Featured Would there have even been a Prius?

I think the Echo and the Prius were Toyota competing for marketshare with Honda CRX design that was getting upwards of 60mpg. Before EVs there's always been a demand for the highest MPG car possible once the US had an oil crisis in the late 70's

 

When I first moved here in the mid-1990s, you could end up smelling like an ashtray from taking a walk outdoors on the central part of the university campus.

 

As I already pointed out at post #12, California's "2035 new gas powered car sales ban mandate" does not ban all new gas powered light vehicles / cars. PHEVs can qualify for continued sales, and the 2026 RAV4 Plug-in already does. But scaremongers such as that outlet, nearly always hide that part.

And plenty of people still keep ignoring (or denying) the giant elephant in the room.

 

Like with the ZEV program, CARB had the means to adjust a year's targets.

Japan also had programs for reducing emissions going back to the 1970s. Godzilla vs Hedorah came out in 1971.

Later forms of those programs provided subsidies for the first Prius sales.

 

I don't mean to pile-on; Ca and CARB states don't dictate federal laws - It's just an affirmation that they are trying to remain as green as possible.
There's always used cars and out-of-state cars, by the time they reach the border, they'll be used..

That's just well-crafted laws/policies. Still friends with one of the guy's that was on that panel - he's since retired and passed on the reigns. We called it the fudge-factor clause - so OEM hands weren't tied, if something unforeseen happen - like COVID. That way it didn't have to go back thru state legislators for amendment and exceptions.