Environmentales

Remember the news indicating that the Japanese brand surpassed Ford in its sales? It was big issue in the auto world last year - Toyota being the number two brand in the U.S. market snatching the limelight that has been in Ford’s possession for so many years.

This success was due to hybrid cars and Toyota even broadcasted before that their sale on hybrids after ten years has went beyond the one millionth mark. In their local market, Toyota had sold 345,000 hybrid vehicles plus 702,000 more units across their borders - that made successful sales. Out of 1.047 million vehicles, 757,600 were hybrid Prius models.

For the same year, the hottest news regarding the same model circulated the four corners of the auto world. It says that we should anticipate seeing tons of Toyota Prius units by this year as their production went up by about 50%. Toyota asserted that they will be manufacturing almost 300,000 units which will all be sold worldwide.

How will the brand make it possible? Simple. All assembly plants where the Prius is being fabricated, together with other Toyota model vehicles, will concentrate exclusively to the production of the said model.

And for the second quarter of the year, here comes another piece of news - the second hybrid from Toyota. The Japanese brand is planning to start the production of the second hybrid brand by 2009.

This model will then be sold along with the flagship hybrid vehicle of Toyota - Prius. It is anticipated to have exceptional sales and to hit the 100,000 units that is estimated to be the number of sold cars per year.

According to “The Nikkei”, a Japanese newspaper, Toyota is hopeful that 3 years from now, the hybrid sales will reach its optimum sales and will sell around a million of units annually.

But hey guys, the Prius has something new to offer -it will be releasing the latest three hybrid versions. Those three vehicles will be known as the 3 piglets of the mother Prius - they will be named the Prius A, B, and C. These three will be accessible come 2009, 2010, and 2011 respectively. All three will feature special specifications and a distinctive design totally different from the other.

For sure, those three new hybrid vehicles will have unique car parts that is totally undistinguishable from other brands. Maybe car parts fashioned like Volvo 960 parts, the Saab clutch, and the VW Beetle gauge face. Well, just maybe.

It has been said that Toyota was able to obtain the benefit of ever-increasing demand for these hybrid models due to the oil price hikes as well as the widespread issue on global warming. For that, let’s give Toyota rounds of applause!

For now, let’s just all wait and see the latest designs of hybrid cars that will soon hit our destination which we all know have been specifically made by Toyota itself.

It looks like everybody is doing so many efforts in making hybrid cars. We all know that. Asian car makers are number one when it comes to making hybrid cars. Say, Honda and Toyota. They are the leaders when it comes to eco-friendly cars. US car makers like General Motors as well as the Ford Motor Company are also doing their move to be a little greener. Even European car manufacturers are doing efforts as well. Of course, they have to redeem their reputation as the most hazardous car makers of the world being meaner to the environment.

The demands for hybrid cars have increased after the US government has set high standards on emission rates. Almost every vehicle makers is now changing the specifications of their vehicles so that it meets the given rates. Even rental services do it as well. The Nationals in UK have been reported to be cleaner this time as they advocate the use of hybrid cars. They also request the car makers where they got their cars from to do more hybrid cars for them. And of course, they have to sell for everybody loves hybrid, don’t they?

And another car rental service is doing the same thing. Hertz Global Holdings Incorporated is planning to make a greener move as well. According to some news they are allotting $68 million as budget to add 3,400 Toyota Prius hybrid cars to its fleet this coming 2008. The Avis Budget Group Incorporated is also planning to do the same thing. They are purchasing 1,000 Priuses this coming week for their customers.

According to an automotive analyst from Autobytel.com Brian Chee, the hybrid cars are still occupying a small percentage on some car rental fleets. They are planning to launch MyRide.com so the car enthusiasts will have a website where they explore and get the latest news about cars.

Chee said, “This is a first step. It'll be interesting to see if the rental car companies continue this. Like other companies, they're making a 'green' statement, and this is a good way to do it."

The carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced to 3,000 tons every year. According to Hertz, this estimated deduction to the unfriendly emission will come true if they will be replacing a thousand of its conventional cars by these Priuses. He also added that these hybrid vehicles will be available at US airport locations and 100 of them will be reserved for New York fleets.

I just wish this plan will pursue.

Earlier this year at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan, General Motors unveiled the Chevy Volt, an “electric vehicle with a range extender” - or what we would normally call a plug-in hybrid vehicle. While what they show at the event is a concept vehicle, it seems that the company is pushing through with the Volt’s development so that it would be made into a production vehicle sometime soon.

