Toyota, GM, Ford: Showing Off Green Cars Amid Economic Gloom

By Ucilia Wang

Electricity will the one of the top two themes for the North American International Auto Show starting January 11 in Detroit.

The other will be economic desperation.

Toyota (TM), Ford (F), General Motors (GM) and several startups will gather in the Motor City to tout production cars and prototypes that rely wholly or partly on electric power. Still, much of the talk will focus on slow sales and the bailout.

Startup carmaker such as Fisker Automotive and Tesla Motors will show off their electric rides at the show. Fisker Automotive, based in Irvine, Calif., plans to unveil a sedan concept car called the Karma S, which will use the same powertrain developed for its first commercial car, the Karma.

Fisker plans to start delivery the $80,000 Karma, a plug-in hybrid electric sedan, in the fourth quarter of 2009 (see Fisker Opens New Design Center).

Tesla, which is facing money trouble, will have floor space at the show for the first time. Since announcing plans last fall to delay the introduction of its second all-electric car, the Model S, the San Carlos, Calif.-based carmaker has hunkered down to focus on delivering its first model, the Roadster, to customers on a waiting list (see Cash-Strapped Tesla Raises $40M, Loses Lawsuit and Tesla Coughs Up Sedan Price, Details on Economy Car).

Tesla plans to develop a prototype Model S by the end of next month and might show it off publicly as well, said company Elon Musk during a media event in December. Musk will be a keynote speaker at an auto analysts' conference on Jan. 13 that will run in conjunction with the Detroit auto show.

Another new player in the electric car market, BYD Co. from China, also will display its models. The company made a splash last month when it launched a plug-in hybrid called F3DM, which comes with a small gasoline engine for recharging the lithium-ion batteries.

The launch made BYD the first company in the world to start selling mass-produced plug-in hybrid cars. Currently, owners of the Toyota Prius, for example, can convert their cars to plug-in hybrids using after-market products. A plug-in hybrid can be recharged using an ordinary electrical outlet in the wall.

BYD also plans to launch an all-electric car, the e6, this year, reported the Wall Street Journal.

Toyota Motor, the hybrid car leader, will show off new models as well. It announced in a terse press release that it plans to display for the first time an electric concept car. Although Toyota scored a big hit with the Prius, the Japanese giant has been somewhat reluctant to release an all-electric car. It released an all-electric Rav 4 in the early part of the decade, but it didn't sell well. Toyota execs also often note that battery prices and charging times make all-electrics a tough sell.

The company will only say that the concept car has a badge that says "EV". Sources, however, have told the Wall Street Journal that the car is a city car that is similar to those touted by Nissan and Northway's Think. Nissan is skipping the auto show. Think halted production after only releasing a few cars. Think's problem? Lack of funds.

Toyota will also show off its 2010 Prius, which will still use nickel-metal-hydride batteries. The carmakers might use lithium-ion batteries, which can pack more power in the same size, for the Prius starting in 2011. The commuter car may sport a lithium-ion battery.

"Lithium-ion batteries will probably be used in vehicles, but we still have problems," Masatami Takimoto, executive vice president of technology for Toyota, said in a presentation at Copenmind in the Fall. "We do think it's appropriate to use lithium-ion batteries in commuter cars."

Lexus, which is owned by Toyota, also will show off a new hybrid, the HS250h.

Honda will debut a new Insight model, which the carmaker hopes will grab market share from Toyota by pricing the car at $19,000. The Insight will become available in showrooms this year. Honda already has been selling a hybrid Civic, which is priced at $23,650.

All three major American carmakers will display models at the show. General Motors' plug-in hybrid, the Volt, already has gotten a lot of press over the past year. The carmaker is due to start selling the Volt in 2010, and has refuted speculations that the plans would be delay while it sorts out its future.

Whether consumers will see the Volt within two years will depend largely on how GM turns around its near-bankrupt operation. GM and Chrysler are getting up to $17.4 billion from the federal government to avoid bankruptcy. The carmakers have promised to focus on producing more efficiency cars, including the electric versions (see U.S. Automakers Get Federal Bailout).

Times are tough not just for American car companies. Toyota decided last month to delay building Prius in a new Mississippi factory, which was supposed to begin production in 2010.

The hybrid-electric car sales in the United States fell 53 percent in November from a year ago. Toyota saw demand for its Prius hatchback decline nearly half. The company expects to post its first operating loss in 70 years for the current fiscal year, which ends in March 2009.

The depressed economy has prompted seven companies to scale down their displays or ditch the auto show all together, including Nissan, Mitsubishi, Rolls-Royce and Land Rover.

The show is set to debut 58 vehicles, and its organizer expects to draw 700,000 attendees. The show will begin on Jan. 11 with press events and open to the public from Jan. 17 to 25.

Comments

[oilcan821:]

hey rick wagoner- price the damn car where it will sell!!! a $40,000 car won't ever sell in this economy like a $15-20,000 car!! that's how gm will turn around, and why don't you execs cut your pay down where it belongs, about $125,000 base, with NO benefits, or stock options, dental, eye care, hearing ect. like the loyal gm salaried retirees get!!! feed the generals, starve the troops isn't what makes a great company!!!!!

