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Toyota to Sell Plug-In Hybrid in 2011
The New York Times ^ | December 14, 2009 | HIROKO TABUCHI

Posted on 12/14/2009 4:41:33 AM PST by Spktyr

Toyota Motor said Monday that it planned a widespread release of its plug-in hybrid car in 2011 as the company scrambled to gain the upper hand in an increasingly crowded battle over next-generation “green” technology.

Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, dominates the current generation of gas-electric hybrid vehicles, but it has refrained from rushing lower-emission cars like the plug-in hybrid to market. Instead, Toyota has focused on plans to introduce regular hybrid technology to all its models by 2020.

But Toyota’s rivals are surging ahead. General Motors plans to build as many as 60,000 Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrids a year, starting in late 2010.

Other automakers, including Ford and Volkswagen, have announced their own plug-in models, and Nissan plans to mass-produce a fully electric car in 2010. Toyota is now increasing its pace. “Several tens of thousands” of the plug-in version of its Prius hybrid will go on sale in 2011, the automaker said Monday. A small number of the plug-in models will be available for lease later this month as planned, but those will be limited to government and corporate clients in the United States, Europe and Japan.

Takeshi Uchiyamada, Toyota’s executive vice president, said in Tokyo that the company was waiting until 2011 to begin sales so it could hear feedback from users during the leasing period. The plug-ins would carry an “affordable” price tag, he said, without giving an estimate. Prices for a regular Prius hybrid with no plug-in function start at $22,400 in the United States.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: energy; gm; hybrid; toyotaprius; uaw
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Fox News was reporting that the plug-in version would cost approximately $23,000.

Which then begs the question - who's going to buy the Volt when for about half the price, you can get the same thing from Toyota without UAW screwups or stupidity?

Answer: Nobody but blind GM fanboys, and there's not enough of them to support GM. Stick a fork in GM, they're done.

1 posted on 12/14/2009 4:41:34 AM PST by Spktyr
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To: Spktyr

Who cares what GM does.?

There is a big difference between building a car and selling it.

The Volt isnt going anywhere in it’s current stage.


2 posted on 12/14/2009 4:44:56 AM PST by Venturer
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To: Venturer

There’s a bunch of people on FR who go around saying “Wait for the Volt, it will save GM, there will be nothing like it, it will save GM, you’ll see.”

Well, guess what.....


3 posted on 12/14/2009 4:48:13 AM PST by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: Spktyr

The IRONY:

We’re going to have to burn ENORMOUS AMOUNTS OF COAL to juice up all of those ELECTRIC cars.


4 posted on 12/14/2009 4:49:55 AM PST by vladimir998
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To: vladimir998

Of course! Remember, liberals think that electricity is clean and green and is magically produced at the wall!


5 posted on 12/14/2009 4:51:15 AM PST by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: Spktyr

Since we burn carbon based fuels to make most of our electricity, from an engineering standpoint, it would be much more efficient to burn the carbon based fuel in the vehicle.

But what does common sense have to do with anything anymore?


6 posted on 12/14/2009 4:52:40 AM PST by IamConservative (Liberty is all a good man needs to succeed.)
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To: vladimir998
We’re going to have to burn ENORMOUS AMOUNTS OF COAL to juice up all of those ELECTRIC cars.

The new mantra of change 20 years down the road. And the band plays on...

7 posted on 12/14/2009 4:53:40 AM PST by EGPWS (Trust in God, question everyone else)
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To: IamConservative
Since we burn carbon based fuels to make most of our electricity, from an engineering standpoint, it would be much more efficient to burn the carbon based fuel in the vehicle.

Someone needs to remind these people of E=MC2. Some of them actually believe they are saving energy with all of this nonsense.

8 posted on 12/14/2009 4:56:22 AM PST by AAABEST (And the light shineth in darkness: and the darkness did not comprehend it)
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To: vladimir998

I’ve got an idea, let’s start building nuke plants again!

(Yeah, I know, that’s just a silly dream.)


9 posted on 12/14/2009 4:57:19 AM PST by Fresh Wind ("...a whip of political correctness strangles their voice"-Vaclav Klaus on GW skeptics)
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To: Spktyr

“Of course! Remember, liberals think that electricity is clean and green and is magically produced at the wall!”

Yep!...they think that it just magically appears without muss or fuss...Example: I live in the mountains and investment groups are already touting that we need to put up windmills here to save the planet....they don’t like to say that those things are 38 stories tall and sound like somebody swinging a rope over your head...or that the investment groups will make a fast buck at the expense of ruining our beautiful mountain vistas.


10 posted on 12/14/2009 4:58:26 AM PST by STONEWALLS
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To: Spktyr

Everytime I hear about plug-in cars I keep thinking of this funny thing on Levin’s radio show:

“Plug them in to what? We can’t burn coal, can’t use oil, can’t build nuclear plants! What are we going to do, go around with those little hats with propellers on them?”

LOL


11 posted on 12/14/2009 5:03:49 AM PST by Daisyjane69 (Michael Reagan: "Welcome back, Dad, even if you're wearing a dress and bearing children this time)
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To: Spktyr

A product liability lawsuit in waiting.


12 posted on 12/14/2009 5:08:26 AM PST by RangerM (A liberal is a man too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel - Robert Frost.)
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To: Spktyr

So the thing is coal,powered instead of gas powered.

In some instances it is Nuke powered, but it still has to be powered from an external source. Anxious to see how people relate to getting the crap shocked out of them when they plug this thing in on a rainy day.


13 posted on 12/14/2009 5:09:57 AM PST by Venturer
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To: Spktyr
Well, guess what.....

A while back, I looked at the numbers, and for what you would pay for the Volt, you could buy a Prius right off the lot and enough gas to run it for more than 100,000 miles. And you would have a reliable, well-sorted-out car instead of a troublesome new model.

14 posted on 12/14/2009 5:10:11 AM PST by Fresh Wind ("...a whip of political correctness strangles their voice"-Vaclav Klaus on GW skeptics)
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To: Spktyr
OBAMAVILLE
POWER PLANT


15 posted on 12/14/2009 5:11:25 AM PST by Iron Munro (God is great - Beer is good - People are crazy.)
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To: Spktyr

Eventually adding millions of plugin cars to the grids that are already struggling at peak hour capacity helps us how?

It takes how long to build new electrical plants?


16 posted on 12/14/2009 5:16:52 AM PST by Rebelbase
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To: vladimir998

Now you know the reason so many are pushing for nuclear power plants,batteries are for flash lights and dildos.


17 posted on 12/14/2009 5:16:59 AM PST by Vaduz
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To: Spktyr

You know how it goes. Promise you everything and deliver nothing but lies. Wait til you get your first electricity bill on your new non gas car; unless it blows up before then.

You know how concerned our government is with the safety of the people. sarc/


18 posted on 12/14/2009 5:21:47 AM PST by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote; then find me a real conservative to vote for)
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To: Spktyr

The nice thing about ‘plug in’ cars is they don’t burn any fossil fuel - none - the power from from the wall... /s


19 posted on 12/14/2009 5:22:08 AM PST by GOPJ (Journalists as BaghdadBobLite - Global Warming Scientists as ElmerGantry - what's happening?)
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To: Spktyr
The nice thing about 'plug in' cars is they don't burn any fossil fuel - none - the power comes from the wall... /s
20 posted on 12/14/2009 5:22:46 AM PST by GOPJ (Journalists as BaghdadBobLite - Global Warming Scientists as ElmerGantry - what's happening?)
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