Toyota hybrids rebranded?
Hi all,
Despite Toyota's hybrid undercapacity, it appears that Toyota will offer their hybrids to other manufacturers. Bold strategy. If GM bites, crow-eating big time.
If Honda is the hybrid "rump" (below, ouch), what can we call Detroit? I wonder if the "Coaster" is some kind of bus, pretty constant demand at 10 per annum.
cheers, nathan
http://www.auto-asia.com/viewcontent.asp?pk=7117
24/4/2002: Toyota may supply hybrid vehicles on OEM basis
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Toyota has announced that global cumulative sales of its hybrid vehicles have passed the 100,000 market in March, giving the Japanese giant an estimated 90% share of the fledgling global hybrid market (the rump being claimed by Honda). And now, in a bid to achieve better economies of scale, Toyota is looking seriously at the idea of supplying hybrids to other automakers.
Some while ago Toyota announced its intention to lift annual hybrid vehicle output 10-fold to 300,000 units by 2005. This lofty goal would be more credible if Toyota supplies other automakers on an OEM basis.
Hiroyuki Watanabe, senior managing director in charge of environmentally friendly technology, says Toyota has already held discussions with other rival carmakers on the subject. No final decision has been taken, however, and Toyota is not yet ready to identify the firms it has been talking to.
Toyota boosted its green credentials by launching the world’s first production hybrid car, the Prius, in December 1997. But as long as hybrids remain a small niche in the market, volumes remain low and production costs high. If the 300,000 output mark could be achieved, the company reckons unit costs would be halved.
There is no doubt that Toyota, along with Honda, have a clear lead in the application of hybrid powertrain technology but they need to start making some return on their heavy investment before hybrids are superceded by fuel cell cars – the first of which are due out in 2005 and are expected to be widely available by 2015. General Motors, Ford and DaimlerChrysler are expected to launch stop-gap hybrids in 2003 and 2004 but they have made it clear that volumes will remain fairly low.
Toyota say its hybrid business in now making a profit, albeit a slim one. It has several models in its hybrid stable ranging from an updated Prius to a hybrid version of its Estima people carrier and a ‘mild’ hybrid version of its large Crown sedan. The latter is less efficient but much less expensive.
Honda’s hybrid line-up comprises the Insight two-seater and a version of the Civic subscompact. Cumulative sales since November 1999 are less than 13,000 units. In contrast, Toyota sold 37,000 hybrids last year alone.
TOYOTA HYBRID VEHICLE SALES BY MODEL
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 (1-3)
Prius 323 17,653 15,243 19,011 29,459 7,402
Estima 0 0 0 0 5,886 5,840
Crown 0 0 0 0 1,574 520
Coaster 9 3 12 15 9 8
Total 332 17,656 33,243 52,269 89,197 13,770
Cum 332 17,988 33,243 52,2269 89,197 102,967
