Sometimes, the spin is so obvious it speaks for itself. This official post-Press announcement re: the former Toyota current Chrysler exec's claim that the Japanese government funded the development of the Prius— since denied by Toyota– is a perfect case in point. "Chrysler Statement on Hybrid Battery Development: There have been several news reports today concerning statements made by Chrysler LLC Vice Chairman and President Jim Press on battery development for hybrid vehicles. First of all, Press was not speaking negatively of Toyota. In a recent interview, he referenced the close cooperation between the Japanese government and Japanese industry. He said the Japanese government strongly supported R & D (research and development) investment in battery development, and the Prius and other Japanese models benefited from that investment in industry. He cited this as an example of cooperation between government and industry working together on public policy issues. He went on to say that he would like to see similar cooperation in the United States in order to find technological improvements that help give U.S. companies a competitive advantage." I guess that's what goes for an apology in this biz.

Chrysler VP (and 37-year Toyota veteran) Jim Press ruffled some feathers at old mother Toyota yesterday when he claimed that the Japanese government had footed "100 percent of the bill" for the development of the Prius powertrain. ToMoCo didn't waste a second refuting the allegation of its former head of North American operations. "I can say 100 percent that Toyota received absolutely no support – no money, no grants – from the Japanese government for the development of the Prius," Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco tells the AP. The story also notes that while the Japanese government often assists private development projects, particularly for clean energy projects, the collaboration is not typically hidden from sight. That Press' allegation is the first whisper of any public-private cooperation in the development of the Prius could be an indication that he might not be working with all the facts. The irony of all this is that if our own government's massive public-private green car initiative of the nineties, the Project for a New Generation of Vehicles, had produced the Prius, every politician in America would be falling all over themselves trying to claim credit.

Commentator KixStart was kind enough to listen-in on GM's conference call on our behalf. He filed this report: "During the Q&A, Jeff Green of Bloomberg News asked if they could break out hybrid sales, 'now that you have some on the market?' According to NA Marketing Maven Mark LaNeve. GM sold "577 hybrids [in March], of that amount, let's see, about 450 were the new Tahoe and Yukons; we're just starting to get some some adequate inventory out… The Malibu and Aura hybrids are just getting into the market, just had a handful of deliveries, 30 between the two of them." LaNeve said there was 'lot of interest, lot of dealers taking orders' which they hope to fulfill in the coming months. Green asked if there were any sales earlier in the quarter, (i.e. January and February)? In February… '300 above that, 843 for the quarter.' No number at all mentioned for January. Zero hybrids in January more or less fits with 577 March plus 300 for February; roughly equal to 843. Their calculators do seem to be more than a bit casual. One way or another, though, the numbers are tiny. Does it really take this long to ramp-up these things? My understanding: GM had 1200 hybrids on the way to the dealers as of the end of last month. The red ink for GM on this technology must be horrendous."

David Kiley of Business Week (via MSNBC) dives into the CAFE issue, and in the process rounded up a wild-and-woolly collection of quotables from some of the biz' top bosses. The biggest news comes from Chrysler's Jim Press, who claims that that when he was at Toyota "the Japanese government paid for 100% of the development of the battery and hybrid system that went into the Toyota Prius." Although the revelation reeks of Japan Inc. business/government collusion, let's remember that our own government funneled over a billion to U.S. automakers at around the same time through the Partnership For A New Generation of Vehicles. The fact that the American people got little more than three concept cars is hardly the fault of the Japanese government or Toyota. Still, Press' revelation does shed some light on Toyota's current dominance of the hybrid market. Meanwhile, Bob Lutz continues to symbolize America's inability to meet the new demand for efficiency. In the same piece, Lutz unveiled the next generation of "Maximum Sticker Shock" for the forthcoming Chevy Volt: a cool $48k. Get some perspective on that number here.

Move over, Christine– you're so last century.  Stephen King's furious Fury is being replaced by a hybrid. Variety reports Voltage Pictures is beginning production of "Hybrid," a horror flick "about a female mechanic in a Chicago police garage who spends a night of terror with a hybrid car." (No, I'm not making that up.) They don't give much more information about the movie except it's budgeted at $10m and is shooting around Regina, Saskatchewan. Nor do they say which hybrid is the objet terrible or how it goes about its evil business. Anyone want to make any suggestions on how a predatory Prius or internecine Insight would go about terrorizing its hapless (and oh so very cliché) female victim?

