http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000080&sid=ayHjk7XaXu6I&refer=asia

Toyota Accelerates Camry, Plans Hybrid, Analysts Say (Update1)

May 12 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp., the world's second- largest automaker, is speeding the release of its next Camry sedan by at least six months, aiming to keep it the best-selling U.S. car, three industry analysts familiar with the company's plans said.

The 2007 Camry should arrive at dealers as early as February 2006, said analyst Jim Hall, with AutoPacific Inc., basing his comments on talks with Toyota. That would bring the new model to market 4 1/2 years after the current edition's release. Toyota has redesigned the Camry every five years since 1986 and put it on sale around early September each time.

"Shortening the product cycle is one of the ways we can invest in having a more-desirable product," said Jim Press, Toyota's chief operating officer in the U.S., in an interview yesterday. Press declined to comment on Camry directly. "One of our philosophies is to change a car before it gets old."

The Camry has battled Honda Motor Co.'s Accord to remain the top-selling car in the U.S. in seven of the past eight years. The model, which Press called Toyota's "money car," contributed 21 percent of the 2.06 million autos Toyota sold in the U.S. in 2004.

Camry sales, including two-door Solara models, rose 6.3 percent to 138,939 this year through April, according to Autodata Corp. of Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey. The Accord fell 1.6 percent to 112,606.

Moving the new model's release to early 2006 will boost Camry sales by mid-year, said Joe Langley, an analyst at CSM Worldwide Inc., based in Farmington Hills, Michigan. said.

"It will give them a real head start because production will be fully ramped up in time for the spring and summer selling season," Langley said. "There's no reason to stick to a traditional release schedule anymore. When things are ready, they're ready."

Hybrid Version

Camry will also be the first U.S.-built Toyota gasoline- electric hybrid, according to Hall, Langley and Catherine Madden, who forecasts auto production plans for Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts. The analysts based their information on discussions with Toyota and suppliers to the Georgetown, Kentucky, plant that builds the car.

Toyota has said it will eventually offer hybrid drives in all its top-selling models. It wants to build on the lead it holds in hybrid sales of Prius cars and add a direct competitor to Honda Motor Co.'s gasoline-electric Accord, which went on sale in 2004, Hall said.

"There's some competitive pressure to get a hybrid Camry into the market soon," said Hall, who is based in Southfield, Michigan.

"Camry is a natural next step, but we haven't made any decisions," on selling a hybrid version, said John Hanson, a spokesman for Toyota's U.S. sales unit in Torrance, California. Toyota is based in Toyota City, Japan.

"The midsize-sedan segment is moving in that direction, so it would be logical to offer a hybrid Camry," said CSM's Langley. He expects that version to go on sale in mid to late 2006.

Kentucky Incentives

In addition to the hybrid Accord, Nissan Motor Co. plans to add a gasoline-electric Altima sedan in the U.S. in 2006. Ford Motor Co., which sells hybrid Escape sport-utility vehicles, has said it will sell hybrid versions of its Fusion and Mercury Milan sedans by 2008.

To encourage Toyota to build hybrids in Kentucky the state in March passed incentives under an ``environmental stewardship program.'' It included tax incentives for equipment and training workers to make such products. Carla Blanton, a spokesman for Governor Ernie Fletcher, wouldn't confirm whether he will meet with Toyota officials during a visit to Japan next week.

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http://www.greencarcongress.com/hybrids/index.html

Subaru Hybrid Postponed to 2008; Turning to Toyota

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reports that Fuji Heavy Industries, the maker of Subaru vehicles, will postpone its release of a hybrid car in 2006 due to cost issues in its current design.

Fuji Heavy had been developing a hybrid car using its own powertrain, although the possibility of a Toyota-Fuji Heavy hybrid alliance emerged earlier this year. (Earlier post.)

The earlier report suggested that under the potential partnership, Toyota would supply its hybrid drive system to Fuji Heavy in return for Fuji Heavy supplying Toyota with advanced lithium-ion batteries for use in hybrids.

Fuji Heavy makes only some 590,000 vehicles a year—too low a volume for it to cost-effectively develop its own hybrid technology, which is the path the company has been taking.

According to the latest report, Fuji Heavy has not managed to reduce the production cost of its own hybrid system to the point of being commercially viable, and so is giving up on rolling out the hybrid on the original schedule.

The automaker is now reportedly turning to Toyota’s hybrid technology, with a revised plan of debuting the Subaru hybrid in 2008.

GM is Fuji Heavy’s top shareholder, but the GM-DaimlerChrysler dual-mode hybrid technology under development apparently does not fit the application (or the timing) Fuji Heavy has in mind.

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$600 per gallon. That's why the military really, really, likes hybrids.

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http://search.ft.com/search/article.html?id=030331000846

WAR IN IRAQ: US studies fuel alternatives to keep army on the move

By Jeremy Grant in Chicago
Financial Times; Mar 31, 2003

The sight of US army Humvee troop carriers stranded in the Iraqi desert waiting for refuelling tankers to catch up with them has not only alarmed commanders in the battlefield. It has also highlighted efforts by the US military to develop a new generation of vehicles that rely on new forms of propulsion, cutting the cost of fuel and reducing US dependence on foreign sources of oil for future global military missions.

The fuel cost numbers are startling. A gallon of modified jet fuel, which is used in tanks as well as aircraft, costs only 84 cents when bought wholesale from multinational oil companies such as Shell and ExxonMobil. By the time the cost of transporting the fuel to the battlefield is added, that sum can rise to hundreds of dollars per gallon.

The US army says that for the campaign in Afghanistan, where there are no reliable or significant sources of fuel, the army depends on fuel flown in by helicopter from ships in the Indian Ocean. The cost per gallon: about $600 (€557, £381).

The US army estimates it costs about $150 per gallon for fuel used in Iraq. The fuel comes from 23 US military dumps scattered across the Middle East, a number that was doubled in preparation for the current conflict.

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The inability to keep troops supplied has lost many battles going back to bible times.

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