Jan 04 10:49 AM

[raising4dau...:]

Oilcan, at some point, you and your comrades are going to HAVE to find a way to work with your company's management. I'm no fan of Wagoner, but as you point out, he IS the general and you and your ilk are the enlisted. It seems like the UAW "enlistees" want the authority of general without the responsibility, yet you also seem to refuse to follow ANY orders from the generals.

If Wagoner is that bad and is just another failed leader in the line of Smith, Stempel, Smale, etc., then why work for the company? A person of principle should not work for a company if his leaders are as big of failures as the UAW continually portrays.

On Jan 04 10:49 AM oilcan821 wrote:

> hey rick wagoner- price the damn car where it will sell!!! a $40,000
> car won't ever sell in this economy like a $15-20,000 car!! that's
> how gm will turn around, and why don't you execs cut your pay down
> where it belongs, about $125,000 base, with NO benefits, or stock
> options, dental, eye care, hearing ect. like the loyal gm salaried
> retirees get!!! feed the generals, starve the troops isn't what makes
> a great company!!!!!

Jan 04 11:03 AM

[John D:]

It could be my imagination but, does this article look like an actual article or a COMMERCIAL for Toyota - but then again it's only mentioned 7 times in such a short blurp - Hmmmm..... I'm pretty sure that the NORTH AMERICAN AUTO SECTOR also has some good products and at a fair price. Did I mention who paid for the research & developement of the nickel-metal-hydride in the prius for Toyota - the Japanese government ... or as it's commonly refered to - the Japanese tax payers. Sure would be nice if ours chipped in to help reduce the price of hybrids & electrics built here maybe OILCAN would be able to afford one then.

Jan 04 11:35 AM

[RoomAzoomZoom:]

This website has lots of information and educational material. It is just ramping up for a big splash..I have heard good things!
AllAmericanHybrid.com

Jan 04 12:11 PM

[TB3:]

The title of the article mentions Toyota, GM and Ford and also in the body of the article it says, " all three major American car makers will display models at the show". But then after GM's Volt, no mention of a Ford model nor one from Chrysler. Even companies such as Fisker, Tesla, and BYD (who?) get some print but nary a mention of Ford or Chrysler. Guess the author thought that Toyota and Honda are the other two "American" car makers. Go figure.

Jan 04 12:39 PM

[Dawg47:]

It is frustrating to keep seeing how much Toyota is criticized. Toyota employs alot of people in North America. In my mind, they are a North American auto maker. I have worked for the big three and Toyota as a manager of a supplier over the past 20 years. One thing that is evident the Detroit three have not changed, Toyota is willing to change.

Maybe the Detroit three should take some notes.

Jan 04 01:07 PM

[leh:]

Dawg,

Dissing Toyota is a proud American tradition <g> dating back to the 1970's when their early cars first started putting a (small) dent in Detroit's sales. You almost took your life in your hands by buying Japanese in the Michigan area back then--literally--lots of stories of broken windshields and ugly threats towards anyone who dared break with the Big Three.

Fast forward 40 years and most Americans I would posit love Toyota--or at least their products, even in Michigan. Why? They've driven/owned their cars, simple as that, and/or have read what the company has contributed to the US economy in the way of new plants and good jobs, not to mention factory-efficiency models that Detroit now emulates.

But there will always be a hardcore contingent of so-called patriots who think it's their duty to bash the Japanese. Not worth the energy responding to them if they can't see how/why the industry has evolved the way it has--and why Toyota continues to lead here. In short, the Japanese don't sit on their laurels, and constantly push the envelope, even if it seems contrarian at the time. They also question themselves continuously, and seem immune to the smugness that seems to permeate companies like GM.

Best example: in the mid-90's, at the same time GM was crushing its electric cars and starting up its Hummer line, Toyota was introducing the Prius--with gas @ about $1/gallon. Which company looks prescient (and brilliant) now? Which has the lion's lead in both battery and hybrid tech?

Anyone notice Panasonic EV (50% owned by Toyota) just bought out Sanyo for its lithium battery tech? Methinks a juggernaut is born. Meanwhile Ford is already crying about possible battery shortages in its brand new, yet to be sold Fusion hybrid due out later this year. The pack supplier? Sanyo.

Meanwhile Toyota announced last year that it's spending a cool billion on battery development, with dedicated factories for both NIMH and lithium packs. GM is still shopping suppliers for the Volt, and will be at that supplier's mercy when it comes to production schedules and the like.
Which car company would you bet on?

Jan 05 11:13 AM

[33Nick:]

Beyond dissing Toyota and all, when you say: "Rav 4 in the early part of the decade, but it didn't sell well" Beg to differ. Have you seen the resale values of those things? In fact on our blog, electricnick.com, we quote Toyota management finally admitting they couldn't make money on it, not that they couldn't sell it. They built it too well.

The problem with big companies and hybrids, and electric cars, is that the current business model relies too much on maintenance and after sales service. That won't work well, especially with electric cars that have close to no maintenance. Just google RAV4 EV owners and see what they have to say, nothing until the shocks needed changing at 60,000 to 70,000 miles. Not many gas cars can say the same.

These companies need to figure out the business model before they come out with the technology, which, by the by, is already here...

Jan 06 08:16 PM