Re: THE GAS MISER

From: Dr. Jai Maharaj (usenet_at_mantra.com)
Date: 09/23/04 

Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 19:29:57 GMT

Blessed are those whom mosquitoes themselves avoid.

Jai Maharaj
http://www.mantra.com/jai
Om Shanti

In article <10l5tsdarhokd43@corp.supernews.com>,
 "Marvin Margoshes" <physnospamchem@cloud9.net> posted:
> Congratulations Dr. M. You have joined my blocked message group.
 
> Dr. Jai Maharaj posted:
>
> > THE GAS MISER
> >
> > Forwarded message from fidyl@yahoo.com
> >
> > [ Subject: The Gas Miser
> > [ From: fidyl@yahoo.com
> > [ Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2004
> >
> > The Gas Miser
> >
> > Toyota's new hybrid may just be the biggest thing in cars
> > since the combustion engine
> >
> > The new Prius looks normal, not experimental
> >
> > By Michael Hastings
> > Newsweek
> > September 20, 2004 issue
> >
> > http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5963500/site/newsweek/
> >
> > Richard Pearce has turned out his old love, a 1989 Dodge
> > pickup truck. In 2002 the 50-year-old retired soldier and
> > his wife decided to bring a Toyota Prius hybrid back to
> > their Virginia home. They "fell in love with the
> > technology," which uses an electric motor at low speeds
> > and a small engine at high speeds to power the car with a
> > lot less gas. Now a new, 2004 Prius sits in the garage
> > alongside the older model, and the pickup languishes in
> > the driveway, used sparingly to haul garbage to the
> > landfill. Pearce says he'd never think of taking the
> > truck on his 26-mile commute. It gets less than 20 miles
> > a gallon, while the Prius gets 60, so he wouldn't be able
> > to use the special lane Virginia has set up for fuel-
> > efficient cars. "We'll never have anything but a hybrid
> > again," he says.
> >
> > Pearce's extreme embrace of the Prius was once the stuff
> > of wild dreams for the Toyota engineers who developed the
> > brand. They had hoped the gas-electric hybrid, introduced
> > in Japan in 1997, would become nothing less than a new
> > Corolla or Camry-sedans that made the company's
> > reputation in America. Last year sales of those two
> > models helped push Toyota past Ford to become the world's
> > second largest carmaker, laying huge tire tracks for the
> > unproven Prius to fill. The first hybrids sold at such a
> > high premium over regular sedans that buyers couldn't
> > save enough on fuel to come out ahead-yet were so
> > expensive to make, Toyota took a big loss on each one.
> > While Toyota's engineers made grand statements about the
> > car of the future, its bean counters wondered whether
> > there would ever be a mainstream market for these things.
> >
> > LIVE TALK TRANSCRIPT - Hybrid Power
> >
> > -From hybrid mass transit to the hottest in green gizmos,
> > Christopher Dickey discussed the latest in the hybrid
> > thought revolution in a Live Talk on Friday, Sept. 17 at
> > 5 p.m. ET.
> >
> > Click here to read the transcript
> > http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5972618/site/newsweek/
> >
> > The answer has caught Toyota off guard. Since October,
> > Toyota has had to increase production of the Prius three
> > times, most dramatically in August when it announced a 50
> > percent boost for next year to 15,000 vehicles a month
> > worldwide. That's a fraction of its Corolla output, but
> > enough to raise serious questions about whether Toyota
> > innovations are once again leading a major revolution in
> > the American market. While the automaker plans to send
> > most of the new production run to the United States,
> > there are still 22,000 customers on waiting lists for the
> > car. "We didn't know how the consumers would react to
> > this technology," says Don Esmond, a senior vice
> > president and general manager at Toyota. "They've voted
> > for it, they've voted with their dollars."
> >
> > To be sure, the hybrid phenomenon is still only a ripple
> > in the pool of American gas guzzlers. The highest
> > estimates for the United States predict annual sales of
> > 500,000 hybrid cars by 2009-about 3 percent of the 16.7
> > million car market. Analysts think that the price of fuel
> > would have to hit $3 a gallon to see bigger sales sooner.
> > Yet already the Prius is the first significant departure
> > from the combustion engine to make any major inroads in
> > the auto industry since Henry Ford invented the Model T
> > in 1908. And major carmakers have learned never to ignore
> > the ambitions of Toyota, arguably the best-run big
> > automobile company in the world, with a reported stock-
> > market value of $107 billion, almost four times more than
> > GM or Ford. "For Toyota," says prominent Japanese car
> > critic and environmental-technology specialist Tadashi
> > Tateuchi, the hybrid car "may well be the key to world
> > domination."
> >
> > The key to the Prius story is rapidly advancing
> > technology. The original project was launched in 1993
> > under the code name G21, for 21st Century Generation,
> > with strong backing from Toyota chairman Shoichirou
> > Toyoda, an heir of the founder. When the first Prius was
> > unveiled seven years ago, it was an undersized,
> > underpowered and overpriced experimental box of a car,
> > which competitors felt free to ignore. Most rivals said
> > they would concentrate on fuel cells and other fuel-
> > efficient technology that wouldn't be widely available
> > until 2010. When Toyota introduced the Prius to North
> > America in 2000, it sold only 15,000 cars its first
> > year-a minor hit, but mainly with environmentalists and
> > Hollywood liberals like Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron
> > Diaz.
> >
> > Toyota's napping rivals had given it a five- to 10-year
> > technological lead by the time the new Prius came out
> > last October, says Tateuchi. The new model's electric
> > motor was 50 percent more powerful, its interior was
> > almost twice as roomy and its body was designed to look
