Sales of the Toyota Prius Hybrid Top 500,000 Worldwide As of April 30, global sales of Toyota's Prius hybrid car reached a total of 504,700 units, according to a company news release. The Prius was launched in Japan in 1997. In 2000, its production was just 12,000 units annually. The completely redesigned 2004 second-generation model was launched in the U.S. in 2003. By 2005, more than 100,000 units were produced for the U.S. market alone, and in May 2006, U.S. Prius sales topped the 250,000 mark. Toyota also said it is advancing its research and development of plug-in hybrids with the goal of developing a next-generation vehicle, which will have extended range capacity using only the electric drive. By the early 2010s, Toyota plans to double the number of models featuring hybrid drivetrains. In the spring of 2007, Toyota plans to introduce flex-fuel vehicles to the Brazilian market that can run on 100 percent ethanol. Ethanol fuel is used widely in Brazil. View Source.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jkash @ Aug 4 2006, 08:02 AM) [snapback]297662[/snapback]</div> It will be interesting to find out how the E100 Prius performs on ethanol, MPG numbers should fall if past histories are to be trusted.
Agreed, the MPG numbers will probably be lower than you see with gas, but at the same time, it'll still be better than traditional vehicles down in brazil that use E100. saying the MPG numbers will fall is really just comparing apples to oranges.
I wonder if these FFV take full advantage of Ethanol's higher octane rating. Couldn't some of the energy density problem be offset by the higher compression ratios that could be achieved?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ken1784 @ Aug 4 2006, 10:27 AM) [snapback]297750[/snapback]</div> Maybe they needed to fill some empty space. Anyway, this is much more interesting. Toyota's 1Q profit up 39 percent TOKYO - Toyota reported a 39 percent jump in profit in its fiscal first quarter, with strong vehicle sales around the world keeping the company on a pace to possibly overtake General Motors as the world's No. 1 automaker in coming years.
The Yahoo article about Toyota's profits is very eye-opening. So if the trend continues, Toyota will have 11.4 billion, while GM will lose 13.6 billion. Don't see how GM can hold on to #1 much longer.
