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The father of Prius to become the next Chairman

Discussion in 'Prius, Hybrid, EV and Alt-Fuel News' started by usbseawolf2000, Jan 21, 2013.

  1. usbseawolf2000

    usbseawolf2000 HSD PhD

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    Toyota Motor Corp. (7203) will probably pick Takeshi Uchiyamada, who led the development of the Prius hybrid car in 1990s, to replace Fujio Cho as the company’s next chairman, Nikkei reported today, without citing anyone.

    Cho, 75, will become a senior adviser, though a final decision will be made at a board meeting in June, Nikkei said. Uchiyamada, currently vice chairman at Toyota, may also become vice chairman of the Keidanren, Japan’s largest business lobbying group, Nikkei said.

    While President Akio Toyoda, grandson of the founder, is in charge of day-to-day operations at Asia’s largest carmaker, a change in chairmanship would be Toyota’s first since Cho took on the role in 2006. A new chairman would face the challenge of helping Toyoda revive the Japanese automaker’s leadership in the global auto industry in the face of mounting competition from Volkswagen AG (VOW) and Hyundai Motor Co. (005380)
    Toyota Motor to Pick Uchiyamada as Next Chairman, Nikkei Says - Bloomberg
     
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  2. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    A well deserved honor.

    Bob Wilson
     
  3. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    I think a post like this needs to auto play an as yet unknown Prius theme song...
     
  4. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    One of Takeshi Uchiyamada's competitors in the market place was Bob Lutz.

    Bob Wilson
     
  5. austingreen

    austingreen Senior Member

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    huh. I don't understand this.
     
  6. usbseawolf2000

    usbseawolf2000 HSD PhD

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  7. austingreen

    austingreen Senior Member

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  8. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    Really? Speaking of authentic, when I read, "The Father of Prius to become the next Chairman"
    I thought the OP/title meant that Russian immagrant/inventer Alex Severinsky was now working for Toyota.
    ;)
    The Hybrid Inventor Who Sued Toyota - And Won | Autopia | Wired.com
    I understand he's getting over $100 for each & every Lexus and Toyota, plus (earlier) Nissan & Ford's hybrids for his court ruled infringed patents. It might have been less expensive if Toyota would have just hired the guy as an engineer. That way the claim of fatherhood would have been undisputed.
    .
     
  9. usbseawolf2000

    usbseawolf2000 HSD PhD

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    Severinsky got his patent in 1994 but the idea was as old as TRW patent (expired) back from the 70's. What's ironic is that TRW went to Ford with the proposal and they were shot down. Ford ended up licensing from Severinsky and Toyota (cross-licensed).

    Toyota was the first to successfully engineered from the concept to mass producing it.
     
  10. austingreen

    austingreen Senior Member

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    I would rather call him one of the fathers of the hybrid.
    Ferdinand Porsche built a serial hybrid before 1900, he is the true father. TRW is the father of the HSD system, but it required more modern electronics and software that only became available in the 90s.


    The Uchiyamada is the father of the prius not the hybrid, but the prius was the first commercially successful hybrid and is the best selling.

    Its all about lawyers and power. There is no way Toyota could claim inventing the hybrid or even the psd. They did put together a very good package that made these things popular.

    If Toyota had settled the claim earlier instead of fighting it would have cost them much less. Big companies tend to steal things. Some pay for them when first caught, Toyota payed much more after years and years of fighting.
     
  11. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    There's no arguing that Toyota was the first to take the synergy drive to mass production. The irony is they never would have but for GM showing off their prototype projects and making everyone think that GM hybrid mass production was just down the road. But instead, even as Toyota ramped up hybrid production GM instead chose to increase SUV production and buy the Hummer line ... as though endless supplies of fossil fuel would continue forever. Kudos need to go to GM in part for building the fire under Toyota's feet.
    .
     
  12. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    "Success has many fathers. Failure is an orphan."

    Bob Wilson
     
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  13. austingreen

    austingreen Senior Member

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    I really doubt that story. It has been told numerous times to pretend the US government did not just waste a lot of money and time, that we got the Prius out of that failed program. Remember the failed gm prototypes were ultra expensive and diesel, nothing like the prius.

    The electronics and trw's power split architecture were coming together for someone to take advantage of. Toyota seized on the opportunity. It took pricing and packaging. Really the gen I was a tease. The packaging of the gen II really is what made hybrids take off.

    You forgot crushing the EV1 and heavily investing in European auto companies...

    Again, why do you buy the revisionism that gm had any responsibility for the prius. The volt did get Toyota to build the prius phv, and the tesla roadster got gm to build the volt.
     
  14. usbseawolf2000

    usbseawolf2000 HSD PhD

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    I think the lesson learned from Supercar, went into Ford's power-split hybrids and GM's two mode hybrids (including Voltec since it is a variance).
     
  15. spwolf

    spwolf Senior Member

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    i guess nobody invented anything as there was always someone with idea, but the fact is that Toyota has few thousand patents related to PSD and HSD, and that other companies like Ford are licensing it, otherwise they cant implement same design.
     
  16. austingreen

    austingreen Senior Member

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    You could have read my whole post to discover who invented what -

    Ferdinand Porsche - the hybrid - actually a serial phev that combined gasoline and electric power.
    TRW - various people - the psd
    Severinsky - control algorithms to make the psd work well.

    Toyota expanded on this work as did Ford and GM. Ford cross licenses many patents with Toyota and both have some of their own. Both Companies do completely use Porsche, TRW, and Severinsky as a foundation. When Toyota created the prius it was not in a vacuum.
    The Prius is the most successful implementation.
     
  17. spwolf

    spwolf Senior Member

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    Really? Based on what? Toyota started patenting their hybrid sytems in 1993. Prius was only implementation.

    On related note, when does Severinsky's patent expire?

    As to the Ford, I am not aware of Toyota licensing any Ford hybrid technology? What are you talking about, what did they cross license? You mean that save-face PR about some diesel patents, lol.
     
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  18. spwolf

    spwolf Senior Member

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    I am feeling you are still hurt about those 1,200,000 sold in 2012 :)
     
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  19. austingreen

    austingreen Senior Member

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    I got a number of vary different lessons than that.

    1) Giving car companies money and R&D and not requiring any economy gains, and leaving café standards low was an experiment to lower average fuel economy in the 90s. It was much more costly than the direct government funds.

    2) Deciding that a moon shot and excluding foreign manufacturers is the best way to improve fuel economy creates some bad choices - expensive prototypes that can not meet epa pollution standards. Loss of market share in the companies government was trying to help. Excluding Toyota only hut the program.

    I'm sure Ford could have licensed hsd much more cheaply than the super car program cost them. GM seemed to lose quite a bit of money on two mode.

    Toyota by virtue of having MITI underwrite part of the production costs, did much better. Note the Japanese government money flowed to Honda and Toyota hybrids after they were developed.
     
  20. austingreen

    austingreen Senior Member

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    Porsche got his hybrid running before 1900, TRW in the 70s. Do you think that Toyota's effort predated theirs. Toyota selected the TRW implementation in meetings on the prius and modified it.

    Toyota and Ford cross license hybrid technology. Stop with the foolishness. They got issued many similar patents because they were working off similar previous work. To avoid lawsuits the bulk of these patents were just cross licensed. Toyota did have some tech that Ford did not and this was included in the agreement as were some other ford patents for non-hybrid systems. No money changed hands.

    Both Ford and Toyota infringed on the previous Severinsky patents with their patents. IIRC these are now expired but both companies are still paying as part of the legal settlement. TRW patents were expired before Ford and Toyota used them.