The carmaking giant recently announced that they have secured the services of two battery development firms to create an advanced lithium-ion battery pack for the Volt. The two firms awarded the developmental contract were Compact Power Inc. which is based in Troy, Michigan and the Continental Automotive Systems which is based in Germany.

These two companies will now be moving ahead with their proposed development of the advanced Li-ion battery pack which will make the Volt more fuel efficient than the Saturn Vue Green Line - a hybrid vehicle with highly reliable Saturn Vue parts such as Saturn strut bars.

According to General Motors, the two firms were selected out of the thirteen companies which have presented their proposals to General Motors. “Both of them have offered uniquely different solutions for pack integration and for cell development,” says General Motors’ Rob Peterson, the manager of powertrain communications. “We’re looking for solutions. It doesn’t make sense to throw all of our eggs into one basket. We want to see what LG Chem has to offer and what Continental has to offer.”

Compact Power is a subsidiary of the Korean firm LG Chem. The company’s CEO, Prabhakar Patil, says: “This development contract further validates that lithium-ion is the preferred battery technology for the automotive industry.”

The battery that these two companies will develop will be used on the Chevy Volt. The availability of these advanced battery systems will enable General Motors to produce the Chevy Volt in the near future. The accessibility of the vehicle will surely boost the company’s sales as the demand for fuel efficient vehicles will generate interest on other vehicles from the car maker.

For me, I hope that by the time the Chevy Volt hit the market, it will not be priced excessively. The goal is to provide more fuel efficient vehicles to car owners. If the Volt is marketed as a very expensive car, its purpose of reducing greenhouse gas emission and energy dependence will surely be beaten.

The Honda Motor Corporation was the first one to release the very first hybrid car in the world - the Honda Insight. But sadly, because of some reasons, they stopped the production of this vehicle. And unfortunately, the Japanese automaker will put a period on one of its hybrids this year. Yes, sadly the 2007 Accord hybrid production units will be the last.

The Japanese car maker made a decision to end its production because of the high price, the unremarkable gas mileage and slow sales. Car buyers are now more conscious on buying quality cars with also lower price tags. The Los Angeles Times, a famous online magazine, released this piece of news about the Accord Hybrid.

Anyway according to the Japanese car maker, no matter how hard it is to put a stop on it, they need to do it but they will never stop making more powerful hybrid cars. They say, the Civic Hybrid still exists, so they will focus more on the car model giving it more features so it competes with the world’s famous hybrid car - the Toyota Prius.

For several years, the Prius has been regarded as the best hybrid car even after it was released in 1997. Until now, the Toyota hybrid car is continuously receiving enormous amounts of awards because of its real time fuel efficiency as well as its great driving performance. Recently, it was awarded as the over all champion on the Kelley Blue Book’s Top Great Fuel-Efficient Cars and only two of the Honda brands were regarded. They should, I guess, triple their efforts on perfecting the Honda Civic Hybrid.

Anyway, I have to get back to looking for Infiniti shocks and Jaguar catalytic converters for my cars.

Everybody is going gaga over hybrid cars. We cannot deny that for a fact for most car makers are exerting so much effort to have each of their models a hybrid version or a hybrid vehicle. When it comes to hybrid technology, Japan is the leader and now even the domestic car makers as well as the European auto makers are doing much effort on making such vehicles as well. Well, of course, with the stricter emission rate standards, every car maker should make one to sell more and take in more of the industry’s share.

GM, for example, is also into hybrids nowadays. Not just a simple hybrid car but the one that uses Li-ion batteries together with hydrogen. The Chevy Volt is one of the car models to wear the said battery packs but this will be happening in 2010 and that is 3 years from now. GM is still waiting for the assurance of these battery makers to give them exactly what they need. Meaning, the plan is not sure yet.

Toyota is also delaying the availability of the Li-ion batteries on the Toyota Prius just as they had already promised to make such available soon. They say, issues like battery operated cars seem to not work well are the things that bother Toyota. They were pushed back upon knowing that battery issue like these exist. With the objective to give the costumers not just quality cars but safety vehicles as well, they decided to delay its production. If only Li-ion batteries are like the BMW brake caliper as well as the BMW cargo liner which are easily produced and do not do any harm.

There are several independent car manufacturers that installed these types of batteries and they are noted to have excellent results. However, unless Toyota is sure that these Li-ion batteries are safe, they will never make it available on the Prius. They can’t just afford to put every car user into risk just to make the battery packs available on their Prius.

Committed to giving their followers the cars they need is also the same way that they are committed to make sure the cars they are using are safe and secured. At least Toyota is not only after the fame that they can get when they make the batteries available on their cars. They also think about their customers.

I like that.