Hybrid cars take over
Toyota has announced that in future, 100 per cent of the manufacturer's new vehicles will be hybrids, running on both electricity and traditional fuels. Japan's largest and the world's second-largest automaker, Toyota, is already planning to build 400,000 new hybrids in 2006, a 60 per cent increase over 2005. The company's hybrids currently achieve about 88.5 kilometres per gallon of fuel, about twice the efficiency of an average engine although the new cars currently cost about us $5,000 more than other comparable vehicles. Toyota's president recently announced plans to halve that additional cost.
Meanwhile, Ford Motor Company, the second largest auto manufacturer in the us, announced that hybrid engines will be available in half of its Ford, Mercury and Lincoln ranges by the end of the decade. This would mean a ten-fold increase in production.
Recently DaimlerChrysler and General Motor's too, jointly decided to develop more hybrid cars. All these us- based companies are trying to create a share in the market currently led by Toyota.