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- Toyota Hybrids Break 2 Million Barrier - Hybrid Sales Accelerate in Japan
- Lexus LF-LC sports car concept revealed
- New Honda NSX confirmed
- Toyota FT86
- Insight or Prius… or Leaf?
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Toyota announces release of 2012 Alphard hybrid in Japan
Just with some minor changes from the previous model (change a front grill, bumper …) but with the hybrid motor. The 7 seater Alphard will have a 2.4L 4 cylinder which will deliver 150 PS along with a 105Kw electric engine to help keep the consumption down to 19kms per liter. Comparing this with the 2005 model, it will have a 75% reduction in CO2 emissions. Now that is turning over a new (green) leaf! As the new Alphard model is being released at the end of November, don’t expect to see one of these in the auctions until mid to late December (near-new is always cheaper than new-new!).
Toyota Alphard 2011 new model hybrid
Categories:
Coming Soon, Uncategorized, hybrid, japan, new, news, toyota
Mazda Face Lifts the Demio to produce the Mazda Demio 13 SKYACTIV
Mazda Demio 13 SKYACTIV
Mazda has face lifted the Mazda Demio, known elsewhere as the Mazda2 (find one in the Japanese used car auctions), as well as adding a little more economy into its 1.3L engine. By increasing the compression ratio to 14.0:1 and adding an intelligent start/stop system that requires less fuel to restart the combustion cycle, this 4 cylinder looks to be one of the most efficient vehicles to ever wear the Mazda badge. It may even take on the efficient hybrid cars, though it is not a hybrid itself. 30kms per liter is not bad.
Look forward to seeing some used Mazda Demio 13 SKYACTIVs in the Japanese Car Auctions soon!
Mazda Demio 13 SKYACTIV
Mazda Demio 13 SKYACTIV
Categories:
Uncategorized, auctions, hybrid, used car sales
Toyota Hybrids Break 2 Million Barrier - Hybrid Sales Accelerate in Japan
Since first going on sale in August 1997, as of the end of August 2009 Toyota hybrids have now broken the 2 million mark in Japan. The first model that summer was called the Coaster Hybrid EV. I don’t know if anyone really remembers that one! It was not until a few months later in December 1997 that the hyrbid that rocked the world - the Prius - went on sale.
What I think is interesting is that it took until May 2007 for the first million hybrids to be sold here, but since then there has been a real acceleration in sales with mony 27 months for the second million to be sold. The answer is both in the widening of the range of models to which the hybrid technology is applied, as well as an increasing acceptance of the hybrid drivetrain among the buying public.
What we should now be keeping an eye on is whether this acceleration is sustained, or whether the interest in hybrid cars tapers off. This will be a good indication as to whether this is a niche solution or a geniune stepping stone in the evolution of the automobile.
Mercedes S-Class Hybrid Comes to Japan The Home of Hybrids
Well, this is shaping up to be a Mercedes day, what with my previous post being about the classic Mercedes 230S. This time the news is a little different: The leader in plutocrat luxury announced its hybrid assault on Japan, the home of the hybrid, on September 3rd.
The new hybrid S class is part of a general range make over for the perenial S Class model, with the twist that it also breaks new ground for Mercedes and achieves excellent fuel effiency figures - beating its sibling S350 by 30%. As a result it beats the Japanese 2005 emmissions standards by 75% (gaining a 4-star rating), and even manages to undercut the 2010 standards by 25% (to gain a 2-star rating next year).
The question Mercedes must be wondering is whether it can beat the Lexus LS600h on its home turf. That will be an interesting battle!
Categories:
hybrid, lexus, mercedes
Insight or Prius… or Leaf?
The Honda Insight stole a march (not a March) on the latest Toyota Prius when it arrived in Japan in early 2009. I remember seeing a TV news report here at the time implying that the Insight was not only selling better than Honda’s expectations but that, in fact, it was pretty much the only Honda model that was making it out of the showroom at all.
(Honda were not the only one struggling at that time: In the depths of winter when the prospect of a second Depression seemed very real, we heard that Lexus dealers in Kyoto had managed to sell just one single car in a whole month. Perhaps it was just a rumor, but it seemed very believable at the time.)
Anyway, it seems that the Insight has had its moment of glory: As soon as the new Prius came out, the spotlight shifted. Now it is Toyota who are beating their sales forecasts and the (cheaper) Insight is left languishing. Part of this is probably due to the Prius’ carefully-cultivated brand image. “Hybrid” and “Prius” are almost synomymous, after all. It does not help that it is also seen as an inferior car - however good its fuel economy. Apparently, Honda is working frantically on upgrades, but there are also some tuners out there who are coming up with their own as well. OK, so it might not go faster, ride better or have better economy - but it beats the pants of the standard version when it comes to looks.
The difference in the two brands can also be seen in the sold prices in the Japanese car auctions. I had a look at sold prices for the Prius S and Insight G. Taking sold price results from the last 3 months, the outcome was quite surprising:
- Prius S list price = 2.2 million Yen.
- Prius S average auction price * = 2.38 million Yen
- Honda Insight G list price = 1.89 million Yen
- Honda Insight G average auction price * = 1.75 million Yen
(* This is the average price for cars with delivery mileage only in perfect new condition. Obviously cars with greater mileage would be cheaper. If you want to explore the Japanese car auctions for yourself, click here.)
Whoah! Wait a minute. Let’s look at those Prius prices again. The auction price is higher than the new list price? What is going on there? To be honest I am really not sure, but there are a couple of guesses I will throw out there. First of all, it could be caused by demand. If you have customers beating down your door for a new Prius and Toyota can’t crank them out quickly enough, you need to get your hands on a basically new one to keep up. Another possibility would be that that maybe Toyota customers specify a whole raft of optional equipment on their Priuses which means that these ones at auction were actually worth quite a bit more than the base model to start with. But surely some of the Honda’s would also fit that pattern and yet they show depreciation.
This is all well and good, but what I am wondering is whether in the longer term both of these companies are going to be leapfrogged by Nissan, who seem to be bypassing the hybrid model almost completely and are aiming at having a range of all-electric cars. I can see how Toyota’s lead in hybrid technology would easily become a hiderance. Japanese firms are notorious for clinging to technology they have pioneered long after it has become obsolete. The MiniDisc player is a classic example of this. So Toyota wins the battle, but who will win the technology war?
Categories:
EV, auctions, hybrid, nissan, toyota