California drives Prius
Driving around in the urban surroundings of California makes you feel like that the most used car is the Toyota Prius (maybe every 30th car in San Francisco?) - the well known car that features a hybrid engine. With over 60'000 sold in California (June 06) it is for sure a popular choice. A local newspaper (can't remember the name) wrote that just this month dealers have the car on stock (compared to long waiting lists since the hype around the car started a few years ago). I read this as sign that Toyota is finally able ship the quantities that the market is demanding.
That remembered me of the "3-liter auto" story - back in 1995 - part of it was Hayek, he started Smart with the buzz around a small environmental car. The first versions did not keep the high expectations. Instead of investing the money into making the micro car more environmental they invested the money to make models that nobody wanted to buy. I just figured out now - when catching up on the topic on wikipedia that smart in fact is selling a close to "3-liter auto" (3.8liter) - the smart cdi (diesel engine). I'm not sure if it's still on the road-map to get down to 3 liter. Would be nice.
Funny that I missed that - although I own a smart and keep track of their ads and marking messages. Toyota is doing a much better job there and it looks like it's finally paying out. Although today it looks more like a "being at the right place and the right time" situation (oil price, government supported actions to reduce emissions). But I can remember ads back in 2000 in Wired magazine (the only long time source of US ads history I have ;-) that carries the message of the ultimate environmental car.
And yes.. today is a rainy day in San Francisco - so it's coffee shop time (just listening to a conversion of a guy that wants to revolutionize the classifieds market - déjà vu? ;-)
That remembered me of the "3-liter auto" story - back in 1995 - part of it was Hayek, he started Smart with the buzz around a small environmental car. The first versions did not keep the high expectations. Instead of investing the money into making the micro car more environmental they invested the money to make models that nobody wanted to buy. I just figured out now - when catching up on the topic on wikipedia that smart in fact is selling a close to "3-liter auto" (3.8liter) - the smart cdi (diesel engine). I'm not sure if it's still on the road-map to get down to 3 liter. Would be nice.
Funny that I missed that - although I own a smart and keep track of their ads and marking messages. Toyota is doing a much better job there and it looks like it's finally paying out. Although today it looks more like a "being at the right place and the right time" situation (oil price, government supported actions to reduce emissions). But I can remember ads back in 2000 in Wired magazine (the only long time source of US ads history I have ;-) that carries the message of the ultimate environmental car.
And yes.. today is a rainy day in San Francisco - so it's coffee shop time (just listening to a conversion of a guy that wants to revolutionize the classifieds market - déjà vu? ;-)
Toyota won the award of beeing Switzerland favoured car brand (due to good quality and customer services).
These guys have been making so much so right in the past 15 years. Thats why they are close to overtaking General Motors and be the worlds leading producer of cars.
Posted by
Andreas Nebiker |
November 29, 2006 7:02 AM
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