Toyota has big plans for fuel efficiency by 2015

Up 25% by 2015 isn't very good IMHO. I certainly wouldn't call this "big plans."

Take an "8" and turn it 90 degrees. That should be Toyota's average fuel economy in 2015.

 

Sigh, it is so easy to criticize those actually doing work.

 

While I applaud them for moving in a good direction, I also hope they can improve their top of the line (in terms of efficiency) more than 25%.
An electric Rav4 would fit the bill nicely

 

Try improving 25% in two generations / redesigns (10 years).

 

Well is it such a big deal to reduce average fuel economy by 25%? Toyota Europe are probably already below this on their line up. All you have to do is remove one gas guzzler from your range and add one very efficient car (the IQ?) to it.

Equally, as JimboPalmer said, it's easy to criticize and a 25% reduction is a great thing. So all in all, well done Toyota.

 

Geesh..tough crowd in Prius Chat.
Kudos for Toyota for their history with Prius.
Kudos for plans to remain on the forefront as far as fuel efficiency.

I know a lot of you are ahead of the curve in desire...but as far as a mainstream automaker...and one of the worlds largest...I think Toyota has shown and is showing a remarkable commitment to Hybrids..and changing the landscape of available automotive products.

The fact that they have yet to release a vehicle that runs on broken dreams and unicorn tears...is alright with me...

Would you rather a press release saying Toyota plans to release a new Super V8 truck?

 

Ford did it. The Fusion Hybrid gets 41mpg.

Toyota did it. Compare the mpg of the original Prius to the Echo.
Compare the GenII Prius to the Matrix.

Honda did it. Compare the original Insight to the Civic back then.

Okay. To be fair, with each evolution, it becomes more and more difficult to improve efficiency. Compare the mpg of the GenIII Prius with the GenII Prius. To squeeze more mpg out of the GenIV Prius compared to the GenIII Prius is not going to be easy.

PHV Priuses on the roads will help improve CAFE, but since PHV Priuses will be limited production, the effect will be limited.

I think the best solution is just to jack up the price of the Sequoia so that fewer people buy it and start expanding the smaller car portfolio (which they are already doing - Yaris, Scion, Corolla, Prius, new versions of the Prius (aka Prius mini-van), and I'm not sure if Lexus is factored in, but the HS250h's 35mpg and CT200h's ? mpg is at least 25% more fuel efficient than ES350, GS450, LX470, and Lexus vehicles of a few years ago)

All Toyota has to keep doing is adjusting the ratio of vehicles that it sells. The death of the MAMMOTH SUV is slowly occuring. Sure, some people are still buying them, but the numbers are declining. Eventually, it will reach a point in which the automakers can no longer justify making the vehicle.

As much as I look at the 25% number and think that by 2015, it should be a lot better than that, the reality as USBseaWolf pointed out, is that 2015 is only four years away. That's only one generation of vehicle from now. But, at the same time, it is a full four years away, and a lot can happen in four years. As other automakers release hybrids and increase mpg competition, the competitive pressure will force Toyota to push their numbers beyond 25% when the design their next generation of vehicles. An individual automaker may only redesign a given car every 5 years or so, but with numerous automakers and numerous models available, several new cars come to market every year; evolution of technology occurs annually.

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To be fair, those are just individual car models, not the manufacturer's average fleet.

So, No, none of them 'did' it.

 

So your (collective) solutions are: quit being a full line manufacturer, quit building vehicles you disapprove of, only make one car, and redesign every car you make every year. Toyota, on the other hand, is claiming to gain 25% across it's entire fleet every 10 years. (while remaining profitable) I am still more impressed by their plan than by your ideas.

 

Above, I mentioned that an automaker could increase it's CAFE mpg by 25% simply by discontinuing the large gas-guzzlers.

Take Hyundai, for example, which has no U.S. pickup trucks and no large SUVs:
"According to the EPA, Hyundai has led the U.S. industry in fuel economy for 2008 and 2009, and is currently the only automaker with average fleet fuel economy of more than 30 miles per gallon."
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How can this be true? The Fleet average of all the cars Smart builds almost has to be 33 city/41 Hwy as that is the spec of the only car they sell.

In a similar fashion, Mini has to have a combined MPG over 30 as 30 is the combined value for their lowest model.

Once you abandon being a full range vendor, I fail to see why you are not compared to the other not full range vendors like Smart and Mini.

 

You make it sound like this is something unique to Toyota? It's not.

Nor is this news. Been in the news for quite some time.

Higher MPGs is being pushed on all car makers by the Feds.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10244754-54.html

The plan calls for a 5 percent annual increase in car makers' fleet-wide fuel efficiency starting in 2012, through 2016. The standard, which addresses cars and light trucks, will be 35.5 miles per gallon in 2016, four years sooner than previously planned. (Click for PDF with details.)

 

Mini is part of BMW (Mini's own website is my reference), so it's mpg is averaged into BMW's CAFE.

Smart is part of Daimler AG (Mercedes) (Smart's own website is my reference), so it's mpg is averaged into Mercedes's CAFE.

MINIUSA.com and search for "BMW"

smart USA company information

 

Now THAT'S "changing" the landscape...!!

 

What I'm waiting to see is an LS400 hybrid equivalent using a multi-mode low displacement DFI e/VVT-I 4 cylinder ICE. Otto cycle, 15:1 CR, Atkinson cycle 13:1 CR, Miller cycle, 18:1 effective CR with intercooled BOOST.