Toyota executives foresee the Prius family outselling the Camry and Corolla in the future

They could do it with well organized marketing campaign, something alone the lines:
- remember $4/gal in 2008?
- remember $4/gal in 2011?
is this a reality or new cycle?

 

Prius would already be selling much better if not for the FUD, which eventually will wane. Hybrids are the future and Toyota does it better than anybody else.

 

Anyone know about the constraints of rare earth metal supplies used in the electric motors/magnets and how that will play out? I heard China holds a huge share of the supply. Engineering alternatives to the materials/magnets so Toyota and other mfrs. can scale?

I also heard about a 124MPG Volvo V60 hybrid in a year or so. How do they get such a huge bump in MPG??? Prius will likely drive the future of Toyota in any case.

 

To get that kind of MPG in a real-world test, all they had to do was to use a driver who's an accomplished Prius driver ...

 

Actually no, a prius can't make it. The v60 gets the mileage because of the plug. I expect that as cafe standards go up, electrification (bev, phev, hv) will need to go up. I think if the "prius family" will outsell the camry and corrolla they are going to either drastically cut sales of those two, or add a prius with a trunk. Its all about how you define family. Do you improve the camry hybrid, or create a better one with a plug in the prius family.

 

yes diesel, plug-in and European cycle tests. EPA numbers will be at least x1.5 less.

 

EPA tests plug-ins extremely differently. Expect it to get much lower than the volt's 60mpge, but it will use very little oilfor a awd waggon.

 

Diesel has more btu's than gas. If you have (example) 20% more energy per gallon ... and the gallon costs 20% more ... and the cost to build the 20% better mpg diesel engine is more expensive ... but it lasts 20% longer, then guess what: It's a wash, pretty much. Then there's the whole issue of particulate/smog difference. No, there IS no clear champion between gas & diesel. That is simply a myth. Both of these types of ICE have advantages AND disadvantages.

Simple - just like VOLT claimed they'd get 132mpg. You skew your numbers - then eat humble pie some time down the road. There aint no free ride, and there aint no silver bullets. As many continue to remind us on PC ... even pure EV's have to get their 'energy' from some where ... and if/when the electricity comes from a dirty fossil source, you ought to factor that in ... even the cost of running a war machine on the other side of the world, necessary to secure that fossil fuel source.


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