Toyota moves its two millionth hybrid vehicle, Ma Earth tips her hat
It's incredibly hard to believe that the original Prius went on sale a full dozen years ago, but as the debatable face of the hybrid reaches its third generation, Toyota as a whole is celebrating the sale of its two millionth hybrid. As of August 31st, global sales of the automaker's hybrid fleet has surpassed 2.01 million, and as of now, there are 13 hybrids in the company's lineup. Later this year, Lexus (the outfit's luxury brand) is set to see its fourth hybrid hit the streets, and it's been said that Toyota could have a hybrid version of every motorcar it sells by the end of the next decade. Not like it'll matter -- we'll all be cruising around in Jetson-mobiles or Tesla Roadsters by then, anyway.























No? Stuff gets mined and transported all the time.
Stop exporting american cars then, dumbass.
Mother earth tips hat... yea to 1,000,000 suckers. Thanks for being an early adopter. When these cars actually save me money i will buy one. Not just because it will make me feel like I am a better person than somebody with a SUV.
"hybrid drivers are the leading contributor of smug."
hah!
Ha! Hilarious! I love it when people strike jokes at the height of their popularity! Any Titanic jokes?
Mother Earth is all for efficiency, but sees through most of the Green Hype.
(and never forgets, she is the dumping ground for all the waste after all).
At this point, ME - as we'll call her - has called a conference to say "meh" to hybrids and "yeh" to getting on your (pedal-powered) bike, if at all possible, phatso.
;)
And the palm pre weeps at those unreachable numbers :)
One thing's for sure ... with that many people buying them, all other car manufactures are trying to play catch up with their own hybrids or electric cars. The Prius might not be saving people money or the environment now, but it helped change the way cars and batteries are being made for the future.
Stop living in the past. Last time I checked, the 20th Century is over.
"Toyota moves its two millionth hybrid vehicle, Ma Earth tips her hat"
Not like it'll matter -- we'll all be cruising around in Jetson-mobiles or Tesla Roadsters by then, anyway."
So....what's the point? Sometimes I don't get you, engadget.....
Can't wait to bury my spent battery in Mother Earth
The rest of us will recycle our lithium ion batteries.
"Ma Earth tips her hat"? got ignorance?
Buy American! Ford Motors Forever!
Ford Fusion Review: http://reviews.cnet.com/sedan/2010-ford-fusion-hybrid/4505-10865_7-33663918.html
(Can't blame me for showing national support) :)
Ill buy an American car when they stop passing off shit, stop taking their customers for granted and produce something worth buying.
As it stands German cars have my vote with Japanese a close second.
I'm sorry but for the price the Ford Fusion is a very good car and is not a piece of "shit" as you say. Actually Ford has improved alot of its designs and have created safer, more fuel efficient, faster and great riding cars. I would take a Ford Fusion Hybrid over a Prius any day.
@ Adderz
First of all, I know you didn't reference Ford and Toyota directly, but I will use them as examples as to why the logic behind your anti-American car sentiment is not sound.
I recently read that Ford just passed Toyota in terms of quality. So much for "passing off shit" and "producing something worth buying". I don't know how you can back "taking their customers for granted" with facts, but the American Customer Satisfaction Institute shows a 3% difference in overall satisfaction between Ford and Toyota, with Toyota at 86% and Ford at 83%. If Ford is in fact taking customers for granted, then they must be sending them through a mandatory brain-washing class too.
The 2010 Fusion hybrid costs $5000 more (at base price) and gets 10 mpg less than the 2010 Prius (it still gets 41 miles to the gallon), but it is a mid size sedan while the Prius is a compact. Personally, I'd take quality and size over price, and, in my opinion, a 10 mpg difference isn't a problem with current gas prices. Doing some quick math, it's a $200-300 difference in gas cost when driving 20,000 miles a year. Driving less makes the cost difference even smaller.
I'm too tired to find the links again and post them, but everything I just wrote is based on fact.
Ok, so let's see what happens in a few years when the battery components can no longer be recycled and when it depletes Neodymium from mother earth. Makings of a future eco menace? Just wondering....
Nickel for batteries mined in Canada with major environmental effects, sent to China via deisel burning. China, the biggest pollutor with little incentive to clean after itself ships finished batteries to Japan again using diesel burning ships, where cars are assembled from steel made in Japan, but whose ore comes from elsewhere. Final product is then shipped across the world and sold to people who think the environmental impact is less because they don't think about things as much as they think they do.
Just mentioning that the Prius is the #1 selling car in Japan .. by quite some margin. And has been for sometime.
Hopefully hybrid technology can find its way into larger vehicles which americans seem to require.
this is Matt, and you know what?
F you, sacapuntas.
you're not fun, you're not funny.
"...Ma Earth tips her hat"??
Just ask anybody living near a nickel mining/smelting facility in Canada, Russia, or the USA. Perhaps some info is required:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/pubs/contaminants/psl1-lsp1/compounds_nickel_composes/compounds_nickel_composes_2-eng.php
http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=441
http://www.oxfamamerica.org/whatwedo/where_we_work/camexca/news_publications/art7269.html
en.rian.ru/russia/20080227/100179657.html
ww.epa.state.oh.us/ocapp/p2/mercury_pbt/fact96.pdf
Correction Lexus already has it's fourth hybrid out on the streets as of last month.
Clarity > Prius
Hybrids just can't make a dramatic enough change since battery technology advances at a snail's pace compared to our eagerness to adopt alternative fuels. Hydrogen isn't entirely better than gas (or gas/battery), but it is a significantly bigger step away from the oil-economy towards an electron-economy -- which is where we can really start to see clean /and/ inexpensive power, without the confusion of mixed energy sources and hidden costs.
That's 2 million potential hazmat situations, 2 million extra miles driven.....thanks eco-nuts for pumping all that extra non-temperature rising CO2 into the air. I hope you are all happy.
I'm really disappointed in the comments on the solar roadways and prius articles on Engadget today. I thought that most technologically-inclined people were also smart enough to recognize the need for less selfish consumerism (eg refusing to buy a version of something that reduces their impact if it involves any cost to themselves, unwillingness to make any changes in their own habits for the greater good) and intelligent enough to understand that innovation requires prototypes and a society willing to innovate.
Also, it's really NOT cool and trendy to scoff those who are. It may have been cool in 1985 or 1995, but obviously it's not trendy after decades.
I just got a v8 AMG to balance out all these hybrids that are polluting our earth more and more...
I think hybrid cars are a good start, but for anyone who doesn't think their owners are smug, I submit this picture I just took on Saturday:
http://benheck.com/images/misc/smug.jpg
Just think, this person actually went out of their way to go to a sign shop, get some vinyl (petroleum-based) lettering, and put it on to remind everyone that their car gets the same mileage as a $800 1986 Chevy Metro.
Ug.
heh!
Minivan! Minivan! In the US! It's been out for almost as long as the Prius, yet Toyota still won't bring it to the US unless we push harder. Minivan!
Just to make sure, driving in Jetsons vehicles? Tesla vehicles? There will be flying cars in the future but I only need to question - will the cars be environment friendly? There will be cheaper Teslas but I don't think it'll be anywhere below 35,000 dollars. So, no thanks, I'll still drive the Toyota Pruis. Staying original is fun and safer, :)!