Prius, Toyota's next brand

Hybrids are not the future. And no, it doesn't deserve the credits it gets. It is over hyped. Unfortunately this world is full of morons who eat up everything clever marketing can convince them to believe in.

I had this discussion with my wife when explaining why Hybrids aren't so great, and why environmental whackos will complain about any car because they want us to go back to the stone age.

Current hybrids don't get better mileage than frugal gas-only and diesel cars (e.g. if mileage was all you truly cared about, get a 3 cylinder Suzuki Swift; there are small cars that get better mileage than the darlings like the Prius). Add to that the weight they carry around for the electric motor and batteries and they become more inefficient. Add the fact that they are useless on the highways because the electric motor doesn't come into play. Add to that the fact that the batteries are only going to last for 50,000 miles and they will cost more to replace than the value of the car at that point -- Hybrids are going to come off the road FASTER than other cars and add all those batteries to our landfill.

Electric cars, again with the battery problems of weight, replacement, and ultimate disposal; and news flash for environmental-cases, ELECTRICITY COMES FROM SOMEWHERE, in the US it's coal or nuclear, and we haven't built a new nuclear plant since the 1960s, and what environmental-case is going to agree with putting up new nuclear reactors?

I think long term fuel cells hold the most promise, but it's going to take industrial effort to make all that hydrogen, and even then I am only half-sarcastically suggesting that the water coming out of the tailpipe will be cursed as the cause for global-dampening because we're producing new water that didn't exist before (unless of course that's where we got the original Hydrogen).
 
^ Weird Al Yankovic
 
Thank you for that random double post. 8)

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Electric cars, again with the battery problems of weight, replacement, and ultimate disposal; and news flash for environmental-cases, ELECTRICITY COMES FROM SOMEWHERE, in the US it's coal or nuclear, and we haven't built a new nuclear plant since the 1960s, and what environmental-case is going to agree with putting up new nuclear reactors?

ICE's are horribly inefficient forms of power compared to power stations. It's also far easier to regulate a far fewer number of power plants than millions of cars.

The problem comes in with the companies that run these power stations have to much political clout and get out of any smog regulations.

Also with a series hybrid, like those used on diesel locomotives, they are more efficient. I still don't understand why Toyota did it the way they did.

BTW, how much of that post was Wierd Al? I know he's smarter than that.
 
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Smart move. This way, if and when the hybrid market eventually dies off, Toyota can quietly kill off the Prius brand with no stain on the Toyota name.
 
Smart move. This way, if and when the hybrid market eventually dies off, Toyota can quietly kill off the Prius brand with no stain on the Toyota name.

Won't that cause the same headaches that GM has with killing off brands because of the dealership network? I know it cost GM a lot of money to get rid of Oldsmobile.
 
Won't that cause the same headaches that GM has with killing off brands because of the dealership network? I know it cost GM a lot of money to get rid of Oldsmobile.

You'd think so - but I suspect it won't be a full brand. It will be a sub-brand, like Scion is right now (Scions are only sold in association with an existing Toyota dealer, and are sold on Toyota showroom floors).
 
I hate the prius soooo MUCH!!
It is not light, which a "green" car should be, it is not fuel efficient, it does not have low emissions, it is useless and hopeless.
No wonder JC destroyed one in his latest DVD :D
 
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