Filed under: Hybrid, MPG, Toyota, AutoblogGreen Exclusive



Toyota has a great marketing line when it comes to the power of hybrids: "Toyota estimates its hybrids have saved their owners more than 3 billion gallons of gasoline worldwide compared to gasoline-only powered vehicles." We're not going to quibble with that number - it is impressive - but it did raise some questions. After all, if Toyota is really interested in saving billions of gallons of gas, then shouldn't the company try to improve the bottom, and not worry as much about the top?

Americans would save a mind-boggling 29.6 million gallons of gas a year if Toyota improved the Camry by five mpg compared to the 3.7 million gallons a 55-mpg Prius would save.

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After all, we recently heard Satoshi Ogiso, managing officer for Toyota Motor Corporation and an engineer who has been involved in every iteration of the Prius, say something curious. While talking about how the second and third generations of the Prius have each beat the model that came before by around 10 percent on the fuel economy front, he said, "The challenge to improve at this rate, to beat your own record, becomes very difficult, but all the more motivating. I can tell you we are very motivated to beat our record." So, we asked Ogiso a simple question: "Would it be harder or easier to make, let's say, the Camry, get five more miles per gallon than the Prius to get five more miles per gallon?" He gave us a simple answer: it is "probably a little bit easier for the Camry."

With this in mind, let's look at the numbers. In 2012, Toyota sold 404,886 Camrys in the US, compared to 147,507 Prius models. The 2013-model-year Camry gets a combined EPA rating of 28 mpg, while the Prius Liftback gets 50. The average US driver puts almost 13,500 miles onto their car in a year, so if Toyota were to turn the 28-mpg Camry into a 33-mpg sedan, each car would save 73 gallons of fuel a year, on average. Turning the 50 mpg Prius into a possible 55-mpg Prius would mean each Prius burns 25 fewer gallons a year. When we throw in sales rates, Americans would save a mind-boggling 29.6 million gallons of gas a year by improving the Camry by five mpg compared to the 3.7 million gallons a 55-mpg Prius would save. And, remember, Ogiso said that saving 29.6 million gallons would be easier than working so hard to save "just" 3.7 million. We've got the math below if you want to take a look.Continue reading Why Toyota constantly improving the Prius' fuel economy is something of a fool's errand

Why Toyota constantly improving the Prius' fuel economy is something of a fool's errand originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Mon, 18 Nov 2013 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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