The 2027 Toyota Prius (NYSE: TM, 7203T)* is expected to arrive at Toyota dealerships this summer with a Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price, of $28,755 plus a Dealer Processing and Handling fee of $1295. The top of the range MSRP is $37,170. The 2027 Toyota Prius is built at the Tsutsumi Plant in Japan, so pricing and supply are subject to the whims, wars and trade policies of the Trump mis-administration.

PNGV

This is a notable, spectacular Federal failure. The Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles, aka PNGV, was a cooperative research program between the U.S. government and then DaimlerChrysler, Ford Motor Company and General Motors. Critics, including this industry observer now at AutoInformed, described it as $80 billion in welfare for automakers and the national labs. PNGV, allegedly, would bring 80 mpg vehicles to market by 2003. The partnership, formed in 1993, involved eight federal agencies, the national laboratories, universities, and the United States Council for Automotive Research (USCAR), which then was the Detroit Three. The program was cancelled by the Bush Administration in 2001 at the request of the automakers. Not a single production vehicle was built.

Since Japanese automakers were excluded from the federal research program – and worried it might work, Toyota then started its own research program with the help of the Japanese government on fuel efficient hybrid cars. The result was Prius – and ultimately the hybrid segment that Toyota is a major part of in the U.S. and around the world. – AutoCrat.