That, my aspiring plug-in friends (2010), is a Hell of a lot of Priora. Nikkei English News [via Bloomberg] reports that Toyota's ramping (amping?) up Prius production at its two Japanese factories to increase overall output by a full 60 percent. ToMoCo's aiming to shift 450k gas – electric hybrids worldwide in '09. No word if and when (not to mention why) Toyota will expand the Prius into its own sub-brand, as rumored on the internets. And the U.S. market for Priora has suddenly gone soft. Although Toyota's sold 181,221 Priora in '07, and the model's up 8.5 percent year-to-date, February sales declined by 10.9 percent. Could we about to see another price cut to move the metal? It sure worked last time.

With Toyota set to begin selling hybrids in South Korea this year, Hyundai is fighting back by announcing it will begin mass-producing its own hybrids. Donga reports that the announcement of a liquid petroleum gas (LPG/LNG)-electric hybrid and gas-electric hybrid versions of the Avante (Elantra) sedan coincided with Chairman Chung Mong-koo's visit to a Kia factory over the weekend. The automaker has already provided hybrid cars to the Korean government, but this announcement heralds Hyundai's first attempt to go after the commercial market. The LPG-hybrid will be available in 2009, followed by a standard hybrid and larger LPG-hybrid models in 2010. Also planned are fuel-cell models to go on sale in 2012. No word yet on whether these models will be available in the States, but since Hyundai cites the projected million-unit hybrid market of 2010 as rationale for this move, one has to assume that we'll be seeing these gas-sippers at some point.

We reported earlier that ToMoCo is considering adding a pickup to the Scion line in hopes of boosting sagging sales of its "youth brand." The Detroit News reports that a hybrid drivetrain might be the sales medicine Scion needs. "Does it make sense to have a hybrid powertrain?" asks Scion VP Jack Hollis, answering his own rhetorical flourish with "We don't know the answers but we're very open-minded." Although the gas – electrification of the current lineup makes a lot more sense than a Scion truck or SUV, it raises a few questions about Toyota's burgeoning brand portfolio. If Lexus gets a hybrid and Toyota launches a new Prius brand, where does a hybrid Scion fit in the mix? GM-style brand proliferation issues aside, Toyota has committed to equipping all of its offerings with hybrid drivetrains by 2020; the sooner it can exploit economies of scale, the quicker it can lower its costs for the still-expensive system. Note to Volt: the car in front is still a Toyota. 

Neurologist-turned-electric-car-expert Lyle Dennis had a private audience with Jon Lauckner, Bob Lutz' lackey "first deputy." Dr. Dennis inquired about the "expected timing, location, and cadence of ramp-up for initial Chevy Volt production." The good doctor wondered if GM is going to roll out the production Volt with "with a small fleet … or… release it like you did the new non-hybrid Malibu?" Lauckner replied that GM's going to introduce the electric – gas hybrid gradually. "Selected people" [read: GM employees] will drive pre-production versions before GM gradually brings the Volt to a Chevy showroom near… someone. Lauckner didn't mention the effect of this plan on the Volt's production date. And his comment represents an about face from previous statements about the Volt's debut: "It makes no sense if you're ramping up production to have people frustrated because the car is in theory able to be sold in every area but they cant get their hands on one because the amount of volume is relatively small." Such as… the Chevrolet Malibu and Buick Enclave launches? [thanks to KixStart for the link]

Another day, another hybrid prognostication from Maximum Bob Lutz. We reported yesterday that Lutz said that one-third of GM's sales would have to be hybrids by 2015 to meet CAFE standards. Overnight Lutz has maximized his vision to 80 percent hybrid sales by 2020. The Freep reports Lutz spouting such cheery bromides as "Ultimately by 2020 we figure that 80% of vehicles will require some sort of hybridization. We cannot get to 35 miles per gallon with anything resembling the current product portfolio with anything resembling current technology." Gee Bob, ya think? To be fair, we know that all this CAFE standards talk isn't really the Car Czar's forte. In fact, it seems like just talking about it is making the poor guy depressed. "Around 2015 we're going to have to sell a ton of hybrids whether people want them or not," Lutz told the Detroit News. "It's basically going to result in the quasi-disappearance of V-8 engines." Now that doesn't sound like the Maximum Bob we know and love.