> > like a futuristic sedan rather than an ecological-science
> > project. The redesign cost Toyota untold millions, and
> > putting that much into a product that "consumers didn't
> > even know they wanted yet," says Esmond, was "a bit of a
> > crapshoot."
> >
> > The new Prius appears to be moving rapidly out of its
> > green niche. Sales in the United States shot up by 153
> > percent in the first half of this year, by a whopping 874
> > percent in Europe; in Japan they increased tenfold.
> > According to Esmond, once skeptical rivals are now
> > jumping on the bandwagon. "I don't want to say they're
> > scrambling, but they are trying to quickly put together
> > their own hybrids," he says.
> >
> > So far Honda has given Toyota the only competition for
> > the hybrid market with the Civic and the Insight. But the
> > first hybrid SUV, Ford's Escape, hits the streets in
> > September. Nissan recently announced that its hybrid
> > Altima sedan will arrive next year. Later this year Dodge
> > plans to roll out a diesel-electric pickup. GM plans
> > hybrid -models of the GMC Sierra and the Chevy Silverado.
> > Honda plans to unveil a hybridized Accord in the fall.
> > Hyundai says its hybrid will be ready in "the near
> > future." According to CSM Worldwide, a Detroit-based
> > research firm, by 2007 there will be some 22 hybrid
> > options for popular models, including even Hummer's H2.
> >
> > In America the lust for the largest gas guzzlers seems to
> > be slowly waning. Though SUVs are still the top-selling
> > vehicles, the mix of SUVs is tilting toward smaller
> > models. And because big SUVs have driven the average gas
> > mileage of the American fleet down to 20.4 miles per
> > gallon, its lowest level in two decades, the Big Four
> > automakers risk falling afoul of fuel-efficiency
> > regulations. That's one reason many of the new American
> > hybrid designs are for SUV models. But the bigger reason
> > is Toyota. "We can't just sit here as a major corporation
> > and say, 'Trust us, you'll get a fuel cell from us and in
> > the meantime, we're not doing anything'," says GM vice
> > chair-?man Bob Lutz. "With more and more of our
> > competitors playing the hybrid card, there was just no
> > way we could ignore that."
> >
> > Europe has been slower to respond. It has already chosen
> > diesel as its cleaner, more efficient fuel, and the
> > diesel market is dominated by German carmakers. Indeed,
> > one reason Toyota pursued hybrids was that it was so far
> > behind in the diesel market. But growing sales of the new
> > Prius could change all that. Lindsay Brooke, an analyst
> > at CSM, says every big car company has to be thinking
> > that "if the Japanese kick-start this thing, you've got
> > to have this technology on the shelf, especially if the
> > fuel price really rises."
> >
> > The Prius faces two critical turning points before it can
> > be called a true mass-market car. It needs to be
> > profitable, and practical. When Toyota first introduced
> > the Prius, it was reportedly losing $3,000 on each car.
> > The company now says the line is profitable, but analysts
> > aren't convinced. "I know engineers at rival carmakers
> > who've done total teardowns of the Prius-comprehensive,
> > bolt-by-bolt cost analysis," says Brooke. "Toyota is
> > getting close to breaking even," probably within the next
> > five years.
> >
> > Reaching that point takes longer for the consumer. Most
> > hybrids sell for $2, 000 to $3,000 more than comparable
> > sedans, and drivers would need at least 10 years and
> > 100,000 miles to recoup that much in gas savings,
> > analysts say. But those who say hybrids must narrow that
> > gap to boost sales ignore the power of instant
> > gratification: Richard Pearce says he pays $10 a week in
> > gas, compared with his neighbor's $60.
> >
> > Last year Toyota launched a U.S. ad campaign pitching the
> > Prius as a big, sexy "real car," not a green techno
> > curiosity. One spot called Prius "the world's biggest
> > hybrid," and showed the universe being sucked into the
> > car's yawning rear hatch. The ad also noted that "you
> > never plug it in"-an attempt to distance the Prius from
> > old electric cars. A Toyota ad this summer billed "mpg"
> > as more peaceful getaways, over a picture of a scantily
> > clad couple on the beach.
> >
> > It's also worth noting how much attention Toyota is
> > focusing on hybrid technology. Toyota is posting record
> > sales and building a cash reserve of more than $40
> > billion while other carmakers are struggling. "They could
> > eat a number of other car manufacturers for lunch without
> > even noticing it on their balance ***," says auto
> > analyst Ryan Tutak at Ducker Worldwide. Yet Toyota has
> > avoided the recent frenzy of industry mergers and instead
> > focused on key models, including hybrids. A hybrid luxury
> > SUV will appear next year and a hybrid Camry in 2006.
> > "Ford and GM have more brands than anyone, but Toyota is
> > piling up the money," says Tutak. "Which horse are you
> > going to bet on?" For Toyota at least, hybrids look like
> > a winner.
> >
> > End of forwarded message from fidyl@yahoo.com
> >
> > Jai Maharaj
> > http://www.mantra.com/jai
> > Om Shanti
> >
> > Hindu Holocaust Museum
> > http://www.mantra.com/holocaust
> >
> > Hindu life, principles, spirituality and philosophy
> > http://www.hindu.org
> > http://www.hindunet.org
> >
> > The truth about Islam and Muslims
> > http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate
> >
> > The terrorist mission of Jesus stated in the Christian bible:
> >
> > "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not so send
> > peace, but a sword.
> > "For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the
> > daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in
> > law.
> > "And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
> > - Matthew 10:34-36.
> >
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