Quality Weenie

Shouldn't Toyota Be Penalized?

Bambi and his tree hugging government has been pushing Electric vehicles for years now, I am pretty even going so far as saying automotive manufacturers will be penalized if they are not pursuing electric vehicles.

Despite Toyota's image as the world's greenest automaker, the company that brought us the Prius -- totem of the environmentally conscious -- has fallen behind in the race for the all-electric car.

And why is Toyota waiting on making an electric vehicle, well besides the obvious of waiting for someone else to spend the money prefecting it and then Toyota will come in a steal the technology like they did with hybrids.

"The time is not here," Masatami Takimoto, Toyota's executive vice president, said during a factory tour this year.

Electric cars "face many challenges," he said, adding that "to commercialize pure E.V.'s, we need a battery that far exceeds the current technology."

Toyota feels the timing isn't right yet for electric vehicles to take off ...

Toyota executives rattle off reasons to be skeptical of electric cars: They do not travel far enough on a charge; their batteries are expensive and not reliable; the electrical infrastructure is not in place to recharge them.

Executives also say that Toyota's reputation for reliability could be tarnished if the company forged ahead with an unproven technology.

It remains unclear how soon there will be a mass market for expensive cars with limited range, Toyota says.(emphasis mine)

Toyota doesn't want to tarnish it's reputation by putting out unproven technology.

So basically Toyota is saying they would rather be follower so it's reputation won't take a hit instead of being a leader. Rather cowardly if you ask me.

Even other manufacturers are speculating as to why Toyota isn't running a electric vehicle program, and the speculations are not of the nice variety.

And more often than not in the history of innovation, a change in the dominant technology means a change in the market leader.

"Electric cars are a disruptive technology, and Toyota knows that," Mr. Shimizu said. "I wouldn't say Toyota is killing the electric vehicle. Perhaps Toyota is scared."

Posted by Quality Weenie at August 26, 2009 09:11 AM