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Details about next-gen Toyota Prius emerge

The Toyota Prius is undeniably the king of the hybrid market in the United States, with a 39.4 percent market share in 2013. With the next-generation Prius likely to go on sale in 2015, Toyota is trying to build an even more efficient hybrid to keep its control of the market.
Keeping cost down will be one of the major concerns of the new Prius. The next generation will ride on the new, modular Toyota New Global Architecture platform. The lighter underpinnings will improve efficiency and will reduce production costs by allowing for more shared components among vehicles. Toyota will not reveal how many vehicles will use the new platform. But even with the cheaper platform, price will remain a concern. Toyota is still deciding whether all versions of the next Prius will use lithium-ion batteries or whether some models will stick with the heavier nickel-metal hydride batteries to keep cost down.
Of course, the reason most people buy the Prius is because of its great fuel efficiency. Toyota will aim for at least an 8 percent improvement in fuel economy in the next Prius, which would increase it to 58 miles per gallon city and 52 mpg highway.

Toyota's Bob Carter says seat heater stop-sale due to inconsequential compliance error

Last week, Toyota let it be known that a number of its more-popular vehicles were subject to a "stop-sale" order due to faulty seat heaters on these vehicles. No injuries were reported, but the problem affected a lot of models, including the 2013 and 2014 Camry, Camry Hybrid, Avalon, Avalon Hybrid, Sienna, Corolla, Tacoma and Tundra. Toyota originally said 50,000 vehicles were involved, but Bob Carter, senior vice president of automotive operations for Toyota Motor Sales, knocked that down to 30,000 during an interview at the Chicago Auto Show this week and said that the problem is not going to have a big impact on Toyota's sales. "It's an important situation but it will have a very minor impact on February sales," he told AutoblogGreen. "Dealers will start receiving new heating elements this week and then we have a process to take out the heating element that was put in and exchange that for the new fabric. It's very simple. It's a quick repair." Quick in this situation means about three hours to swap out the heating elements in two seats, according to Toyota's John Hanson. Since the Avalon also has heated rear seats, that car will require a total of six hours in the shop. Hanson said there was no official timeline for when the exchange program would be completed, "but new vehicles are arriving at some dealerships with the new seat heaters already installed." With a fix already in place, Carter would not comment on whether a recall is likely, saying only, "I'm not the expert on that. We're working with the NHTSA and ultimately it's their decision. We believe it's an inconsequential compliance error that was made by one of our suppliers and we're going to correct it." Featured Gallery 2013 Toyota Camry Hybrid: Review View 23 Photos News Source: Toyota Green Chicago Auto Show Toyota AutoblogGreen Exclusive Hybrid camry hybrid bob carter

Ex-Toyota Bill Reinert still in favor of hybrids, against EVs

Former Toyota executive Bill Reinert is so unsold on electric vehicles as a viable advanced-powertrain option for future transportation that he has praised – gasp – Ford, for its downsized internal combustion engines. Reinert was a key player in developing Toyota's original Prius hybrid and, in an interview published in Yale University's Environment 360 blog, said a hybrid that gets 60 miles per gallon is superior to an electric vehicle. "And that is why you will be seeing more fuel cells in the future." – Bill Reinert Reinert went on to praise the advances that automakers have made in improving fuel economy of fossil fuel vehicles, specifically namechecking Ford and its three-cylinder Ecoboost engine. He also has good things to say about both hydrogen fuel-cell electric technology as well as natural gas vehicles, but admits that limited fueling infrastructure will keep those types of vehicles in the margins for the near future. He also says that hydrogen vehicles aren't that great yet but that, "When most [manufacturers] investigate the two technologies [H2 and EVs], they see that FVCs offer more room for performance improvement and cost reduction potential. And that is why you will be seeing more fuel cells in the future." As far as pure electric, Reinert says lithium-ion batteries have "tremendous shortcomings" and talks about battery degradation, substandard performance in hot weather and, of course, limited single-charge driving range. He also says that people need to factor in the environmental impact of producing electricity for the grid to fully gauge how environmentally beneficial EVs can be. We'd like to take him and Tesla Motors Chief Elon Musk to what we think would be a spirited lunch. You can read the whole interview with Reinert here.