The father of the Toyota Prius, not surprisingly, says hybrids have a long life going forward.
Toyota Motor Corporation Chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada said this week that the fourth generation Prius hybrid now under development would increase fuel economy by more than 10% in rated miles per gallon.
During the previous two updates of the world’s best-selling hybrid, Toyota upped fuel economy by 10%. The Prius is currently rated at 51 mpg city, 50 mpg highway and 48 mpg combined so a greater than 10% increase – if achieved – would be significant.
The announcement comes as the EPA continues to crack down on bogus hybrid mileage claims from automakers, most recently by forcing Ford Motors to restate its mileage of the C-Max hybrid to 45 mpg city, 40 highway and 43 combined, down from 47 mpg for all. Kia and Hyundai were also caught cheating and were forced to restate mileage by as much as 6 mpg on a majority of vehicles sold in the U.S. (Ford Lowers C-Max Hybrid Mileage Claims, Ford C-Max Hybrid EPA Rated at 47 MPG in all Categories and Hyundai and Kia Caught in EPA Mileage Rating Fraud )
“Some people say hybrid vehicles such as the Prius are only a bridge to the future. But we think it could be a long bridge and a very sturdy one,” Uchiyamada said. “There are many more gains we can achieve with hybrids,” according to the man that developed the first Toyota hybrids.
Toyota offers more types of hybrids than any other manufacturer. As of March, it had sold 5 million hybrid vehicles around the world. The Prius alone hit a cumulative level of 3 million sales globally in June.
