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Why Toyota's fuel cell play is one big green gamble

Imagine going to the ballet on Saturday evening for an 8 pm performance. The orchestra begins warming up shortly before the show, but it turns out the star performer isn't ready at the appointed time. The orchestra keeps playing, doing its best to keep the audience engaged and, most importantly, in the building. It keeps this up until the star finally shows and is ready to dance ... which turns out to be ten years later. That's a Samuel Beckett play. It's also how many observers, analysts, alt-fuel fans and alt-fuel intenders feel about the arrival of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) – the few of them who are still in the building, that is. Toyota's hydrogen development timeline rivals that of the US space program. In fact, within the halls of Toyota alone, research on FCVs has been going on for nearly 22 years, meaning that one company's development timeline for FCVs rivals that of the US space program – it was 1945 when Werner von Braun's team began re-assembling Germany's World War II V2 rockets and figuring out how to launch them into space and it wasn't until 1969 when a man set landing gear down on that sunlit lunar quarry. The development of the atom bomb only took half as long, and that's if we go all the way back to when Leo Szilard patented the mere idea of it, in 1934. Carmakers didn't give up on hydrogen in spite of the public having given up on carmakers ever making something of it, so there was a good chance that hydrogen criers announcing the mass-market adoption of periodic chart element number two one would eventually be right. Now is that time. And Toyota, not alone in researching FCVs but arguably having done the most to keep FCVs in the news, isn't even going to be first to market. That honor will go to Hyundai, surprising just about everyone at the LA Auto Show with news of a hydrogen fuel cell Tucson going on sale in the spring. The other bit of thunder stolen: while Toyota's talking about trying to get the price of its offering down to something between $50,000 and $100,000, Hyundai is pitching its date with the future at a lease price of $499 per month ($250 more than the lease price of a conventional Tucson), free hydrogen and maintenance, and availability at Enterprise Rent-A-Car if you just want to try it out. We've seen and driven Toyota's offering and we all know its success doesn't depend on cross-shopping, showroom dealing and lease sweeteners.

Honda Odyssey hybrid under consideration in Japan, but not US

"Over time you can expect to see broader application of our two motor hybrid system" - Sage Marie The idea of a hybrid minivan is not new, at least in Japan. Toyota sells the Estima - the world's first hybrid minivan, it has been available since 2001 - and the Aphard hybrids there. The US is not immune to the dream - in 2011, Chrysler said it was going to make a hybrid minivan in 2013 (didn't happen) - but there has never been a gas-electric minivan sold from a major automaker in the US. And, despite new rumors of a Honda Odyssey hybrid for Japan, the chances that the US will get one in the near future remain roughly at zero. A new report says Honda is considering a hybrid version of the fifth-generation Odyssey in Japan, and such a gas-electric powertrain could reduce fuel use by up to 50 percent. Honda powertrain assistant large project leader Takashi Shinchi told CarAdvice that the hybrid (not a plug-in version) is "under consideration," given the hybrid minivan competition in Japan. Such consideration is not happening in the US, at least not in any serious way. Sage Marie, senior manager of public relations for Honda North America, told AutoblogGreen, "The only thing the Japanese Odyssey and the US Odyssey have in common is the name. There are no current plans for a US Odyssey hybrid, but I will tell you that over time you can expect to see broader application of our industry-leading two motor hybrid system." The standard, gas-powered 2014 Odyssey gets 22 miles per gallon, combined (19 city and 28 highway). Featured Gallery 2011 Honda Odyssey: Review View 35 Photos News Source: CarAdvice, HondaImage Credit: Copyright 2014 Steven Ewing / AOL Green Honda Hybrid JDM hybrid minivan honda odyssey hybrid

Honda adopts English as its official language in meetings worldwide

Japanese was clearly the language of operation while we visited Honda's global headquarters in Tokyo last week, as well as its newest factory and principal test track. Chief executive Takanobu Ito (pictured above) spoke to us through an interpreter. But according to the latest reports, the Japanese language is being phased out at Honda in favor of English.
This according to Bloomberg, which points out that tire manufacturer Bridgestone and rival automaker Nissan have implemented similar measures, as have Japanese retail giants Fast Retailing Co. and Rakuten Inc. Honda's shift from Japanese to English comes as part of a shift in focus from central decision-making to a more regional model, but while English has clearly emerged as the international language of business, it's no coincidence that it's also the dominant language here in America. Bloomberg points out that over the 12-month period that ended this past March, North America accounted for a massive 47 percent of Honda's revenues worldwide.