Toyota introduces the world's first gas-electric hybrid car

Web posted October 15, 1997

 Toyota online

Associated Press

TOKYO -- Toyota Motor Corp. rolled out the world's first gasoline-electric hybrid car Tuesday, promising double the mileage of gasoline engines and half the tailpipe emissions.

Toyota's determination to be the first out with a hybrid is a sign of its financial might as well as its aggressive drive to promote its brand worldwide.

The car is only being sold in Japan, but Toyota President Hiroshi Okuda said the company would consider selling it in the United States after six months. All major automakers, including Detroit's Big Three, are working on some type of hybrid.

Toyota has priced the Prius (pronounced PREEH-us), a small, four-door sedan, at about $17,700. Analysts say the company will lose money on the car, but Okuda said Toyota wants ordinary people driving the cars. Toyota says it plans to sell 1,000 hybrids in the first month, starting Dec. 10.

At lower speeds when tailpipe emissions are high, the car runs only on electricity. It then automatically switches to gasoline after it picks up speed. The gasoline engine also recharges the batteries and uses conventional gas.

Typical electric cars need to be recharged after 120 miles.

In tests by Toyota, the Prius got as much as 66 miles a gallon and recorded only half the carbon dioxide output of a regular gasoline engine while trimming other tailpipe emissions by about 90 percent.

The Prius is about 330 pounds heavier than a typical sedan. Half that weight is from the battery.

Ed Brogan, auto analyst with Salomon Brothers in Tokyo, said Toyota is more interested in image-boosting than big sales because it cannot produce many more than the target of 1,000 a month.

``It can cloak itself in the mantle of an environmental leader,'' Brogan said.

In Japan, Toyota has been losing market share to Honda Motor Co., which has a reputation for technological innovation. Toyota also has ambitions to expand its tiny share of the European market.

``If you see the losses as an advertising expense to boost Toyota's image, it's worth it,'' said Hideaki Aonuma, an auto analyst for Societe Generale Securities in Tokyo. ``Being the first out with a product in the world has tremendous impact.''

In December, Toyota plans to show off the Prius at an international conference in Kyoto on global warming.

The Japanese government is considering offering tax breaks and other subsidies for the hybrid, as it did with the electric car, which will make the Prius even more attractive to buyers.

Both Honda and Nissan Motor Co. have recently disclosed their own hybrid technology and say they plan to put a hybrid car on the market in the next year or so.

``There is a fear that Toyota may get to our customers first,'' said Masato Fukino, an engineer in the new technology section at Nissan.

Audi, the luxury division of Volkswagen, had planned to put out a diesel-electric hybrid this year, but recently postponed it to April 1998. The Audi hybrid will be limited in production and cost about $34,000.

James Hall, an auto analyst in Detroit with AutoPacific, said the success of the hybrid with buyers remains to be seen, although there was an advantage to being first.

``By having the hybrid out there, Toyota can learn more about what people like or don't like about the car,'' Hall said.