Since it introduced the Prius in the late 1990s, Toyota has become the hybrid leader, having outsold its next rival, Honda, worldwide by more than three to one.The Prius uses an electric motor at low speeds and a small engine at high speeds to power the car using a lot less gas. It produces roughly 90 per cent fewer smog-forming emissions than a conventional internal combustion engine vehicle.
Most hybrids sell for thousands of dollars more than comparable sedans, and drivers would need at least 10 years and 160,000 kilometres to recoup that much in gas savings, analysts say. The best hybrid fuel economy often comes in city driving, where the gasoline engine shuts off automatically.
As well as the Prius, Toyota is introducing mid-sized hybrid SUVs: a hybrid of their Highlander and the Lexus RX 400h luxury version. Honda sells hybrid technology in Civic models and a hybrid Accord.
David Hermance is the executive engineer for environmental engineering at Toyota Technical Centre USA.
He joined Toyota Technical Center in Gardena, Calif., in 1991 as senior manager in engine evaluation, with responsibility for evaluating North American passenger car engines. In 1992, Hermance was promoted to general manager of the power train department in Gardena, where he was responsible for the development of engine and drive train calibrations for the North American market.
He earned a bachelor of science degree in engineering from the General Motors Institute and is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers.
Vaughan: By number of hybrid vehicles sold, Toyota's far ahead. You have sold more hybrid vehicles than all other manufacturers combined. But now all your competitors are getting into hybrids. Who worries you the most?
Hermance: Worries us? None. We appreciate the competition because it expands the market and the awareness.
I'm not worried because my competitors are going to do a good job of bringing good product to market and it will advance the name recognition, and then when customers start to shop, they get to make the value decision about which manufacturer's system in which vehicle for a given cost gives them the package of benefits -- performance and fuel economy and exhaust emissions -- that they want.
You know, we welcome the competition. It's good for us. Amazingly enough, there is still a huge portion of the buying public that believe hybrids have to be plugged in.
The reality is that no manufacturer's product, not ours, not Honda's, not this future GM system, none of them require plugging in.
And a lot of customers view that as a strong negative and they still haven't understood that it's not necessary. And so, the more word-of-mouth, the broader the product offerings, the better it is for business.
Vaughan: Honda's hybrid system is less complex than yours. Why have you gone so complicated?
Hermance: The Honda system is a very good piece of hardware as you observed, and it should have a lower component cost because there are fewer pieces. It is, however, limited in that it can't run electric only.
For the Honda vehicle to move, the gas engine must run because their electric motor is connected to the gas engine. In our vehicles, the vehicle can run electric-only in low-speed stop-and-go driving and it launches electrically. That gives it a greater degree of potential for improvement in fuel efficiency.
So, it's more complex and more expensive, but more capable in overall return on that money.
Vaughan: Why are you willing to lose money on each and every hybrid vehicle you sell?
Hermance: You're believing my competitors again. We don't lose money on each and every vehicle.
