Featured Genesis’ Strategic Shift: Launching Hybrid Model As Soon As 2025

It simply never made sense for any automaker/brand to attempt to shift from ICE directly to BEV. Not having any type of bridge, with markets so fickle and so unprepared, was quite an economic gamble. Odds were stacked against such a risk... without even taking into account the inevitable backlash for any such effort... blatant misleading & undermining from those who have something to lose.

This is where Toyota shines, having chosen the bottom-up approach instead. Enthusiasts hate it. They thrive on the thrill and quick return from top-down. Taking the slow & boring route to success is nothing they would ever support, despite shared long-term goals.

It was a "make sure we have enough popcorn" outcome for anyone reading about this history afterward. You end up asking yourself "what were they thinking?"

 

I throughly agree. ICE and EVs can accomplish similar goals but taking alternate paths. So had Toyota replaced all of the Prius ICE parts with batteries, they could have been early to market with a short range but efficient EV. Then go through generations like they did with the Prius, improving the weak points and implementing new tricks. But that was my idle speculations when I still drove Prius.

In Tesla-like fashion, the Prius was a 'clean sheet' design, radical at the time. But Toyota had a lot of applicable engineering skills that they cleverly exploited in the Prius. Successive evolution is what it takes for a legacy car maker to adopt a new technology ... a series of small steps instead of trying a Great Leap Forward (aka., Hummer EV.)

Bob Wilson

 

Chrysler didn't jump in with a hybrid but in 2017 they released their plug-in minivan which has been pretty popular. Their next offering will be released in a few months, the Ram Charger pickup with over 140 electric miles, DC QC, & its reliable V6 to drive it several hundred miles further when battery is depleted. Lots of range & towing power, coupled with electric efficiency for 95% of the drives. It pretty much means drivers can get whatever propulsion they want now w/out worrying where to charge if they don't want to.
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That Pacifica was a "natural fit" for Chrysler with all that under-floor space for the stow-n-go 2nd row seat. Of course you have to give up the stow-n-go for the batteries in there instead. I wonder what the story was, when somebody had ah-ha moment and said hey we can convert it to PHEV.

 

The 3rd row is stow & go. The mid row has quick release tabs so as long as you can lift around 40Lbs, you can have both mid row seats out & stored in just a few minutes. The Ramcharger pickup, with over 4X the Pacifica electric range won't have to worry about popping out seats to store seriously huge amounts of stuff - & could in addition Tow a Pacifica on a 5th wheel flatbed.

Here's to hoping this will only be the first of many long range plugins w/ lots of cargo carrying capability.
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Current Open Road Toyota Port Moody new inventory. To be fair, when we were shopping there in 2010 it was similar glut, with Prius.

 

maybe without wasting more money on hydrogen they can improve their hybrid and phev offerings in hyunda/kia and add them to Genesis. It makes perfect sense.

BEVs are easier to design well than phevs. I doubt that the all electric was really the plan.