A Small Clarification on Prius Sales

The Internet is a wonderful thing, but sometimes it pays to be careful with how much belief you attach to what you read there.

What we’re talking about is a headline that appeared over a post on a well-known automotive blog a while back that said, "Toyota: there is "no way" we can sell more Priuses  than last year."

The story under that headline then went on to purport, "Toyota says hybrid sales will be lower in 2008 than 2007, not because people don't want them, but because Toyota simply can't make any more." It proceeded to claim that Toyota General Manager Bob Carter told a reporter from Ad Age, a well-known trade journal, that Toyota sold 181,000 Priuses in 2007, and that Carter claimed that figure is simply the best the company can do.

Dust to Dust: The Deeply Flawed Study That Won’t Go Away

One of the many interesting aspects of the Blogosphere is that when you put something out there, no matter how good or bad, its half-life can measure right up there with that of, say, plutonium. It doesn’t matter how wacky the thing is. Folks will latch onto it, buy into it, and repeat it.

Here’s a case in point.

Some of you may remember a study released a while back by CNW Marketing Research, of Bandon, Oregon, titled, "Dust to Dust, the Energy Cost of New Vehicles from Concept to Disposal, the non-technical report."

More Than A Compact Truck?

I’m guessing that many of you Open Roadies have only seen the small bit of the A-BAT, a concept vehicle we debuted at the North American International Automobile Show in Detroit in January, and introduced to you in our first post about the vehicle, titled "Spotlight on Detroit: A-BAT Comes to Town," on January 15. We also showed the vehicle at the Chicago Auto Show, and now that the excitement has died down a bit, we thought we’d describe it in a bit more detail and seek your opinions about it.

The A-BAT – or Advanced-Breakthrough Aerodynamic Truck – is a highly flexible four-passenger compact truck that uses a unitized body, instead of the separate cab, cargo bed and steel ladder frame more usually seen in trucks of all sizes.

The A-BAT’s flexibility goes far beyond its unitized construction, however. First of all, it’s designed to be at home on dirt roads, city streets and Interstate highways. And more important, its motive power is provided by Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive. That’s right, it’s a hybrid, so it’s got the low emissions and high fuel economy we all want.

The Plural of Prius

If you’re a Prius enthusiast,  you wonder what "prius" means and/or you also wonder what the plural of Prius is, relief is as close as your computer keyboard. Just tap into your favorite search engine. You’ll get so much information that your eyes will blur and your head will hurt.

That’s our situation today, when in a rare moment of down-time, we pondered these vital questions.

Before we go any farther here, a disclaimer: Anyone who considers the InterWeb to be authoritative is kidding himself/herself. We realize that it isn’t, no matter how well-meaning the folks who post answers and responses, as well as Wikipedia entries, might be. So, that said, here we go:

What does Prius mean?

Plug-In Hybrid Fleet Coming, Toyota Chief Says. . .Lithium batteries, two new hybrid vehicles and a clean-diesel engine also on the way

Have you been wondering what Toyota's next steps might be as it moves forward toward cleaner,more efficient cars and trucks? Been wondering, maybe, about where we are on plug-in hybrids and lithium-ion batteries, among other things?

You no longer have to wonder. Reiterating Toyota's intention to exceed new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards rather than merely meet them, Katsuaki Watanabe, president of Toyota Motor Corp., spelled out at least part of the future Sunday in a stunning series of announcements at the North American International Automobile Show (NAIAS) in Detroit.

As a part of its commitment to the concept of sustainable mobility, Watanabe said that Toyota will build and deliver what he called "a significant fleet" of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) that rely on lithium-ion batteries to a variety of global fleet customers.

A large part of that PHEV fleet will be sent to fleet customers in the U.S., Watanabe said. Toyota will deliver its PHEVs as part of the acceleration of its global plug-in hybrid research and development program, scheduled to begin late next year.
Indeed, early iterations of the PHEVs were planned for use transporting Toyota executives to the show this week, Detroit's notorious January weather permitting, and also for limited use by select members of the media - again, weather permitting.

And that wasn't all. As part of its plug-in development plan, Watanabe said, Toyota has begun the planning phase of an expansion of a battery factory it operates as a joint venture with electronics giant Panasonic.

