Toyota Said to Consider Offering Prius to GM

[davidlane]

Toyota Said to Consider Offering Version of Prius Hybrid to GM

June 30 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp. may offer to supply a version of its Prius hybrid car to General Motors Corp. during a meeting between the companies’ chief executives, two people familiar with the plan said.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda and GM’s Fritz Henderson will meet in Michigan in August said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plan isn’t public. A GM-badged car based on the Prius is among the options for new products at a jointly owned factory in California after GM said it would end assembly of the Pontiac Vibe at the plant earlier than planned.

A version of the world’s top-selling hybrid car may help bankrupt GM win U.S. customers and would give it an incentive to keep open the joint-venture factory. Toyota is also considering the plant as a Prius production site after shelving plans to make the gasoline-electric car in Mississippi, two people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg earlier this month.

“Having a stronger line-up is an urgent matter for GM,” said Yoshihiro Okumura, who helps oversee the equivalent of $365 million at Tokyo-based Chiba-gin Asset Management Co. “Demand will continue to shift to small cars.”

GM currently has eight hybrid models, two of which are Saturns, a brand that GM is selling to Penske Automotive Group Inc. Of GM’s remaining six hybrids, only one, the Chevy Malibu, is a car, according to its web site.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=as21Ie4pMYnc

[Taglane]

I dont know about this one. I can see all the Toyota fanboys rubbing it in our faces.

[davidlane]

Originally Posted by Taglane

I dont know about this one. I can see all the Toyota fanboys rubbing it in our faces.

Ya think

[chaseabryant]

All I have to say is "Why?"

I don't believe that this would put a positive light on GM's own hybrid program, and may even make customers believe that they don't have confidence in their own E-Flex platform.

GM is perfectly capable when it comes to creating hybrids, why on earth would they need to/want to add a Toyota hybrid system to their lineup, better yet, WHERE would they add it without compromising plans for other GM Hybrid Products.

I am also left wondering: What does Toyota want out of this?

-Chase

[Taglane]

I personally think if Toyota has to share with GM, we should get the Tacoma platform for the next gen Canyon/Colorado

[Uzzy]

"I have a bad feeling about this."

[Slideways]

Originally Posted by Taglane

I dont know about this one. I can see all the Toyota fanboys rubbing it in our faces.

Agreed.

Originally Posted by Taglane

I personally think if Toyota has to share with GM, we should get the Tacoma platform for the next gen Canyon/Colorado

What?! Granted, Toyota knows how to make small trucks, but Toyota fanboys would have a field day if GM used Toyota to produce, of all things, a truck. GM has been harpooned for being a "truck maker," and if they can't build the GMT700 on their own, I'd rather see it die.

[genjy]

Interesting.

GM doesn't have a small hybrid car, so a GM version of the Prius could fill that role.

Save the probably more expensive GM two-mode system for midsizers and SUVs/trucks.

Originally Posted by Taglane

I dont know about this one. I can see all the Toyota fanboys rubbing it in our faces.

If the Prius bashing weren't so senseless, then the rubbing would be minimal.

[mgescuro]

Nice big smack in the face.

We all knew the GM BAS system was a load of crap.... and GM's been unable to move the 2Mode system into passenger cars.... and Voltec is very expensive for now....
So... better than nothing....

[SullyND]

If this happens I guarantee you that people will be talking about how the Volt uses Toyota technology. Just ask Ford how that works.

[megeebee]

"Beware [insert whatever you like here] bearing gifts."


I can't imagine it being successful for GM. The Pontiac Vibe is essentially a Toyota Matrix. The Vibe never commanded the price of the Matrix and loses a higher percentage of its value than the Toyota even though they are the same vehicle under the skin. This is the power of "Brand Perception". Remember the "GEO" brand? Rebadged Asian products all of them.

.

[Phoenix]

Originally Posted by SullyND

If this happens I guarantee you that people will be talking about how the Volt uses Toyota technology. Just ask Ford how that works.

Exactly, this would be a PR nightmare for GM. "See, GM is an inferior company, everybody knows Toyota makes hybrids for them."

I don't like this at all.

[cyclone]

I don't like the idea , if GM and Toyota were to share a platform , I agree with Taglane, a Tacoma and Colorado platform.

[nadepalma]

I'm all for GM continuing their cooperation with Toyota at NUMMI, but not sure about this.

I think it would be far better for GM to avoid this -- it would create more problems for GM's image than it would help.

[emh]

Just say no!

There's nothing to be gained -- there are very few people who will take a GM clone over the real thing (target market here is very different from Matrix/Vibe).

This will lead to all sorts of questions in the media and the average Joe Carbuyer's mind -- questions about GM's confidence in the Volt to GM's ability to develop new technology. The damage from that will far outweigh the marginal increase in sales.