Birth of the Prius Idea

[DaveinOlyWA]

How many of you have heard of the "Supercar Fund?"

the supercar fund was a project started by the clinton administration to develop a car that would get 80 mpg.

he comissioned the big 3 automakers to design this car in exchange for repealing CAFE. (CAFE WAS the requirement that fleet mileage of cars produced by a company slowly increase to levels set by the US government in order to help reduce polution levels)

Toyota heard about the project and wanted to play along, but the big 3 didnt want Toyota to show them up again as they had in nearly every measureable quality, design and performance issue. This would later turn out to be the biggest blunder of the Clinton Administration.

Because 11 years after the Supercar idea was first proposed and 7 years after the initial results of the project, the project was all but forgotten. Gone was the 1.5 Billion in US tax dollars that funded the project. Gone was the regulation requiring automakers to make fuel efficient cars. Gone was revolutionary ideas that were born in the Supercar project.

BUT, Toyota didnt forget. Toyota remembered the way they were excluded from the project. How they were shunned. So they developed their own supercar. The called it Prius.

So we have the Clinton administration and the self-centered Detroit auto execs to thank for the wonderful cars we drive today.

Many people think that Toyota woefully underestimated the demand for the 2nd generation of Prius which in turn created huge shortages. I think it is actually a very clever marketing ploy to magnify America's desire to take advantage of the newest and best technology to come along in the auto industry in years.

For the first time in history it wasnt the super expensive luxury cars that were in the forefront of innovation. Now we see Lexus copying Prius instead of the other way around. The great shortage of 2004 will go down in history as the way that Toyota manipulated the big 3 automakers into making Toyota money without having to build a car because of the slingshot effect that hybrid technology created in the US auto industry.

For it was too late for the big 3 to go back and dust off that old research and try to put out their own hybrid. Not when Toyota had 50% of the market and was quickly becoming the de facto standard. So they had to pay Toyota for the research that they had already done years before. And for the umpteenth time, Toyota made the big 3 look like rank amatuers.

[LewLasher]

Originally posted by DaveinOlyWA
For the first time in history it wasnt the super expensive luxury cars that were in the forefront of innovation. Now we see Lexus copying Prius instead of the other way around

Given that the same company makes Lexus and Prius cars, the above statement really doesn't make any sense. The timing of the Lexus (RX 400h) and Prius are all part of the same overall rollout plan.

[cybele]

I moved this to the Enviro Forum - cuz we're allowed to talk politics in here as it relates to the environment and cars.

Carry on.

[DaveinOlyWA]

ummm the fact that both are made by the same company is a given.

but what about smart key entry in the the Lexus? when did that start?

[rflagg]

Um, actually it was the Bush administration who repealed it - one of their first manuevers was to repeal the supercar fund, and to push for Fuel Cell technology because with Fuel Cell production you still need good ol' OIL!

-m.

[DaveinOlyWA]

rflagg:

you are mistaken. Al Gore effectively repealed CAFE in a deal made with the big 3 automakers to pursue the Supercar.

unfortunately, Gore in his "wisdom??" only required that the big 3 research the idea and that is what the big 3 did.

they pointed that loophole out after the cars were developed and shown at a auto show in Detroit in Mar 1998. After the show, there was wrangling by the government and the big 3 over what to do with the supercars.

although none had hit the 80 mph goal, they all would have beaten the Prius. but the big 3 said that the cars were too expensive to manufacture and that no one would buy them anyway.

but it was already a moot point. the big three had only agreed to research the supercar idea only if CAFE was abolished...

tell me rflagg, do you know what the CAFE mpg was for the year 2000??

well let me tell you, the big three had done away with that in 1995 so CAFE never made it to 2000. that is not taken from my piss poor memory.

and btw... the CAFE requirement 2000 was 40 mpg

[DaveinOlyWA]

after a little looking i have found a rather extensive article published by the Chicago Tribune.

The article is very very very long, but it doesnt leave any details out.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/special...special.special

and the "repealing" was referring to CAFE.

Bush didnt repeal the supercar project. he just decided to go another route. he chose hydrogen because he knew that no vehicles would be marketed for 20-30 years.

he didnt want his precious oil interests to suffer and the super cars had already been built and each was more efficient than the Prius.
check them out
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/special...story.htmlstory

Bush also approved of an up to $100,000 tax rebates to owners of businesses who purchased new OR USED vehicles as long as they weighed over 6,000 lbs. (iow, gas guzzlers) at the same time he reduced the tax rebate for the Prius from 2,000 to 1,500.

so its pretty obvious where his loyalties lie.

the article although extremely long is very imformative and comical at times. there is an article detailing a group of GM engineers taking a Prius apart trying to figure out how the car worked. apparently they wowed and wooed over the computer found under the front seat.

[Wolfman]

Originally posted by DaveinOlyWA


Bush also approved of an up to $100,000 tax rebates to owners of businesses who purchased new OR USED vehicles as long as they weighed over 6,000 lbs. (iow, gas guzzlers) at the same time he reduced the tax rebate for the Prius from 2,000 to 1,500.

so its pretty obvious where his loyalties lie.

The sunset clause was already in effect before Bush was elected. The premise is that as the public becomes more aware, and accepts the technology, the need to lure people into buying hybrids will no longer be needed. The phaseout IS a good thing, as the credit would cause serious budgetary issues if half a million car buyers all took the credit at once.

[DaveinOlyWA]

are you saying the 100,000 tax credit for hummers was not bush's idea?

[Wolfman]

Nope, Bush did create the SUV tax credit. However, you and I cannot get that rebate. That is restricted for businesses. The phaseout and sunset of the PRIUS tax credit was set up before Bush was elected.