If I were an automaker trying to play catch-up in the hybrid race, don't you think that I would buy some samples of the competition's products to analyse? I might have teams working on original designs, but I would also have teams looking at the competing designs to look for ideas and areas of improvement.

I think that Ford realized that the Toyota had come up with a system that is quite elegant in its design and wished to use some of the concepts in Ford's first hybrid vehicle. I think that licensing agreements have been made in the past for things like airbags, antilock brakes, and other automotive technology, so why not hybrid systems? Think about how bizarre cars would be if innovations developed by one manufacturer could only be used by that manufacturer. If this rule were applied world wide, there would probably be only a couple of car manufacturers, and no chance of any new car companies coming along.

heard about 3 months ago that Ford was just licencing some of Toyota's technology for the Escape. So how come this Detroit monkey just decided to rant now?

I think Ford is stupid to so adimately deny using Toyota parts in the Escape. With their reputation for rocky product rollouts, riding the coattails of the perception of Toyota quality under the hood, would greatly help them in their efforts to get the ecape on the market.

Ford is trying to abstract their hybrid's drivetrain from Toyota because portions of Ford's marketing campaign include jabs at the Prius for the EPA mileage misconception. Those in the know balked because they knew Ford was using a two generation old hybrid drivetrain and could never achieve the efficiency of the latest Synergy drive.

When I read that snippet editorial that began this thread, I asked myself "In which Detroit newspaper did this editorial appear?" When I clicked on the link to read the entire article, I saw that it appeared in The Detroit News. That editorial was a paid political announcement.

Ditto. My thoughts exactly

I just read the article, and I don't understand... I mean, what exactly is his argument? That Ford is using Toyota technology, but not really? If they're paying Toyota for the right to use patented-technology, then their car depends on Toyota tech, right? I mean, how many ways are there to spin this? Is he arguing that Ford isn't buying the actual, physical hybrid system from Toyota, but instead building its own using Toyota's blueprints? Is this suppose to be an impressive feat of American know-how? ugh

Re: Editorial: Too much credit for Ford hybrid goes to Toyot

Maybe, maybe not, but Ford did licence it from Toyota.

http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/news/04/0309.html

Works to Toyota's advantage though! If Ford slips up, "They licensed our technology, but didn't use it". If the Escape doesn't have issues, it was "Based on Toyota designs". If they weren't saying Ford developed its own, any Escape problem related to the Hybrid system could cause a black eye to Toyota.

Ford too late

December 10, 1997 - Prius goes on sale to the public in Japan, fully two years ahead of any other manufacturer. First-year sales are nearly 18,000. ( http://www.corolland.com/prius/chronology.html )

Seven years later Ford puts its first Hybrid on sale. SEVEN YEARS!!!!

My wife is Japanese and she has already driven a Toyota fuel cell car in Japan. Its part of a small fleet of fuel cell cars owned by a corporation.

Well mabye SEVEN years from now a small fleet of fuel cell cars will be put out by Ford.

Ford licensed several hybrid patents from Toyota.

reason: in order to avoid lawsuits from Toyota for copying patented technology it was decided that paying for the technology would be wise.

now, original plan was to study and reverse engineer Toyota's proven successful system and then use the info to create proprietary system of their own.

2004 rolls around and 3rd generation Prius takes country by storm (Ford physically ill when having nightmares of what Prius sales WOULD have been had they been able to keep up with demand)

decides that they dont have time to develop their own system that is different enough to be protected from lawsuits in patent court.

so results in Escape that originally was supposed to not use Toyota technology BUT my sister is an accessories advisor for All Star Ford in Olympia and i got a chance to see one of these Ford hybrids and there is no way you can convince me that the system is different than Toyota's other than some cosmetic differences (even those differences are minor)

also my dealer thinks that 10-30,000 people didnt buy a Prius because of the wait. this figure doesnt include fleet sales. At their dealership, they have had almost a 50% drop off on the wait list. (oh course practically NO ONE dropped off when I was on the list)

case in point; Dianne