Tom goes over the top

As Toyota Goes ... - New York Times

Couldn't help it, I have to comment.
Toyota execs admit that hybrids do not make economic sense in the US at current fuel prices.
Financial Times June 16 :
"Another Toyota executive was more blunt in his analysis: 'Buying a hybrind is about political correctness, it is not about the money' he said"
and
"Drivers of the Prius would have to do 66,500 miles a year, or see petrol prices quintuple, to $10 a gallon, before it justified the extra cost compared with a similarly-sized Corolla."
Similar calculation for an SUV, such as a Ford Escape comes to 37,000 miles a year to breakeven.

Then let's look at Ethanol - if from corn, there are petrochemical and fuel inputs that outweigh the energy derived from the crop.
Brazilian "flex-fuel" ... ok, but from sugarcane.
Sugarcane in Iowa? Noooo ... how about clearing swaths of Florida?

And is Toyota going pure hybrid?
FT.com / Home UK - Cost cuts are key to success of the Prius

"With global sales of the Prius set to exceed 180,000 this year, and the company chasing sales - Mr Yaegashi calls it a "reference point" not a commitment - of 1m hybrid-powered vehicles in 2010, cost is now central.

Every other major carmaker is scrambling to catch up, in spite of the lower profit margins of the vehicles.

In order to reach the 1m figure, one in 10 of Toyota's planned 2010 sales, the company needs to bring down the price, which means bringing down the cost of the hybrid equipment."

Read it : 10% of production within 5 years.

In the meantime, Toyota cranks out Tacoma Trucks ...
Toyota.com : Vehicles : Tacoma


Tom's Tirade :

"...Toyota has pioneered the very hybrid engine technology that can help rescue not only our economy from its oil addiction (how about 500 miles per gallon of gasoline?), but also our foreign policy from dependence on Middle Eastern oil autocrats.

Diffusing Toyota's hybrid technology is one of the keys to what I call 'geo-green.' Geo-greens seek to combine into a single political movement environmentalists who want to reduce fossil fuels that cause climate change, evangelicals who want to protect God's green earth and all his creations, and geo-strategists who want to reduce our dependence on crude oil because it fuels some of the worst regimes in the world."