Honda, Toyota lead pack in hybrid cars

NAGOYA — A Japan Today story discussed how two of Japan's major auto builders are moving ahead in the Hybrid car sector.

"We were particular about becoming first," recalled an engineer involved in the development of Insight, Honda Motor Co's first gasoline-electric hybrid passenger vehicle. It has nearly double the fuel efficiency of conventional gasoline-driven cars.

Toyota Motor Corp's Prius became the world's first mass-market hybrid car when it was put on sale in 1997. However, it was marketed only in Japan.

Two years later, Honda followed suit with Insight, which it marketed both in Japan and the United States simultaneously, receiving the honor of becoming the first automaker to come up with such a passenger car.

Toyota President Fujio Cho personally volunteered to promote the sale of the hybrid vehicle, switching from his luxury, black-coated company car to a white Prius minivan.

Toyota and Honda are the only two automakers that currently handle hybrid cars and they are ahead of all others working on the development of similar vehicles.

They also place importance on maintaining their own development of vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells. They plan to sell them next year on a trial basis and to be the world leaders in the area of fuel cell-driven cars.

Honda President Hiroyuki Yoshino ruled out the possibility of his company forging a partnership with a foreign automaker, saying, "It's better for a person to decide about his own life rather than having it decided by others."

Automakers witnessed global realignment of the auto industry during the 1990s. Nissan Motor Co formed a partnership with Renault SA while Mitsubishi Motors Corp established a tie-up with DaimlerChrysler AG.

The Japanese carmakers sought foreign investment in order to survive. However, Toyota and Honda kept their independence.

"We are not thinking of a capital tie-up (with foreign carmakers)," said Cho. "But we are studying (the possibility of establishing) cooperation with a wide spectrum of makers in the areas of technology and production."

Global output of passenger cars has risen to about 60 million units a year. The auto market will further expand if the use of automobiles becomes widespread in China, a nation that continues to make progress.

It is anticipated that automakers will have to spend considerable sums of money to develop advanced transport systems using the Internet and environmental technologies. Only a few of them are likely to survive.

Steve Usher, an analyst at JP Morgan Securities Asia Pacific Ltd, singled out the sluggish Japanese market, the mainstay of auto sales, as a source of uncertainty.

However, he pointed out that competition will intensify with Nissan again introducing a succession of new models this year.

Usher noted that Toyota and Honda are strong because they operate without any debt — something he says is rather unusual around the world — and predicted they are likely to demonstrate their power in the field of development. (Kyodo News)