Toyota Stirs Porsche's Interest in Eco-friendly Power for SUV's

Tokyo November 25, 2005; The Asahi Shimbun reported that Porsche's tech request might drive up desire for hybrids.

What is the car of the future? A gas-chugging SUV or an eco-friendly little fuel-cell vehicle?

Maybe it's something in between, at least for now.

Just recently, Porsche of Germany sought from Toyota Motor Corp. a transfer of hybrid-vehicle technology. Toyota appears willing.

Add to that the fact that Toyota has already made hybrid-vehicle technology available to Nissan Motor Co. and Ford Motor Co.

The resulting picture is that hybrid technology is becoming better regarded in its own right.

Some see hybrids, equipped with an electric motor and a gasoline-powered engine, as a stop-gap measure for meeting tougher emissions standards and other environmental concerns.

Fuel cell-powered vehicles that run on hydrogen and oxygen are regarded as the ideal eco-friendly vehicles, but little progress has been made on their development.

Up until now, the eco-friendly emphasis in Europe has focused on refining diesel engines. But if the technology transfer from Toyota to Porsche proceeds, it's possible that other European manufacturers will feel compelled to develop hybrid vehicles.

Hybrid vehicles are 10 to 20 percent more expensive than equivalent gasoline-powered vehicles. However, following Toyota's comprehensive remodeling last autumn of the hybrid Prius, its popularity has increased, with waits up to six months for delivery.

The market seems ripe for other companies to join the fray.

Toyota launched the first-generation Prius in 1997; the company has adopted a strategy of making the technology available to other vehicle manufacturers, largely to reap licensing fees.

The second-generation Prius has run 35.5 kilometers on one liter of gasoline, which is the second-best distance achieved globally. The only hybrid vehicle to have bettered that is a partially remodeled Honda Insight, which ran 36 kilometers on one liter of gasoline in October.

Toyota will undertake its first overseas manufacture of the Prius next year in China. It also might manufacture the Prius in North America, possibly in California, which has been lobbying for the business.

In September, Ford launched a sports utility vehicle (SUV) containing the hybrid technology provided by Toyota. Nissan, too, is planning in 2006 to launch a vehicle that uses the Toyota hybrid technology.

Even in Europe, chinks are appearing in the focus on diesel technology. Volkswagen AG of Germany has, for example, announced that it will in 2008 launch its own hybrid vehicle using technology it has developed itself