{Toyoda-san pretty much stated, that Europe is very well established automotive culture.. yes culture. Where people are passionate and more aware of their vehicles. Its not just A to B anymore, people actually look at their vehicles as an extention of themselves….}
They want to establish themselves as leaders in Hybrid technology over there however the established manufacturers are already playing that game as well as developing alternative systems. Europe is at the forefront of Fuel Cell developement and ultra hi milage low emmision diesels are already on the market for the consumer to use as a stop gap till teh technolgy can catch up.
Along with this anouncement it was also announced that Toyota was cutting back it’s R&D expenditure on clean diesels, so therefore, as a full story it takes a certain different light. Remember recently BMW/MINI sent Prius an congratulatory letter for finally joining the sub 4l/100km club?
Toyota are the ones who push prius as the Saviour of all things automotive, they are the ones that are saying that diesels are finished (read the story in another Australian car site) and yet they are simply using unfounded fact as a marketing tool. Sorry but we are supposed to have standards against such stuff.

My post was OVER your head… the point anyways.

[1] Toyoda-san would like to “ESTABLISH” Toyota better in Europe, Hybrid is best approach.
Why? Because YES, as I said Audis, Fiats etc are ALL Established manufacturers in Europe… I STATED Toyota wanted to leave their own MARK, so they can STANDOUT…

Your sentence doesnt make sense… AT ALL… WHY WOULD I state that ALL european manufacturer vehicles are STANDOUTS in Europe… For something to standout they must seperate themselves from the rest by a distinguishable feature or trait. WHY WOULD I list A BUNCH of european manufacturers and say they ALL STANDOUT??? SERIOUSLY… WTF?

AS I SAID… Toyota plans to ESTABLISH Hybrid in Europe, hence making helping them establish a market in Europe. As currently THEY are lost in the sea of manufacturers that have STRONG cultural acceptance. SO I stated, that Toyota, by offering Hybrid vehicles… CAN increase market share and somehow help them standout, by offering Hybrid vehicles, in SMALL-MEDIUM-LARGE vehicles.

DIESEL technology isnt too good for the environment either. Sure its better in our pockets, but you also run an extra risk of health risk with DIESEL fuel.

The POINT WAS, that DIESEL is a VERY VERY short term answer for the increase fuel cost, Mileage wise it is superior to PETROL, but in terms of its effects on people, it is inferior to Petrol.

Hybrid technology is pretty much HALF FUEL/HALF PETROL
I don’t want to spell it out since its an insult to some intelligent people here, but eventually, Hybrid will evolve to full electric…. but not yet, not whilst Government is making $$$ off petrol, whilst some countries still have abundance of fuel left over. We’re talking 20 years here before we see a significant change in vehicle powertrain/engines…. it’ll cost close to a trillion dollars to translate from petrol power vehicles to full electric vehicles in a short time span…. (Government and manufacturer costs).

And as I said, most here worry about battery leakage, disposal and other trivial things. I’ll tell you what, the regulations these days are so so strict, that if its available on the market… it means the manufacturer has provided ENOUGH evidence of commerical availability for it to be SOLD to the public.

Yeap, nailed it in one, needs to be $25k DRIVEAWAY [with electric rear windows and full safety pack] otherwise its overpriced DIEsels-days all over

Cheers

F-0

On the “standout Vehicles” list you gave, sorry but all of those cars are “NORMAL” vehicles in Europe. Not one of them is a standout. That is until you get to there equivalent of M sport or RS or AMG. Toyota struggles at present in europe because of one reason, and one reason only. THey have NO compatable Diesel engines for their passenger vehciles. In market where over 70% of passenger cars are diesel engined they either have to spend dollars on buying a motor or try to go against the flow and tell everyone else they are wrong. It is with this knowledge that I make my statements, plus the knowledge that the technology they use was pilfered from another company and that there are actually better, more advanced Hybrid systems out there than synergy drive For all there grandstanding and chest pumping Toyota have actually advanced their system very little in all the years that they have had it.
As for the climate debate, read my above response.

You sound like you have great REALISTIC ideas for saving humanity and the environment whilst not making any profit for yourself… ALL for the sake of feeling good.

Toyoda-san pretty much stated, that Europe is very well established automotive culture.. yes culture. Where people are passionate and more aware of their vehicles. Its not just A to B anymore, people actually look at their vehicles as an extention of themselves… thats the impression on the european market… “Normal” vehicles arent enough to “standout” from the other established vehicles there… and thats where Toyota wants to establish it self… the forefront HYBRID manufacturer in Europe. Thats one way for them to distinguish from the Audis, Mercs, Fiats, Beamers, Alfas, Renaults, Peugeuts etc. Not many Japanese companies do well in comparison to the european manufacturers because those companies are established…. Lexus isnt “good enough” to really standout for Toyota over there… thats where Hybrid is KEY.

Toyota copied who??

Everyone copies each other… if there isnt a PATENT on the technology… its FAIR GO.. Thats the automotive market. I hate to tell you, we engineers don’t exactly spend 12 hours a day trying to re-invent the wheel per say, Engineering ISNT JUST about creating NEW wonderful technology to make things easier and better… No..sorry, in a perfect world yes…
Engineering is about converting the discovered technology/invention TO commercial application….$$$.

Unless of course you work for the government where you can replace commercial application to a bunch of other agendas…

So I just don’t buy that “copied” crap from sales, customers everywhere… lol, its called benchmarking. Matching specs and features with fellow competitors….

YOU want to save the PLANET?
DO NOT DRIVE!!! DO NOT USE AIRCONDITIONER!!! TURN YOUR FRIDGE OFF!!!… DON’T LITTER!!.. RECYCLE!!!… PROVIDE HALF YOUR SALARY TO ENVIRONMENTAL CHARITIES!!!…. … lol… GOODLUCK!…

What I see is constant nit picking for the sake of saying something BAD… not just about Toyota, but many people here do it… it makes us feel better you see!.. yay free speech on the internet! WOW!.