Free-market cappys, sell your hybrids. Kazuo Okamoto, who will assume the role of head of research and development at Toyota next month, told the Financial Times hybrid cars don't make economic sense for US buyers. Credits of fuel efficiency alone, he says, don't cover the extra debits of a hybrid car. Buyers, he says, must assume the imbalance as part of a higher motivation (i.e., saving the planet). It's the reason why GM beancounters wrote off the viability of hybrids, and missed out on the marketing coup of the century.
Toyota says hybrid cars face US fuel barrier [Financial Times (subscription) via The Car Connection]
Related:
Honda to Redesign Civic Hybrid as Better Prius Competitor [internal]
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