Entries from September 2008 ↓

The hybrid car market has built upon us slowly but steadily over the last decade ago. If you can remember back that far you’ll recall that gas was hovering around a dollar a gallon and we were in an economic boom, right on the edge of the dotcom bubble and the economic reality of the new millennium.

The last half decade or so has brought a few other realities as well, the most prevalent being the truth in global warming. The social effects are just now starting to be seen, right alongside the commercial effects. The evolution of the automobile has sidled right up to the plate as the next major development. For those interested in helping out by owning one of the new generation of the car, your choices were limited for a long time, but with each passing year a whole new slew of options open up as car companies hop onto the bandwagon, realizing that there is in fact money to be made in this market.

Until Ford finally announced their Escape model recently, the market has been dominated by Japanese automakers, and even now as more American companies get involved, they have nearly a ten year head start in the market.

Toyota Prius – The most popular and oldest of all hybrid models, the Prius is one of the cheapest models available as well as the most efficient with nearly 60 mpg. There is a downside to being the most popular however – a waiting list of two to nine months.

Honda Insight – Honda’s new entry, the Insight is a straight up competitor to the Prius, with a slightly lower price point and slightly higher mpg. It doesn’t have the establishment of brand name like Toyota hybrids, but the success of Civic and Accord hybrids in Honda’s line places them in a better position than any other car company to take Toyota on.

Ford Escape – The Escape Hybrid is the first time an American car company has offered a hybrid vehicle to the public. Their first entry is an attempt to pacify both markets at the same time, offering a more expensive SUV hybrid that gets significantly better mileage than most SUVs on the market, but still fails to come anywhere near the Toyota or Honda mileage standards.

Lexus and Toyota have offered their own entries into the SUV hybrid arena, with the Lexus RX 400h and Toyota Highlander respectively. The popularity of the SUV being what it is, the price point is rendered partially if not entirely mute, as those on the cusp of buying an SUV because of gas mileage might reconsider when these options are presented.

With upwards of 10 new models supposedly being unveiled later this year, the list of hybrid cars available to the public is growing rapidly, finally catching up to the demand that Toyota and their over-stuffed order forms can attest to. What remains to be seen now is if the kind of technology race that this market needs is coming right behind.

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The Toyota Prius is still the most popular and best-selling hybrid car in the US and world today. When the Prius was released back in 1997 it pioneered the trend towards hybrid vehicles.

Purchases of the Toyota Prius started to rise as more models were released, even though, initially, sales of the now-popular hybrid vehicle were not very good. Toyota released its second-generation Prius in 2003 as the first midsize hybrid available to the public, and that year it was named Car of the Year by Motor Trend magazine.

People are not just buying hybrids because of the environmental and health issues, but also because of the soaring gas prices which is leading people to look for alternatives. Prius is the number one choice due to its simplicity and price, although, there are many hybrid cars to choose from.

Many improvements have been made to the latest hybrid vehicles. While the first version of the Toyota Prius had excellent fuel efficiency, air conditioning was the sole option available. The second generation vehicle improved on the first in aesthetics, speed, and size. It is the first sedan of its class and size and has won numerous awards.

It employs the Synergy hybrid system used by all of Toyota’s hybrid vehicles. It has a 1.5 liter 4 cylinder engine with smart valve timing along with an eternal magnet Ac synchronous motor. It has 110 horsepower (combining electric power with gas power) and 46 mpg fuel economy (city and highway mileage combined, as rated by EPA).

It has an electronically controlled continuous variable transmission, anti-lock system and regenerative breaking. The environment benifits because of the low 89% emissions.

Power windows, cloth seats, micron filter air-conditioners, cruise control, door locks, and keyless remote entry are included as standard features in the second generation Toyota Prius. Switches can be found on the steering wheel that controls the climate, audio and cruise control.

Customers have the option of buying the vehicle with a navigational system with Bluetooth technology. What makes it different from any other hybrids on the market is that it uses a power button to start the ingition rather than a key. An energy motor is mounted on the dashboard which indicates the flow of power between the engine, electric motor and battery pack.

While the second-generation Toyota Prius isn’t the most stylish of the available hybrids, its low price, high miles per gallon, and environmentally minded features combine to make it extremely attractive. If you’re looking for practicality why not choose the pioneer?

You can find more great information and articles about hybrid cars, including the Toyota Prius, on our website.

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It’s been ten years since Toyota introduced their first hybrid car, the Prius, to the market for energy and pollution conscious consumers. The model has seen significant success and maintains a steady waiting list for this interested in owning one. The market is booming and yet where is the competition? Honda hopped on with hybrid models of their popular Civic and Accord models, and Nissan is looking to edge their way in as their market share grows world-wide, but the original developers of the automobile, the American Auto Manufacturers, with the exception of a product line equivalent to sticking their toe in the water, have remained rather silent on the issue.

It looks like 2007 will be a step in the right direction though as 10 new hybrid models will release this year alone, six of those from Detroit’s big three automakers. Ford, Mercury, and Saturn each have their single entry in the field. As it stands though the full support and development budgets that the technology really needs to take off have yet to appear.

So, as GM, Ford, and Daimler Chrysler rev up their sales and attempt to take on a Japanese market with a decade’s head start, what can we look forward to in our hybrid vehicles?

The answer is exciting when you stop to think about the amount of development money and time that could really go into the market if these companies realize that there’s money to be made. When the consumers react and a dozen or more different brands hit the market in competition, the need to step up and offer bigger, better models to stay ahead of the curve will breed the kind of technology race that the auto industry hasn’t seen since the 1970s.

Recent reports released by the UN and the global scientific community state that with CO2 output as it currently stands, worldwide temperatures will rise by nearly 6 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. There are still hold outs on the consensus that technologies such as the automobile are causing harm to our planet, but as more and more come to the realization that this is a reality, the corporations will react accordingly. And if the government takes the steps to curb emissions and raise CAFE standards, it’s entirely likely that the industry might start to shift much of their focus to the hybrid car market in an attempt to curb the inevitable downturn in their profits.

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