COUP OF 2005: Hybrids helped Toyota avoid flak for big SUVs Automotive News / January 2, 2006 - 6:00 am Never mind your grandmother. You can have your cake and eat it, too. Take Toyota Motor Corp. It offers a generous lineup of gas-guzzling SUVs and large pickups. At the same time, Toyota enjoys a reputation as an environmentally friendly company. The secret? Hybrids. In the 1990s, Toyota bet on hybrids, which save fuel by using a gasoline engine and one or more electric motors to power the wheels. Environmentally conscious consumers embraced hybrids, particularly the latest generation of the Toyota Prius. The car offers distinctive aerodynamic styling, a hybrid powertrain and 60 mpg in the city. So now Toyota can happily polish its green image -- while churning out high-profit V-8 trucks. Sorry, Grandma. Automotive News
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Hey, Smoke and Mirrors was the Thread of 2005! Malorn will smell blood when the first new owners start complaining about something. He'll ride to the rescue in a two-ton Suburban getting 13 MPG.
I'm sorry, I thought it was GM, churning out those Suburbans, Tahoes, Denalis (denials), Envoys and so on, then tried to ride the hybrid wave by snapping on the name to the Silverado which has no hybrid features and all it does is provide extra juice. They might as well call it the Silverado Plus or something like that.
