Content Categories NEWS Hybrid News Hybrid effort: Trio takes on Toyota | Hybrid effort: Trio takes on Toyota |
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| Written by Kacey Green | |
| Friday, 01 September 2006 | |
GM, Chrysler and BMW have gotten together to save money and combine gas/electric knowledgeChicago Tribune reports : (9/1)My major concern is if people still claim to be unsure of the Toyota hybrid technology after almost ten years it will be 2016 before this group has any customers that aren't "early adopters". Its not the foreign manufacturer thing either as ford has been in the hybrid market for a fair amount of time and have only sold 33,000. This will be a group to keep an eye on, they may have a few tricks up their sleeves.
General Motors is just getting into
the burgeoning hybrid vehicle market and Chrysler won't be there until
2008, so both badly lag industry leader Toyota.
GM and its
partners will invest more than $1 billion in their collaborative effort
with no guarantee of a return. Toyota reportedly spent more than that
during the 1990s to develop its first hybrid model, so it takes big
bucks to compete in this arena.
To catch Toyota, GM and its
partners are adopting common specifications for a hybrid system built
around a GM automatic transmission. They will use a single factory to
build hybrid systems, a GM plant in Baltimore, achieving economies of
scale none could realize on its own.
The three-way alliance on
gas/electric hybrids is a sign of the times as automakers search for
partners as a way to save money globally on purchasing, product
development and new technology.
Some of the "facts" stated here are standard media hoopla like this here: " Analysts estimate a full hybrid system like the one in the Prius currently adds $3,000 to $4,000 to a vehicle's cost, but the amount is coming down with higher volume." The media is always saying stuff like this and look at this here, there is no non-hybrid Prius, you can't compare a non-hybrid Prius to a Hybrid Prius, because it only comes one way. I like the way rangerdavid puts it: "WHY do they always seem to ask that question about hybrids??? They dont ask that about other cars......... Actually, I've never in my life gone to a car lot and said 'HMmmmm, very nice truck there, but will it ever pay for itself?'" That's all I care to say on the subject at this moment, please discuss your thoughts on the matter in the forums. Share it!             Trackback(0)
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| Last Updated ( Sunday, 26 August 2007 ) |
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