Floodgates Opening? Toyota To Display CNG-Powered Camry Hybrid Concept At 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show

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But First Snide's Remarks: With today's happy and smart CNG-Hybrid announcement from Toyota, and Chrysler's ballsy electric vehicle imitative, and GM's Chevrolet Volt reality announcement, and T. Boone's Give The Finger To Forign Oil PLAN, and the presidential candidates vying for Greenie of the Century; I can almost hear the "It's about time" floodgates opening and the tide turning...can you? Let me know, msnide@theautochannel.com.

PORTLAND, OR - September 24, 2008: Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., announced here today at its Sustainable Mobility Seminar that it will display a compressed natural gas (CNG) Camry Hybrid concept vehicle at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November.

"With the combination of plentiful long-term supplies in North America, improved and more efficient recovery methods, favorable pricing and clean-burn/low emissions characteristics, CNG has become a prime energy-source for the future," said Irv Miller, group vice president, TMS Corporate Communications. "With this concept, we are confirming our interest in pursuing CNG within our broad and comprehensive R&D scope."

In 1999 Toyota marketed a CNG-powered four-cylinder Camry to fleet customers in California. However, in an era of relatively cheap gasoline, customers were not attracted to a vehicle that required special refueling techniques and a limited refueling infrastructure and the program was discontinued a year later. Currently, there are only about 1,000 CNG refueling stations nationwide, with less than half open to the public.

The benefits of CNG are currently being amplified by rapidly changing market conditions and an increase in consumer environmental awareness. At the same time its drawbacks are being mitigated by a growing awareness that advanced technologies will require investment in appropriate infrastructure. The U.S. CNG pipeline system is an approximately 1.8 million mile network and expanding.

"Natural gas," adds Miller, "and an expanded retail-friendly CNG infrastructure could be seen as a model for future hydrogen infrastructure."