Toyota to Debut Dedicated Hybrid Concept at 2010 Detroit Auto Show

That was the Chicago show of 2008, the car is 1/X concept, there will be more news from Toyota in Detroit on Jan 11th. 2010. The wt of the 1X is 926 Pounds! Looks like all the converted PHEV's will have to trade for the 1/x, to convert again and get 200mpg! :cheer2:

 

but i was sayng anyway, that they should be more dedicated hybrids that everyone needs, and that will sell >100,000's... and not some niche vehicles they will sell in few thousands per year...

 

That is a good comparision.
I think people are too quick to assume this is a smaller car. The press release didn't say this. Didn't Toyota give out some rumors that they're going to introduce a larger hybrid at some point? I know a lot of people are clamoring for a minivan/crossover type vehicle for the family folks that gets good mileage. That seems like a big target they can go after (fuel-efficient family mover), rather than the relatively crowded fuel-efficient small car field.

 

The latest news indicates that this is the smaller dedicated hybrid based on the Yaris platform. It will be cheaper too and one reported $18k.

That would be an Insight killer.

 

Shoot, from reading discussions around here, the Insight is already dead.

I do wonder how many MPG's this new car can eek out if this is true. The mighty Prius may fall to another Toyota concoction.

 

Honda Fit/Jazz Hybrid is already in the works ...

 

Even better. No competition to compete with.
Toyota will have that market to themselves.
However, realize that if Toyota makes a Fit/Yaris sized dedicated hybrid, then expect the Prius to grow a little in features/luxuries and price over the next few years. I'm guessing (key word: guessing) the new hybrid (if it is smaller than the Prius) will sell from about 17.5-24, while the Prius will likely occupy the 25-33 range. Look at what happened when the Yaris came out: the price and features of the Corolla went up about two thousand. Also, now that the Prius has established itself, Toyota can now start loading it up with more luxury interior features. (I could be wrong or the magnitude of my prediction might be too large, but based on history of all automakers, this is generally how it works)

 

This time, it will be a smaller hybrid. Next time, it will be a bigger hybrid.

"We are developing a low-priced hybrid vehicle like Honda's Insight," Akihiko Otsuka, chief engineer of the third-generation Toyota Prius, told Nikkei.
Toyota Moves Forward with Affordable Subcompact Hybrid | Hybrid Cars

 

I hope they give it a Prius badge of some sort!

 

sure, but lets step back a second. There are only so many cars that Toyota can R&D. Question here is not should niche vehicle be produced, but rather should they spend their limited R&D time on niche vehicles or mass produced vehicles?

I dont mind Toyota having few vehicles they can bust their chests with but with limited sales, but before that happens, lets get hybrid powertrain into all Toyota vehicles ;-).

Another thing to consider for smaller dedicated hybrid. Prius is vehicle very much focused on USA and Japan. However in Europe, Prius is well outside of buying range for most of the customers.

Best selling Toyota in Europe is Yaris, and Prius is 2x more expensive than well equipped Yaris (in fact probably a bit more.. here most sold Yaris is 10k Euros, while base Prius is 25k Euros).

Any future, smaller hybrid, will possibly be built with concerns for European and Asian drivers, where Prius is simply too much.

 

It is great to have the views from Europe and other countries on Prius. Thanks.

Let's make a "Name That Hybrid" contest. Feel free to start a new thread, as I am on my mobile.

My guess: Prius Mini

 

I definitely see your point. At the same time, all media articles so far have said Toyota expects to produce 150,000 of these new hybrids during the first year, most for the USA. I don't know where they got these numbers from, but I have read the same thing in multiple different articles.

Maybe they are going to use us to recuperate their development costs before
taking the car global. haha.

.

 

did they actually say USA anywhere? I did not see that.

Prius is perfect size for USA... smaller car will not get that many sales (just like Corolla and Camry outsell Yaris).

Another thing to consider - smaller hybrid will be paired with smaller powertrain. Lets say they use their latest 1.33 engine for instance... They can then use the same engine in other smaller cars for European and Asian markets where 100 hp is enough to power small and mid sized cars (iQ, Yaris, Auris, Corolla).

For instance, one problem with upcoming Auris HSD is that its price will be substantially more than normal Auris, and much closer to Prius price... if they had smaller HSD system to fit there, that costs less money, quite possibly they would get more sales...

As an example, best selling iQ, Aygo and Yaris have 1.0l 68hp engine (and these cars sell around 400k per year total!), while best selling Aurises have 1.33l 100hp (petrol) and 1.4l 90hp (diesel)...

 

You're right. I just went back and tried to find evidence for you, but I couldn't find anything. I'm thinking perhaps that the way the articles mentioned the U.S. market so much and then transitioned to the 150K, my brain must have assumed the two were together when I thought back, after reading the articles.

 

Here is more info:

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nb20100102a1.html

Vitz is Yaris... 1.5mil yen is quite affordable - about the same price as higher end Yaris models, cheaper than Corolla.

 

Just a guess but I think that 'we', N America and Europe, aren't yet on the schedule to get this vehicle. We might get it down the road depending on the reception at the NAIAS but the press release states that

From that wording it appears not to be definite.

 

I can't wait to see more of this. Only a week away.