"The expansion will add an assembly line to build our first-generation lithium battery for automotive applications," Watanabe said, signaling that while others continue to bench-test lithium-ion battery prototypes, Toyota is ready to go into lithium-ion battery production.

But that wasn't the end of the announcements from Watanabe. He also promised two new hybrid vehicles.

"Next year, here in Detroit, we will expand our conventional hybrid line-up by staging world premieres for two all-new dedicated hybrids  - one for Toyota, and one for Lexus," he said.

Watanabe noted that Toyota's goal is to sell, in the next decade, a million hybrid vehicles per year. These two introductions will help the company meet that goal, he said.

But there's more to Toyota's vision of sustainable mobility than hybrids. That vision includes other forms of motive power, including diesel and ethanol.

With that in mind, Watanabe confirmed a clean-diesel V8 engine will be offered in the Tundra pickup and Sequoia SUV in what he described as the near future.   

Additionally, he said, Toyota's biotechnologists are developing cleaner and more efficient methods of producing ethanol that can be used as fuel from wood-waste materials, rather than from food crops. 

Toyota is pursuing its vision of sustainable mobility, Watanabe said, because it is interested in doing more than merely meeting the revised CAFE standards passed by the Congress, and signed into law by President Bush, in December.

He said, "Last month, the U.S. Congress agreed on an energy bill calling for a 35 mpg CAFE by 2020. Toyota strongly supports this long-overdue legislation.  However, we will not wait until the deadline to comply.  I have issued a challenge to our engineers to meet the 35 mpg standard well in advance of 2020. I believe that it can be done, that it should be done, and that Toyota is capable of doing it." 

~ Contributed by Irv Miller, Group Vice President, Corporate Communications

Weak Yen or Strong Products?

We're going to take an overdue look at an old wives' tale that materializes rather like unwelcome ghosts from time to time.

It is that the Japanese government has somehow manipulated the value of its currency, the yen, to benefit Japanese-based companies that do business in the United States and Europe, holding it artificially low so that the manufacturers are able to realize what amounts to a subsidy on products they build in Japan and sell abroad.

Indeed, this tale of the manipulated yen is far more spectral than, say, Casper, our friendly ghost of theatrical cartoon series fame. It raised its wispy head again late last year, this time in a letter from Rep. Joe Knollenberg (R., Mich.), published in the Wall Street Journal.                                   

A Major Step Forward for Energy & the Environment: Toyota Applauds Senate's Passage of Fuel Economy Measure

The Senate’s action last night on automotive fuel economy is a clear signal to our entire industry that it’s now time to move into overdrive to meet these ambitious new national standards.

Toyota is wasting no time in our pursuit of 35 miles per gallon in 2020.

Toyota congratulates the Senate for persevering to pass this Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) legislation. This is a critically important vote for the auto industry and the nation.

We at Toyota have long said that we want a CAFE bill passed this year that will provide the certainty of one national fuel economy program. The U.S. Senate has delivered, as their colleagues in the House of Representatives did last week. We thank all the Senators who provided leadership for this historic vote on CAFE.

The Senate action represents a major step in the right direction that will result in significant oil savings and reductions in CO2. It provides important new goals and targets for our entire industry to achieve. Toyota will strive to meet them.

We look forward to the concurrence of the House of Representatives next week and to the President signing it into law.

- Contributed by Jim Lentz, President, Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc.

Waxing Nostalgic: Anniversary Triggers Memories of a ’68 Toyota Corona

As I write this, it’s Day 1 in Toyota’s second 50 years in America. All of the golden anniversary celebrations have come and gone. The birthday cake has been consumed. And even an on-campus appearance by the Village People is a fading memory.

But for some reason, I’m still waxing a bit nostalgic, back to a muggy Saturday afternoon in August many, many years ago when my dad took me out on Ohio’s country roads for my first attempt behind the wheel of a car.

And what car was that? So glad you asked. It was none other than a 1968 Toyota Corona sedan with a sprightly 4-cylinder engine and an intimidating 4-on-the-floor manual shifter lever. My dad had always been a GM man until, faced with a long daily commute and rising oil embargo-induced gas prices, he shocked our household and traded in his spacious Olds Delta 88 in favor of the frugal Corona.

