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Perfect marketing for that Japanese car manufacturer RT @grist #Prius is only survivor of $3 million car crash http://t.co/vHF0dNEg #Japan
– Simone Veldema ✔ (GreenbizStartup) http://twitter.com/GreenbizStartup/status/144298259685445632

Japan Prius via:packrati.us

Looks like the Volt beats out the Prius as a PHEV

prius phev volt ampera

In the U.S., we produce too many gas guzzlers. But they are made by well-paid, middle class union workers who have a democratic voice on the shop floor. In Japan, companies like Toyota make some of the best hybrids. But their unions are weak and lack independence—allowing the widespread exploitation of cheap temporary workers in their plants, along with a parts supply chain that is riddled with sweatshop abuses, including human trafficking. We have a lot to learn from each other.

Right now, Toyota and the U.S. auto companies are locked in a race to the bottom, which will inevitably lead them to adopt each others worst practices.

If the middle class is going to survive, it is time for working people in the U.S. and Japan to begin speaking to one another. "

toyota prius safety union

Toyota Motor, reeling from a public-relations fiasco over accelerator problems, on Wednesday reported dozens of complaints in North America and Japan about brake failure on its popular Prius hybrid.

Toyota is a pioneer in fuel-sipping hybrids and any new question marks over the safety of the Prius could deal a major setback to its efforts to recover from massive recalls and heavy losses inflicted by the global economic crisis.

toyota prius brakes recall hybrid

"Toyota is planning a larger version of its popular Prius hybrid, which will be powered by a new kind of battery, a Japanese newspaper reported Friday.

The new Prius, either a station wagon or SUV, is set to go on sale by the end of next year. It will be the first from Toyota Motor Corp. with a lithium-ion battery, which is more powerful than the nickel-metal hydride battery, now in its hybrids, according to the nationally circulated Yomiuri newspaper."

toyota prius greenmonktv hybrid

Honda recently revealed the vehicle that it hopes will be the ultimate Prius killer. Dubbed the Insight Concept, the vehicle is the latest in Honda’s lineup of next-generation energy efficient vehicles

honda prius insight concept

Chris Cox of Derry, N.H., got tired of waiting for the electric car of the future. In August, he took matters into his own hands and had his 2008 Toyota Prius converted into a plug-in hybrid, which doubled its gas mileage — Cox now gets up to 100 miles per gallon for 30 to 40 miles at a stretch. Although the Prius is already a hybrid gas-electric model, the additional battery that Cox had installed enables him to travel more than 20 miles on all-electric power (compared to just two miles without it) before the gas engine kicks in.

hybrid plug in hybrid prius plug in prius