Honda takes shot at Chevy Volt
Man, what's with everyone harshing on the Chevy Volt? First it was Toyota, which took a shot at Chevy's series hybrid on its Open Road blog and then attempted to defend its comments in a future posting. Now Honda has jumped into the fray, swinging wildly away at the Great Hybrid Hope from the bow tie brand. This past Tuesday, Honda's chief exec Takeo Fukui told journalists that "so-called" plug-in hybrid gasoline-electric vehicles didn't do enough for the environment, so his company isn't going to pursue them. Not satisfied at leaving it at that, he noted the Chevy Volt specifically and said it made little sense. Fukui said Honda is working on high-performing lithium batteries, and if they succeed a pure battery-powered electric vehicle is in its future. What bothers us about Toyota and Honda going after General Motors and its plans for the Chevy Volt is simply the fact that they're bothering to address the Volt at all. Stop worrying about what the other guy's doing and get to work on your own plan for saving the Earth from the evil of the internal combustion engine. We get it, you both aren't down with doing a plug-in series hybrid like the Volt. Then what are you going to do and where is it? Rather than claiming consumers aren't going to respond well to a hybrid that has to be plugged in everyday (yeah, who wants to get their fuel from the outlet in their garage rather than driving down the street for it?), quit yer yappin' and show us a better solution!
We're not claiming the Volt will be a silver bullet for saving the environment. In fact, it's likely an even shorter stop gap between the cars we drive today and pure electric vehicles that sacrifice nothing in terms of range and durability than the common parallel hybrids we drive today. Battery technology, however, isn't there yet, and if the Volt can provide consumers super high fuel economy in the meantime, is that a bad thing? Perhaps for Toyota and Honda it is.
[Source: Wall Street Journal - sub. req'd, photo by Toshifumi Kitamura/AFP/Getty]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
StarField Commander 3:38PM (10/24/2007)
Is this really that big a deal?
It's no different than when Bob Lutz said the Prius was 'worthless' or whatever comment he made...
These guys do it all the time...
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3cubed minus 3squared plus1 4:11PM (10/24/2007)
I knew this site was GM biased but damn!
No need to get your panties in a wad, John.
Chill.
John Dee 4:21PM (10/24/2007)
Bob Lutz never said the Prius was worthless!
fireblade 6:00PM (10/24/2007)
yea as if....I'm not holding my breath on the volt ever being built....or the price will be so prohibitive.
MK 11:04AM (10/25/2007)
You have to understand the direction that Fukui is coming from. A plug in car (or anything "plug in" for that matter) just forgoes pollution at the consumer level, and transfers it to the power development stage. I can have a zero emission plug in car, but at the end of the day, the electricity I use will most likely be generated by coal -- nuclear, water, wind, solar account for a minority of the power produced in the US. That coal will release air pollution.
Hybrid or plug in cars are a way of gaining R&D in the short term, as we advance to true renewable energy to power our cars (solar?).
compy386 3:39PM (10/24/2007)
I have no problems with Honda criticizing to volt but high power lithium batteries as a solution for the future? Any person who's owned an electronic device (iPod anyone?) knows that the batteries lose 20% of their life per year regardless of use. Sitting under the hot sun, I wouldn't be surprised if these battries die withing 3 years. I'm sure replacing those batteries would do no harm to the environment...
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naggs 6:05PM (10/24/2007)
lithium ion batteries are non toxic. to dispose of them you can throw them in the trash (or recycle).
life span is deff one of the major hurdles that they have to overcome before they can be used in a production car. GMs battery supplier claims to have done this.
psarhjinian 8:42PM (10/24/2007)
They aren't non-toxic. They're less nasty than nickel-metal-hydride (they're lighter, too) but they aren't perfect. Both are way better than lead-acid.
They are, however, very sensitive to improper charing and heat. Laptop and cellphone fires are nearly always LiIon. That doesn't give me the warm'n'fuzzies for automobile use.
Of course, you should always recycle batteries. I'm always amazed at people who slam hybrids for that. NiMH is a valuable commodity--it's cheaper to recycle a battery than to refine ore--and it's deeply environmentally irresponsible to throw them out.
Do you throw away tin cans? So why throw away a battery, especially when people will likely pay to take it?
Sagracer 3:40PM (10/24/2007)
Honda, and especially Toyota, are starting to sound more and more like the GM of old. 5 years ago this would have been GM talking about how wack Toyota and Honda's technology is.
