate executive, made national news this week when he claimed that his 2008 Toyota Prius sped out of control on California’s Interstate 8. The story was picked up by major national media and ricocheted around the Internet. Yet, inconsistencies in Sikes's story raise questions about the incident and the accuracy of media reporting on the story.
Toyota officials last week confirmed that the Lexus CT 200h, a premium hybrid hatchback, is coming to the United States, according to a report in Automotive News. The Lexus CT 200h would be Lexus’s first compact car, and the first compact hybrid sold by Toyota in the US.
Earlier this week at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show, Volkswagen promised to lift hybrids out of its niche status and to produce electric cars. Audi, Volkswagen’s luxury brand, echoed the sentiment, making a commitment to full hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and electric cars. Rupert Stadler, Audi AG's chairman of the board of management, said, “We shall offer electric power in the best possible forms for a wide range of mobility needs. The hybrid driveline will be followed by all-electric vehicles."
The Coda all-electric sedan, due late this year, is the underdog in the race for an affordable mass-market pure electric car. Fans of electric vehicles, and supporters of good old-fashioned American entrepreneurialism, might celebrate Coda’s rugged and independent approach—but that’s being undermined by questions about the manufacturing origins of the Coda sedan.
Overall Toyota sales fell 8.7 percent in February, but Prius sales increased by more than 10 percent.
After years of arguing that clean diesel is a better efficiency strategy compared to hybrids, Volkswagen is switching gears. In a statement issued on the eve of the 2010 Geneva Motor Show, Martin Winterkorn, VW chairman of the board, said, "We will take the hybrid out of its niche status with our high-volume models. In the future, the heart of the brand will also beat with electricity." A hybrid version of the Jetta will be offered in the US in 2012.
Bloomberg is reporting that General Motors stopped work on the Cadillac Converj, a sleek electric-drive coupe, to focus on cheaper plug-in hybrids for its luxury brand. The decision, if verified by GM, represents an acknowledgement of the high cost of producing plug-in hybrids that run without using any gasoline for long distances—rather than the type of plug-in hybrids that can use smaller and therefore less expensive battery packs.
New proposals in the Senate and House to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating emissions of greenhouse gases have little chance of stopping higher fuel efficiency standards from going into effect. That's good, because the proposals undermine hard-earned agreements between auto companies, labor, legislators and environmentalist for a single higher vehicle fuel efficiency standard for all of the United States.
UK’s Autocar website reported yesterday that Jim Lentz, president of Toyota Motors Sales, confirmed development of a hybrid gas-electric version of the company’s RAV4 crossover SUV. Lentz added that Toyota’s 1.8-liter hybrid system will become the company’s “core powertrain.”
