Toyota to go all-hybrid by 2020?

Toyota's FT-HS hybrid concept

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Few people can deny that Toyota's early adoption of hybrid technology has been a stroke of PR genius, giving the world's largest car maker and the producer of such Leviathans as the Sequoia and the Tundra plenty of positive press as well as a green image wherever it goes. (Last year, I even heard Bob Lutz, GM's chairman and product development guru, pay grudging homage to the strategy.)

But here is a headline that deserves its column-inches. According to Motor Authority, Toyota's VP of powertrain development Masatami Takimoto has said that by 2020 hybrids would become the company's standard drivetrain, and that hybrids would account for "100 percent" of the automaker's new cars. Takimoto also said that Toyota expected to improve the profitability of hybrids to bring their price margins up to the same level as gasoline-only cars by 2010. Due to expensive components such as batteries and electric motors, hybrids are currently more expensive to produce and less profitable than regular gasoline-engine cars.

While an all-hybrid fleet by 2020 sounds like an ambitious target, it's not beyond the realms of possibility: After all, Chrysler recently announced that its Hemi V-8 engine is getting a hybrid makeover for 2008. Looks like the green revolution is at the gates.

Via Motor Authority

[jimothyGator]

"Less profitable"

Quite an understatement, considering they are sold a a loss.

[treet007]

Long-term strategy investment...

Toyota (and Honda too) invests in long-term strategies, unlike American car manufacturers. Yeah, GM advertises fuel-cell and hydrogen-based cars as being their "green" strategy, while selling Hummers and other large vehicles. Toyota has proven that they too can do the fuel-cell and hydrogen, but the here-and-now is using proven technology with the existing infrastructure for vehicles that can benefit from the hybrid technology. When the first generation Prius cars were being sold, they were sold at a loss. The current Prius and other hybrids are now making a profit for Toyota, but not as large as their gasoline-equivalent siblings. But Toyota's strategic planning is long-term, and I believe their profit margins will improve to the point that hybrid usage would be no different than their gasoline-type. As long as they keep their reliability up and their standards high, I see no problems in this strategy.

[crevans99]

So Called Loss....

Early adoption and investment in new technology usually results in initial losses until rapid growth leads to product maturity. This is product life-cycle 101... If companies never invested in new technology because of losses, we would still be in the dark ages. In additon, I am much more in favor of Toyota's hybrid approach (which leads to true reductions in fuel consumption), as opposed to so-called "alternative fuel" vehicles that end up running off of regular gasoline anyway because of extremely limited numbers of alternative fuel stations. Alternative fuel cars are a scam for car makers to meet goverment quotas for fuel efficient cars for a $50 part add on with limited impacts on fuel consumption