Japan Succeeds With
the Toyota Prius

It shouldn't come as a surprise that Japan beat the U.S. to producing the first practical hybrid electric cars.  After all, they did the same with small, fuel efficient cars  back in the '80s.  And they also raised the bar on quality at the same time.  Which wasn't  hard to do because, after all, the "bar" was so low that it didn't take much effort to improve on the gas-guzzling, clunky behemoths that Detroit was slinging out at the time. 

American car buyers responded by buying so many of these fuel efficient, high quality Japanese cars that would go 200,000 miles without a hiccup, that Detroit had no choice but play catch-up. 

Which is the main reason why U.S. made cars are now much higher quality than they were years ago.

But what should be at least slightly shameful for the U.S. automakers is the fact that it was the U.S. that established the first hybrid electric program to begin with.  President Clinton created a commission in 1993 with the goal of producing a car within 10 years that would be practical, while getting 70 to 80 mpg.

Since Toyota was a foreign manufacturer, they weren't invited to participate.

Did they whine about this?  No, Toyota quietly went to work. 

Determining not to be left out, they established their own hybrid research program and came out with a prototype in 1995, just two years after Clinton announced the program! 

This car was refined and introduced in 1997 as a complete, production hybrid car that was called the "Prius."   The fact that they were able to do this in as short a time that they did is astounding.  The Toyota Prius wasn't made available to the American public until the summer of 2000, however. 

But Toyota needed not to be in a hurry to capture the hybrid market over here.  Because in 2001, the original U.S. hybrid cars program was scrapped.  Lack of input from U.S. car manufacturers and lack of U.S. government money for research guaranteed that Toyota---and now, Honda---would be  leaps and bounds ahead in the hybrid vehicle industry.

Which is why the new Toyota Prius hybrid and the Honda hybrid cars are the undisputed leaders in affordable hybrids. 

And Japanese car manufacturer, Lexus, has introduced several models of high-end "muscle car hybrids" that are faster than any V-8 gasoline cars, all while getting 28 mpg.

Yup, I'd say they have the hybrid market pretty much locked up!  But with the international economy, their success becomes ours, too.  Many jobs are created here, certain components are out-sourced, it's all good.

We'll cover the Honda Civic and Toyota Prius in more detail shortly, but for now let's figure out the big question...

Should you buy a hybrid car?  We'll cover the pros and cons of owning a hybrid, and whether you would stand to win or lose--based on your own driving habits. 

So click on "Should I Buy A Hybrid Car?" from the menu on the left...

Next page, "Should I Buy A Hybrid Car?"

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