If I had a million dollars……I’d buy me a conscience

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/11/2003 (8209 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WELL, we now know what a bare naked lady would do if he actually had a million dollars. It’s not bacon-wrapped sausage or even a bag full of elephant bones.

No, what Stephen Page, front man for Canada’s quirkiest band wants is a brand-new, bright-red Toyota Prius. And even if the fuel-sipping gasoline/hybrid compact wasn’t immortalized in the band’s signature hit, Page obviously feels that minimizing the damage to the environment is worth spending $29,990 of his own dollars to cut down on tailpipe emissions. Either that, or he’s a typical Canadian and wants to save a few pennies on gas.

That’s because the combination of Prius’ diminutive 1.5-litre four cylinder gasoline engine and Toyota Hybrid System electric motors uses but 4.1 litres of gas for every 100 kilometres. That’s 69 miles per gallon for those still cursing Pierre Elliot Trudeau. And since Toyota also claims the Prius “enjoys best-in-market vehicle emissions performance,” the Japanese compact is also one of the ‘greenest’ cars on the planet.

Which, until now, hasn’t exactly been the key to financial success. After all, electric cars died an ignominious death, fuel-conscious diesels have never caught on here as they have in Europe and previous hybrids (notably, the previous Prius and Honda’s Insight) were notoriously slow sellers.

Yet, this new Prius is arguably the most sought after car in North America. The Wall Street Journal recently polled car companies on their stock of particular models in inventory. Toyota had but five days supply of the Prius (compared with an industry average of about 70 and a worst car scenario for some domestic sedans of over 120 days supply). According to Ken Tomikawa, president of Toyota Canada, Toyota can currently only build 5,000 Prius a month at its Tsutsumi plant, yet the company sold 27,500 to environmentally-conscious Japanese and North Americans in its first month. And, says Tomikawa, he could sell 500 to 1,000 a month in Canada alone.

Which makes Detroit’s reluctance to fully embrace hybrid technology more than just a tad curious. Ford recently announce it’s delaying the introduction of its first hybrid, the Escape HEV. And General Motors is completely redoing its gasoline/electric motor program. The hybrid version of the popular Saturn Vue sport cute has been delayed (to 2006), it looks like a similarly-powered version of the upcoming Chevrolet Equinox SUV has been shelved and GM’s so-called “strong hybrid” pickups have been delayed until 2008. That leaves the world’s largest automaker with only so-called “mild hybrid” pickups. Which aren’t really hybrids at all since their high-energy electrical system doesn’t transfer any additional power to the rear wheels (it does, however, run all the electrical accessories, thus reducing fuel consumption by 10 percent says GM).

Lest I appear to be unnecessary harsh with Detroit’s giant, the General is to be congratulated on its new Displacement On Demand (DOD) system which deactivates four of a V8’s cylinders when they’re not needed. Not only does the system work seemlessly, but it reduces fuel consumption significantly. Even more impressively, GM will combine DOD-equipped engines with hybrid gasoline motors for a fuel economy improvement of 30 percent with performance superior to today’s powerful V8s.

In 2008. Meanwhile, Toyota’s going to be churning out hybrids like there’s no tomorrow. Already scheduled is the Lexus RX400H, a hybrid version of the immensely popular RX330 that will add electric motors to the 3.3-litre V6 for V8-like performance with little more fuel consumption. Other models are sure to follow.

Hybrids aren’t the panacea that is going to wean us all from our dependence on fossil fuels. They still use some form of gasoline engine and therefore have all of its pitfalls. And as some erudite pundits have pointed out, they are much more complicated than traditional automobiles, raising some questions as to who is going to repair them in ten years, for even Toyotas break down eventually. Not to mention they have heavy, and expensive, battery sets that will need replacing. And in about ten to twenty years they may be obsolete if the expected hydrogen economy ever gets off the ground.

None of which changes the fact that, for Stephen Page and 27,499 other environmentally conscious consumers, Toyota is providing the car they want. Stop-gap measure of no, the Japanese giant is once again outpacing the competition and enjoying a massive public relations boon as a result.

–DIL Auto News Service