The Detroit Free Press  "reports" that some 300 people traveled to the New York Auto Show specifically to gush about GM's Hail Mary PHEV, the Volt. Basic reporting standards are out the window as the Freep climbs aboard the Volt love train, boldly giving a forum to bloggers to voice their fearless and unimpeded admiration for a vehicle which is still little more than a concept. An event titled "Volt Nation," organized by Neurologist Lyle Dennis, was the focal point for throngs of (presumably) unpaid Volt cheerleaders. Let the Freep take you there on the wings of its elegant prose: With the Volt Nation event, Dennis said earlier in the day, (his) Web site (gm-volt.com), which is independent of the automaker, has achieved a milestone."For the first time in history, a major U.S. automaker will hold a conference not for the press, not for the government … but for the consumer," said Dennis, who has become something of a cult hero among those who frequent his Web site. That's right folks, if you become a legendary shill for a failing automaker's last gasp at relevance, you too might just get your own personal conference with Bob Lutz. Sure, he'll probably just slap you on the back and commend you for working harder and cheaper than any marketing hack he's met, but that's just just the price of "cult hero-dom," isn't it?

Automotive News [sub] reports that Chinese-owned Korean automaker Ssangyong has announced plans to offer the first production diesel-hybrid powertrain on the market come 2010. The hybrid technology was developed in Korea, and will be mated to a Mercedes-sourced 2.7 liter diesel engine and offered in the Merc ML-based Rexton SUV. We reported earlier that European manufacturers were the first to show near-production diesel-hybrids, but the Asian upstart looks set to beat them to the market. Of course these plans don't preclude a Citroen-like reversal, but then Ssangyong isn't dependent on government development funds. Don't expect the powertrain to appear stateside though, as Ssangyong tells Reuters that it has no plans to bring any of its vehicles to the United States. The firm is focusing on the European, Korean and Chinese markets, blaming "market conditions" (read: sagging demand and a weakening dollar) for preventing it from becoming the first firm to offer Chinese-built cars in the states.

Recordnet.com reports on a new trend: "green" auto shop. To wit: Mark Armstrong's students at Santa Rosa Junior College have upgraded dozens of cars to run on biodiesel. They've converted five cars to run on vegetable oil, modified one to use ethanol and transformed three into electric vehicles. Mike Yonan and his automotive seniors at the Weber Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology modded a fire-engine red 2002 Neon to run on eight lead-acid batteries. Armstrong, who owns a heavy equipment repair business, believes the work teaches his charges self-reliance, resourcefulness and [left coast] Yankee ingenuity. "If we really want alternative fuel vehicles, let's get off the couch and start making them." Yonan says amen to that, and counsels his fellow students to learn the value of simple persistence. "Thinking hurts. Sometimes it gets so frustrating you don't really want to do it. But you think about what it's going to be like and keep going." 

The Times pits a BMW 520d with Efficient Dynamics against a Toyota Prius to see which one gets better mileage. After a bit of Hollywood hybrid-bashing, the Times sets the stage for their battle of the fuel misers (meisters?). "To find out [which one gets better mileage] we set a challenge: to drive a Prius [and BMW 320d] to Geneva using motorways and town driving. The direct route is 460 miles but we drove almost 100 miles further to give the Prius the advantage of running in urban conditions where its petrol-electric drivetrain comes into its own." Strangely, the article doesn't follow the headline writer's "take no prisoners" style– "Toyota Prius proves a gas guzzler in a race with the BMW 520d." In fact, the authors don't pronounce a winner. But the chart at the bottom tells the tale. BMW 520d: 10.84 gallons (50.3mpg); Toyota Prius: 11.34 gallons (48.1mpg).   

Rocking-up at the Oklahoma City International (?) Auto Show, I asked a GM spokesperson about the upcoming electric gas plug-in Chevrolet Volt. "We have been instructed to not discuss the Volt too much, but to steer people interested in it to the newly released hybrids because we want them to focus on those released products, and not on the concept that might not make it to production soon." After being steered towards said hybrids, I gathered quotes from a few Oklahomans. Tim W. from Edmond: "Are you F-ing nuts? I wouldn't pay that much for a Yukon!" Addison M. from Edmond (11 years old): "Mom, it looks ugly." (refering to the Yukon). Michelle S. from Moore: "The Acura looks better, feels better, and still gets better mileage" (Acura TSX v Saturn Aura Greenline). And Topper M. from Norman: "What the hell is a Volt?" Obviously, this wasn't a scientific sample. But it looks like GM PR has its work cut out promoting its eco-friendly cars with Mr and Ms Middle America.