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MasterCKO 3:48PM (10/24/2007)
hmm, that's actually pretty insightful.
Tagg 8:52PM (10/24/2007)
They must see it as a threat if the feel the need to attack it years before it arrives.
Lithous 10:59PM (10/24/2007)
People are underrating the series hybrid. Toyota and Honda know it. It is an electric car. When battery technology catches up you can SIMPLY replace the gas/diesel motor with long distance batteries.
Can you imagine if before you finish paying on the Volt (3 or 4 years after introduction) that somebody has a battery pack to replace the gas motor and the vehicle runs for 400 miles on a single charge? But wait, then you want to go across country so you hook the gas motor back on.
Series crushes hurting Toyota and Honda parallel. And they know it. Remember that you Toyota lovers next time you are saluting the UN flag.
And if they build the Volt in Michigan (like the UAW contract hinted), holy S. Not only will it be crushingly more versatile but it, like GM's two mode hybrid, will be designed and assembled in the U.S. unlike the Japanese products of now and future. Ah, but Americans won't care about that, unless Toyota makes a commercial about their Americaness of their hybrid of course.
Toyota and Honda are simply doing their job of which they have nearly perfected: convincing Americans that up is down right is left and 32K U.S. Toyota jobs are just as good, no wait, better than more than 100K GM U.S. jobs or even the 600K U.S. GM jobs from a couple decades ago. Their just doing their job.
willem 3:44PM (10/24/2007)
Because the Prius is "worthless". It is an over-hyped, cramped, and rather useless hybrid car. Same goes for the Honda Insight. The Ford Escape is much more useful vehicle and delivers better use-to-economy ratio. Attacking GM's upcoming Chevy Volt only shows how desperately out-of-ideas those Japanese companies are. They have no useful alternatives, so they attack those who actually come up with them. I would like to see American-based Solomon Technologies beat the crap out of Toy with their lawsuit for patent infringement on their hybrid drive technologies.
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Tom Fjord 4:10PM (10/24/2007)
What a weird comment. I'm not sure why anyone would find the Prius to be cramped or useless. It has more legroom (front and rear) than a Camry, and seats four comfortably -- unless the four are super obese, in which case they can always purchase the Dodge Ram BFT. As for utility, the hatchback design greatly improves usefulness over pretty much anything with a standard trunk lid.
R 4:40PM (10/24/2007)
It's a weird comment because it's bleeding bias.
rv2 4:48PM (10/24/2007)
My friends love their Priuses. I've driven them. Nothing you have said is based on fact. A moronic American shill is never going to offer facts, but if you get a chance, spit out your chewing tobacco, drop the pom-poms and post some links to your "use-to-economy" ratio.
"It is an over-hyped, cramped, and rather useless hybrid car."
Over-hyped = popular (Get over it)
Cramped = Where? You tend to sit bitch or do people just put you in the trunk? (You drive the old one or new one? You actually ever even been in one?)
Useless = you're a troll.
The Volt will fail. I think Honda/Toyota are being about as nice as they can without hurting any feelings. All they can do is keep making superior products and watch the trainwreck as it happens...
Russell 5:21PM (10/24/2007)
rv2@
Where is this superior product you' re talking about?
The current trend of buying foreign is waining, many people are actually looking at domestics now.
BTW when you say that your fellow Americans(if you're an American) are idiots and build crap products, you are degrading yourself too.
Allen 3:47PM (10/24/2007)
Perhaps they fear they have awakened a sleeping giant. There was a time when American's where known for innovation and the Japanese for immitation. Whatever the posturing, it's good to see them worried. We can only benefit from the competition.
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geo.stewart 5:04PM (10/24/2007)
the fact that GM is looking where others aren't is good.
time for cliches, only because they are true.
because you never get ahead doing the same thing everyone else is. and if you are not ahead, then the view is the same.
Plug-ins arent feasible if you dont have a garage at your house, so it may be a more american solution than global and certainly a suburban solution than a city.
Go GM. I do believe GM got tired of getting beaten down and is now doing something about it with product and innovation. If only Ford would do the same.
And GM and Ford are smart with doing Hybrids that make economic sense as well as green sense. there are a LOT MORE people who will buy hybrids for a cost savings than because they want to say they drive a Prius.
BTW: I wonder how many priuses are driven to the personal or corporate jet...
Biff Baxter 3:49PM (10/24/2007)
They're scared.
To comment is to highlight. And I agree Sagracer. They're replicating the Big 4 of the 70's, especially Toyota.`
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