Toyota to Double Hybrid Lineup after 2010
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Toyota Executive Vice President Talks Out about Hybrid and Diesel Technologies
Are hybrid powertrains the way of the future or just a stopgap on the way to even more efficient hydrogen fueled vehicles? Well, while the future is not yet fully charted being that new technologies may yet emerge making what we know now seem archaic, many automakers are investing heavily in hybrid technology, understanding that even if a working hydrogen infrastructure makes the clean-burning gas more available, those cars that use a hydrogen fuel cell system to make energy, rather than a more conventional ICE (internal combustion engine) powered by hydrogen, will need an electric drive system to drive the wheels.
Currently, Toyota is the hybrid leader, with seven unique namesake and Lexus branded models powered by its Hybrid Synergy Drive system, besting its next rival, Honda, by four, and soon five once the Insight ends production next year. Ford has two gasoline-electric models, its Escape Hybrid and U.S.-only Mercury Mariner Hybrid, with a Fusion Hybrid to follow, and GM has a full-size pickup truck duo, the Chevy Silverado Hybrid and GMC Sierra Hybrid, plus Tahoe Hybrid and Cadillac Escalade Hybrids, and no doubt more based this new platform, on the way. Chrysler Group has announced a number of SUV hybrids, while Nissan, Subaru and others are stepping up to the plate with hybrids of their own - although the two Japanese brands will be licensing variants of Toyotas system.
For Toyota, reselling its HSD system to rivals is an ideal situation, as it can offer such latecomers “last years” technology, saving the newest and best for its own vehicles, and continue to corner the HEV market, in a way, developing a standard that others must raise their game to compete against.
And a formidable foe it will be come 2010, when it plans to have doubled its hybrid lineup from its current crop to at least fourteen models, and soon after the new decade begins, be selling over 1,000,000 hybrid cars annually.
As far as alternative fuel technologies go, are hybrids “it” for Toyota? Not according to Masatami Takimoto, Executive Vice President over technology development. He says that his company is developing various alternative-fuel engines, advanced diesel engines, new cleaner burning gasoline engines, and even purely electric cars. What is even more significant, however, is that Takimoto was clear in stating that hybrid technology would continue to be a central component of each new alternative power source.
“We believe that hybrids will be the core technology in the 21st century,” commented Takimoto in a news conference, as reported by Reuters news.
Toyota is actually planning on offering the most suitable powertrain for a given market, with Brazil, for instance, getting a flex-fuel model in 2007 that will be capable of running on pure ethanol. Sugar-cane sourced ethanol is popular in Brazil.
Taking the hybrid to new levels, Toyota is busy developing new plug-in hybrids, which can be charged at home or the office to allow longer distances on electric-power only mode, and also, theoretically, could be used to generate power in a pinch. While Japans number one automaker is involved in hydrogen projects, like most other automakers, they dont foresee the technology being commercially viable anytime soon. And commercial viability is, after all, what matters most.
The Reuters article also pointed out what most with an ear close to the auto industry already know, that hybrid acceptance is a North American and, to a lesser extent, Japanese phenomenon, not shared with Europe, where new clean-burning diesels are king. It only makes sense that diesel engines are less expensive to produce than more complex hybrids, and their 20 to 30 percent improvement in fuel economy is good enough for Europeans, who suffer through much higher fuel costs than we do.
The Reuters report tells of a DaimlerChrysler AG press conference held just outside Tokyo earlier in the week, an effort to change perceptions about diesel technology amongst the Japanese, who, like many North Americans, consider diesels to be noisier, smellier and slower than conventional gasoline engines.
“I know there is a lot of prejudice against diesel in this country,” DaimlerChrysler Japan President Hans Tempel told reporters, after having flown in a number of Mercedes-Benz models from Europe for Japanese journalists to test-drive. “Todays diesels are fun to drive, not just on the highway or cross-country,” he added.
But to be truthful, Mercedes-Benz isnt just relying on diesel power to woo fuel conscious customers in Japan, North America, or for that matter, Europe. While it plans to launch its efficient and powerful E320 CDI in the land of the rising sun later this year, it is heavily involved in a hybrid joint venture project with rival BMW and General Motors, which will also spawn “friendly” competitors within Chrysler Groups namesake, plus Dodge and Jeep brands, as well as GMs top-line Cadillac and Hummer brands, which target Mercedes-Benz.
Still, Joachim Schommers, a director at DaimlerChrysler responsible for diesel engine development in passenger cars, stated that hybrids are more expensive to build and that diesels were “a more viable short-term solution”.
No doubt Schommers is somewhat biased, being that diesels are his prime directive, but the fact remains that diesels have yet to be fully accepted in the worlds largest car market, North America, which necessitates a hybrid drivetrain alternative, even for Mercedes-Benz.
Interestingly, a while back, seemingly in order to stifle such diesel is better than hybrid talk, Toyota announced that it was working on hybrid diesel drivetrains, which would offer the best of both worlds, maximizing efficiencies.
While nothing specifically was mentioned about this by Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe, he did accept the fact that hybrids were still too expensive and that more development was needed to improve battery technology, adding that his company was coming close to resolving these problems.
“The biggest task is to halve the cost for hybrids, and were seeing light at the end of the tunnel,” Watanabe said.
Takimoto also pointed out that developmental costs to advance diesel technology so that it complies with North America and Japans more stringent upcoming emissions standards could make diesel-powered vehicles cost more than they would save in fuel; running into the same problems hybrid makers face.
“The potential for diesel technology is high, but whether the market would accept the high prices is a separate issue,” Takimoto commented, continuing this thought by stating that Toyota was not currently considering the sale of diesel-powered cars in Japan.
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