Looking back on it now, I’m certainly grateful that he did. Not only did I get to cut my driving teeth on a small, nimble and easy-to-sling vehicle, but I also was introduced to the wonders of a manual transmission from the get-go. They were formative experiences that shaped my views on cars, driving and the romantic appeal of the import.

Perhaps that’s why, with the exception of my first car—a very clean 1967 Olds that I was able to claim for $850 in 1979—I’ve owned nothing but non-domestic brand vehicles ever since. My dad zigged while most everyone else in the suburbs zagged, and the course of my life was forever changed.

Odds are, you have a similar "first drive" and/or "first car" story to share on Open Road. We’d like to hear them. After all, friends don’t let friends wax alone.

~ Contributed by Dan Miller, TMS Corporate Communications

A Golden Moment in Toyota's History

My gosh - It's our birthday! That little countdown clock to the left is finally reaching celebration time for Toyota in the USA.

Toyota has come a long way in the 50 years the company has been marketing cars and trucks in America. We're on the New York Stock Exchange . . . and we have a blog for heaven's sake!

Our press release crossing the wires right about now and reprinted after the jump sums up the rest of the story.

Happy Birthday Toyota.

IRV'S SHEET: Once More - We at Toyota Want new CAFE Standards!

In his October third New York Times column (Et Tu, Toyota?), Thomas Friedman takes Toyota to task for backing Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards proposed in the Hill-Terry Bill before the House of Representatives instead of more stringent increases favored by the Senate. The author questioned why Toyota, which he cites as a fuel-economy and environmental-technology leader that popularized hybrid technology with the wildly successful Prius, opposes the most aggressive increases in CAFE.

The question is fair, but overlooks a more obvious question for a business in the fiercely competitive automotive market. To use a metaphor from track and field, why would a competitor leading the field not want to put them at an even greater disadvantage by raising the high-jump bar as high as it could go? After all, if indeed Toyota has a head start in fuel-efficient technologies such as hybrids, advanced gasoline powertrains, plug-in hybrids and other high-mpg vehicles, why wouldn’t it want to make others work even harder to catch up?

The answer is simple: It’s because there’s a point at which the bar is set too high for all competitors.

Like other major automakers, Toyota is in the business of offering a full lineup of cars and trucks to meet the needs of American motorists. Its success is the result of listening to customers and offering products they want. Those who point to average fuel economy levels in Europe or Japan overlook the real reasons these markets are different: higher fuel prices, steep fuel and vehicle taxes, different driving conditions, smaller vehicles and dramatically different customer tastes. There are no mandated minimum fleet standards comparable to our CAFE requirements.

Like it or not, Americans will continue to need and want variety, including pickups and SUVs. Nobody forces cars and trucks on consumers. They vote with their wallets.

There are those who attach a variety of ulterior motives to Toyota’s position, are unhappy that we sell pickup trucks and SUVs, or distrust that we are working with other automakers to help set industry environmental direction.

Friedman calls for Toyota to be a leader. We are leading. Toyota has endorsed higher CAFE standards for years. Recently the Union of Concerned Scientists noted that "Toyota is the only major automaker to consistently improve global warming performance since 2001, thanks to hybrids and better conventional technology." And our passenger-car lineup has the highest CAFE rating in the industry.

As one of the few members of both industry trade organizations, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers, Toyota has worked behind the scenes to help gain unprecedented support among arch-rival companies for the best standards that can reasonably be met.

Automakers get it this time, calling for up to a 40% increase to 35 mpg by 2022, the first increase since 1985. In a business where product plans are set six, eight and even 10 years in advance, 2022 is closer than it would appear.

When was the last time any industry asked for a mandate requiring costly changes to product lineups going against the known buying habits of 16 million customers per year? Wouldn't it be great if the airline industry, our public utilities, railroads and trucking companies came to the table requesting low carbon emission mandates?

Automakers are now pulling in the same direction, and Toyota believes it has helped lead the industry in that very positive direction. But you can't bankrupt the industry if you want it to invest in our environmental future.

