Starting a thread a bit more on topic after finding another appropriate quote from the book on the subject of the 'main purpose' of the Prius and how what we drive today evolved.
This caries over from this thread:
http://www.priusonline.com/viewtopic.ph ... 9&start=15
From "The Prius That Shook The World"; p45-47:
This is a from the second G21 group started in Jan. 1994 who was supposed to take what becomes Prius from the concept stage to the design stage....
"Someone said, "What we need is some sort of a guideline
in order to clarify the concept so we can decide what kind of product to make."
"Okay, then, let's look for keywords that indicate what is
needed for the 21st century car," Uchiyamada suggested. He
also said,
"It could be anything. What should a car be? Or what
kind of a car do you want in the 21st century? There
should be many books and articles on this subject available in
the market. Let's all look for concepts and draw up a list of
keywords that strongly relate to the automotive society of the
21st century."
Several days later, many keywords were offered:
"Increased traffic accident fatalities," "increased population of
the elderly in developed nations," "decreased childbirth and
more women in the workplace in Japan," "rapid
development of multimedia," "more serious traffic
congestion," and so on.
Ishida then put together a report on those keywords.
After many brainstorming sessions, two key words remained:
"natural resources" and "environment."
Those key words were especially meaningful at that time
because auto makers were focusing on the depletion of the
ozone layer due to the use of CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) in
air conditioning systems. Also, Uchiyamada recently had
overheard his wife and his elementary school age daughter
talking about how to sort trash for the various waste disposal
methods his daughter had learned at school. After listening
to the discussion, Uchiyamada realized that he lived a life
far more detached from environmental issues than his family and that concerns over natural resources and the environment would one day
become major social issues.
Eventually, the team narrowed down the concept and
settled on building a car that would be resource- and
environment-friendly while retaining all the benefits of the
modern car. In other words, the team acknowledged the
original G21's goal to build "a small, fuel-efficient car."
To me, at least, this reads as fuel efficiency and environment friendliness (ie emissions) were at least parallel and equally important. But also that they are inseperably connected.
This caries over from this thread:
http://www.priusonline.com/viewtopic.ph ... 9&start=15
From "The Prius That Shook The World"; p45-47:
This is a from the second G21 group started in Jan. 1994 who was supposed to take what becomes Prius from the concept stage to the design stage....
"Someone said, "What we need is some sort of a guideline
in order to clarify the concept so we can decide what kind of product to make."
"Okay, then, let's look for keywords that indicate what is
needed for the 21st century car," Uchiyamada suggested. He
also said,
"It could be anything. What should a car be? Or what
kind of a car do you want in the 21st century? There
should be many books and articles on this subject available in
the market. Let's all look for concepts and draw up a list of
keywords that strongly relate to the automotive society of the
21st century."
Several days later, many keywords were offered:
"Increased traffic accident fatalities," "increased population of
the elderly in developed nations," "decreased childbirth and
more women in the workplace in Japan," "rapid
development of multimedia," "more serious traffic
congestion," and so on.
Ishida then put together a report on those keywords.
After many brainstorming sessions, two key words remained:
"natural resources" and "environment."
Those key words were especially meaningful at that time
because auto makers were focusing on the depletion of the
ozone layer due to the use of CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) in
air conditioning systems. Also, Uchiyamada recently had
overheard his wife and his elementary school age daughter
talking about how to sort trash for the various waste disposal
methods his daughter had learned at school. After listening
to the discussion, Uchiyamada realized that he lived a life
far more detached from environmental issues than his family and that concerns over natural resources and the environment would one day
become major social issues.
Eventually, the team narrowed down the concept and
settled on building a car that would be resource- and
environment-friendly while retaining all the benefits of the
modern car. In other words, the team acknowledged the
original G21's goal to build "a small, fuel-efficient car."
To me, at least, this reads as fuel efficiency and environment friendliness (ie emissions) were at least parallel and equally important. But also that they are inseperably connected.