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Toyota Plant Could Get Hybrid North American Production Weighed September 2004Toyota is considering building a hybrid vehicle in North America, which might mean a Camry version made in Georgetown, Ky., or a Sienna minivan version from its Princeton, Ind., plant.Hybrids combine gas engines with electric motors to increase fuel efficiency. Toyota is the world's leading hybrid maker, thanks to its Prius sedan. Toyota President Fujio Cho told Kyodo News International in Tokyo on Tuesday that in North America, "we will consider whether we should go with the Prius or a bigger model." While company officials have said for months that Toyota is studying North American hybrids, Cho's statement confirmed that the question is closer to where to build them, rather than if it will. If Toyota begins building hybrids in North America, it will do so at an existing plant such as the ones in Kentucky or Indiana, said Dan Sieger, spokesman for Toyota Motor Manufacturing America in Erlanger, Ky. Experts offered mixed opinions on which vehicle would receive the new drive system and which plant would build it. Toyota already has discussed building a hybrid version of the Camry, the best-selling car in the nation. Dan Benjamin, an analyst with ABI Research in Oyster Bay, N.Y., said the Camry would have the biggest sales numbers of any potential hybrid, making it a likely choice. "It's also on the same platform as the Highlander (crossover vehicle) and the Lexus 400 (luxury sport utility vehicle)," Benjamin said. Toyota plans to launch hybrid versions of both vehicles early next year, so engineering work for a hybrid Camry would be relatively easy, he said. But Brett Smith, director of product and technology forecasting at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich., said the Camry would be a poor choice because the vehicle is to be updated soon. Toyota is expected to launch a new Camry for the 2006 model year and because automakers tend to launch their basic models first, a specialty hybrid would have to wait until 2007 or beyond, he said. Smith thinks the Princeton, Ind.-built Sienna minivan is a more likely choice. "They've said in the past that they'd be interested in doing that as a hybrid," Smith said of the Sienna. The Sienna is the No. 2 minivan in the country, but Smith said it faces tough competition from a new Honda Odyssey. "Coming out with a hybrid minivan would be a way of really fighting back." Sieger declined to comment on which vehicle was being considered for hybrid technology, but he pointed out that Toyota has made hybrid minivans in Japan. Other North American models include the Tundra pickup, the Sequoia SUV, the Matrix and Corolla small cars, the Tacoma small pickup, the Avalon sedan and the Canadian-built Lexus 400 SUV. Smith and Benjamin ruled out the Corolla and Matrix as too small and inexpensive for such investments, and they said pickups and large SUVs such as the Sequoia made poor choices as well. That would leave the low-volume Avalon and the Lexus 400. Of those, Smith said the Lexus is a possibility because Toyota already has plans for a hybrid version of that vehicle and building it in Canada would free up space in its Japanese hybrid plants. Still another possibility would be moving the Highlander to the Georgetown plant, a possibility that Toyota has discussed because most of that vehicle's customers are in the United States. Smith said that is one of the more expensive options for Toyota, but it could save money in the long term by cutting shipping costs on the Highlander. SOURCE: The Courier-Journal | ||
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