~ Contributed by Irv Miller, Group Vice President, Corporate Communications

IRV'S SHEET: Hybrid Tech: Parallel vs. Series

The term “Sustainable Mobility” is something we’ll be telling you more about in coming months. It summarizes Toyota’s ongoing multifaceted efforts to develop vehicles that rely not just on conventional sources of energy, but also on alternative sources of energy.

Note my use of the plural, sources. Sustainable Mobility involves research on much more than vehicles powered by our Hybrid Synergy Drive. It involves vehicles powered by fuel cells, by diesel, and much more.

But naturally it also involves our continuing development of Hybrid Synergy Drive.

And that’s what Toyota Executive Vice President Kazuo Okamoto was talking about during a presentation on the Challenges for Sustainable Mobility in Tokyo earlier this week.

90-Day Owner Surveys; Do They Still Matter?

Another of J.D. Power and Associates' annual string of customer surveys was released earlier this month. The 2007 Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout study (APEAL) which measures "owner delight with the design, content, layout and performance of their new vehicles," during the first 90 days of ownership.

It comes on the heels of the Initial Quality Survey. What's the difference? Basically, APEAL measures things that went right. IQS measures things that went wrong.

But the real question is, with people owning their cars longer than ever before, an average of about six years according to a R.L. Polk survey, and the average vehicle lasting more than nine years according to Polk, is 90 days really a true reflection of things gone right or wrong?

American Tundra

At this morning's executive coffee, we heard some not so surprising news:  sales of our new Tundra full size pickup truck are going through the roof this month.  A big and bold high-quality truck in a hotly competitive segment coupled with the right model mix for America's markets.  Add to that flexible dealership financial tools (to help with some of those truck trades that are a little less than right side up), and it's a potent package that is really driving Tundra retail sales. 

Toyota's Open Road

When I think of the open road, my thoughts turn to pleasant memories of weekend trips in my Toyota to destinations unknown, moving forward in a spirited manner with a sense of freedom, and the opportunity to meet new people and engage with them—listening to their stories and developing new friendships.

It was in this sense not long ago that I had the opportunity to commune in a most unusual way with a community group of some of Toyota's most loyal and passionate owners, members of the Prius enthusiast forum know as PriusChat. PriusChat is a great example of how Toyota is beginning to utilize nontraditional consumer-based and consumer generated media to reach out directly to owners and consumers and to shape and protect the Toyota brand image.

With over 13,000 active Prius members and who knows how many behind the discussion threads, it is the perfect spot to engage with our customers and those that we hope will become part of the Toyota family. A young man named Danny from Columbia, SC, founded the PriusChat internet forum nearly four years ago and has watched it grow dramatically as Toyota Prius and hybrid sales in general took off. But, Danny was missing one important ingredient, a Prius!

You see the guy was so frustrated with the very limited means for Toyota and Prius fans to get together and chat about their favorite cars, he built his own online community chat rooms and eventually established the Prius-specific enthusiast forum, PriusChat. Spent all his money on that and couldn't afford to buy a new car! But not any more!

With help from Grossinger Toyota/Scion North in the Chicago area, Danny and his fiancée and a small army of PriusChat members, including me, gathered at the dealership on a sweltering Chicago afternoon to launch Danny on his Prius ownership experience in PriusChat style, meaning plenty of Chicago dogs, burgers and Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, members matching faces to screen names and an incredible display of Prius vehicles on site with visual displays, informative information and real live PriusChat members (owners of the cars!) handling questions from observers quite expertly.

So whatever we want to call this rapidly expanding consumer-generated media, it's all about the conversation along the open road, it's about listening to those who think your products rock as well as those who think they stink.  The venue isn't perfect, but it is instantaneous--and it does demand an uncompromised level of transparency and authenticity.  What a perfect place to unveil Toyota's newest corporate communications tool, the Toyota Open Road Blog.

And just like Danny and his PriusChat community, we hope that this blog will serve as our "Go and See" mechanism on the web as we open up the conversation to consumers, our customers, journalists, car aficionados and just about anyone else who longs for the exhilaration of traveling along the open road.

-Contributed by Bruce C. Ertmann, TMS Corporate Communications