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Official Highlander hybrid pricing

Automakers, emissions, and hybrid cars

Prius, hybrid car, shopping tidbits

Canada's emissions legislation and California

Diesel hybrids, orange peels, and fuel cells

Fuel cell technology realistic by 2010 according to Ballard Power 

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Lexus GS 450h hybrid update

Hybrid cars, EPA stickers and mountain driving

The Toyota Prius and hybrid car cost

Toyota wants to sell a million hybrids per year

Lexus GS 450h hybrid luxury sedan shown in NY

As gas prices go higher, hybrid cars offer more choices

Updated March 30, 2005

2004 might have been the year of the Toyota Prius, but the hype around hybrid cars isn't going to end there.

If Toyota meets its goals, at least 100,000 Prius hybrids will be sold this year.

Next up for Toyota is the Lexus RX 400h hybrid SUV. Already, 12,000 orders have been placed for this vehicle, even though the newest Toyota hybrid won't be available until April 15. 

Since Toyota is only planning to produce about 30,000 hybrid RXs this year, supply is going to be tight.

Around June, Toyota will add a third hybrid, the Highlander Hybrid. Again, total planned production is about same as the RX, so supply will also be tight on this model.

Tight supply. That is probably the best way to describe to describe the hybrid market for the foreseeable future. Part of that problem will be reduced later this year and into next year as new production facilities and partners are brought on-line.

In two years, Toyota should easily be producing a quarter million hybrid vehicles, and I'd guess they'll be closer to 400,000 hybrids per year.

By then, with the Camry available as a hybrid, it shouldn't be hard to visualize that Toyota should be able scale their hybrid package closer in price to their non-hybrids. This would enable Toyota to easily sell half a million or more hybrid cars in America alone, within just 5 years.

    Toyota Prius

+ Prius hybrid home 
+ Escape hybrid home 
+ Accord hybrid home 
+ Head to head: Prius and the Escape hybrid match up 
+ Prius test drive
+ Escape hybrid test drive

At that point that ball would be rolling, and Toyota could begin to contemplate converting to a hybrid-only powertrain platform. Why not? They'll have the cash and experience to make it happen

A new automobile manufacturing era would emerge, on a hybrid platform that will include such options as gasoline, diesel, hydrogen, or fuel cell.

These combinations would enable Toyota to always be at least 25 percent more efficient than any conventional competitor using any kind of internal combustion engine.

And that's just Toyota.

Ford will be making 20,000 Escape hybrids this year, and the Honda Accord hybrid is Honda's third hybrid. With its three models, Honda is planning to sell about 50,000 hybrids this year.

Times are a changing.

Either a technology better than hybrids will be developed this year, or 2005 really will be the year of the hybrid.

More 2005 hybrid cars.

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