Clean, lean and even

By ALASTAIR SLOANE motoring editor

A few years ago a woman crossing an Auckland street broke pedestrian ranks and ran to a car parked at the lights, all the while motioning to the driver to wind down the window.

Thank you for caring, she said to the occupants. She then darted back to the crossing.

What had caught her eye was the writing on the side of the car: 80 per cent fewer emissions, 50 per cent more fuel economy.

The car was the Toyota Prius, a petrol/electric hybrid sedan Toyota New Zealand was testing.

It was a genuine green machine. It used a four-cylinder, 1.5-litre petrol engine and an electric motor charging a battery pack to deliver the best mileage and fewer emissions.

In the city it worked like a golf cart, noiselessly running on the battery while sitting and moving off at lights.

Only when the engine cut in under throttle did combustion noise and exhaust emissions - well within benchmark clean-air laws in California - return.

Tests showed it could get about 80km to the gallon, or a bit over 5 litres/100km. But the best thing about it was that it was environmentally friendly.

The Prius sold well in Japan and America. The state of New York bought a fleet. So did California. So did British and Australian government bodies.

But it worked out too expensive for New Zealand, around an estimated $50,000.

Things could be different next year, however, with the second-generation Prius. The new car was unveiled in Tokyo the other day and Toyota New Zealand is understood to be looking at it.

Toyota senior managing director Hiroyuki Watanabe said the carmaker was "determined to make this technology from Japan a driving force for the global auto industry".

'We believe that clearing environmental hurdles and offering an attractive driving experience are critical for cars to thrive in the 21st century.'

Toyota was the first in the world to commercially mass-produce and sell hybrid cars with the Prius in 1997.

Since then it has sold 130,000 hybrid cars a year worldwide, including two other models that sell only in Japan.

Initially, people were sceptical about the prospects for hybrids because of other green technologies such as electric cars and fuel cell vehicles.

But Toyota may have won over the sceptics.

General Motors, Ford, and the Chrysler unit of DaimlerChrysler have announced they will be coming out with hybrids, intensifying the competition in that sector. Honda has already sold 37,000 hybrids worldwide.

"Hybrids are growing into a respected market in the industry," said Yasuaki Iwamoto, industry analyst at Okasan Securities Co in Tokyo. "And there's no doubt Toyota dominates this sector."

The name Prius is Latin for "to go before". Toyota says the new Prius has grown so much (150mm longer in wheelbase), that the five-door hatchback is classified as a mid-size vehicle in the United States.

By upping the electric part of the powertrain to 50kW and 500 volts (from 33kW and about 300 volts), Toyota claims the Prius accelerates from zero to 100km/h in about 10 seconds.

It says fuel economy is still around the 5 litres/100km range but emissions are 30 per cent fewer than the previous model.

The new hybrid drive system has been dubbed Hybrid Synergy Drive, and will also appear in a Lexus hybrid in the US next year.

Toyota raised the voltage of its hybrid system and improved the battery to give the new Prius the power of a 2-litre engine, although it only has a 1.5-litre engine.

The styling is also leaner and roomier than the present model to give what Toyota called "a futuristic" feel.

The new Prius will have more power and a smoother drive than the Camry, Toyota said.

The price is still being decided, but will likely be around $US20,000 ($40,000). Toyota did not give a sales target but hopes to sell 300,000 hybrids a year worldwide and expand to 10 models in the next few years.

Ford also unveiled its first hybrid the other day, this one a petrol/electric variant of the Escape.

It uses a 65kW (100bhp) 1.4-litre engine mated to a 28kW electric motor.

The vehicle will be able to run purely in electric mode, run solely on petrol, or combine both to deliver peak acceleration similar to the Escape V-6.