It is all about showroom shoppers now.  We are no longer in the early-adopter stage, which heavily depended upon subsidies.  This is the time when convincing dealers to carry something with a plug... anything with a plug... becomes absolutely vital.  Building their confidence is how the status quo finally changes; otherwise, it nothing but an audience of enthusiasts still.

That is why the combo-device is so important at this stage.  Consumers want flexibility and dealers are in no way ready to stop offering VHS.  It is not a world of DVD yet.

No showroom shopper is going to care about rhetoric from the past.  They will see that offering and start asking questions about cost & operation.  Narratives here will be meaningless.  Know your audience.

So, we now watch them attempt to find a scapegoat with the hope of diverting attention away from their struggle.  Well, too bad. Toyota continued to refine their technology to a point where it has a great deal of potential to transform their entire fleet in a manner than dealers will embrace... which is how you properly measure progress.  That's real change.

Closure.  The antagonist comeback was that he was only pointing out the words said in the podcast, hoping to convey a message that was not a shared sentiment.  His desperation was obvious though.  The comments were about Prius Prime.  He was pretending they also applied to RAV4 Prime in his original post.  But in the response I got back, he changed it to RAV4 hybrid.  You have to read through his history to find out he has absolutely no clue how Toyota's PHEV design actually operates.  The pattern of incorrect assumptions become is to identify after awhile.  Another thing I learned from that was his deep hate for hydrogen fuel-cells.  So the motive of doing things to undermine Toyota are documented too... if you take the time to investigate.  I did.  I also posted this with a note that he would be put on ignore, so it was pointless to reply in return.  This was the closure I ended with:  I'm not the one making vague claims of danger.  I'm the one requesting detail, asking for an explanation, substance to provide merit.  I have many years of real-world data to share.  Your opportunity to debate about the early-adopter stage is over.  RAV4 Prime brings about a reach out to a new audience.  It is now about how to appeal to ordinary consumers shopping the showroom floor.

Spinning Narratives.  The response I got to my previous post was just more of the "behind" nonsense.  Supposedly, Toyota still hasn't even caught up to what GM delivered in 2010.  Yet, none of that criteria to make such a judgment was shared.  Based upon what?  I know it is a focus on enthusiasts still, measuring progress upon their assessment, rather than what is actually happening at dealerships.  Enthusiasts claim the paradigm shift is well underway.  Ordinary consumers see it as a niche for enthusiasts.  That disconnect is fascinating... and ironic.  They claim Toyota is shooting itself in the foot, when in reality it is the reverse.  We saw it with Volt.  The more they pushed for features they desired, the further the design drifted from mainstream priorities.  They encouraged the self-destructive approach.  Ugh.  Anywho, I replied to today's nonsense with:  Claims of "as far as" without any substance are quite telling.  No detail.  No merit.  Those outside the "EV market" find that very easy to see.  Toyota is about to deliver a larger, faster, more capable system on a highly desirable platform, without having a dependency on liquid cooling.  That push for improvement beyond the approach in 2010 isn't anything you can debate either, since it would be with the wrong audience.  Showroom shopper couldn't care less.  They will come in looking for a RAV4, having heard good things about the hybrid.  They'll discover there is a model offering a plug.  Overnight charging with an ordinary 120-volt outlet will provide them with a full battery each morning.  That's it, easy sale, an excellent example of KISS.  As for attempting to portray Toyota's choice as "shot itself in the foot", who are you trying to convince?  Even before sales have begun, there is already worry of RAV4 Prime being a very high demand product.  That is exactly the position any automaker would love to be in.

Toyota striving to rollout a PHEV with full EV driving for 42 miles on their most popular platform is what?

Rhetoric.  The anti-Toyota sentiment is really struggling.  A podcast featuring RAV4 Prime stirred the antagonists to an extreme today.  They are lashing out now, allowing their desperation to expose their intent.  It's what happens when one get backed into a corner.  There are no options left other than posting as much craziness as possible, hoping something will take hold.  You'd never catch a troll being so obvious.  I found it very telling, a nice status confirmation.  This is what I posted in response to one of the more desperate claims:  That's just another FUD post we have to deal with.  There is an "EV Auto" mode available for anyone who feels additional boost from the gas-engine, if called upon.  It is an override of the default EV mode.  Amusingly, when you try it, the system pretty much always stays in electric-only operation.  The reason why is simple, real-world rarely calls upon more than the 68 kW max draw available.  After 3 full years of ownership, with a daily commute including highway merges, it is easy to dismiss the anti-Toyota sentiment.  So what if an enthusiast isn't impressed?  They are not the target audience.  Toyota has been striving to deliver a product their core consumer will be interested in with little to no sales effort.  This is because their dealers are who must find the design appealing.  If they do, they will want that in their inventory... which is how market share is increased... not the ramblings of who attempt spread disappointment rhetoric to feed a narrative claiming "slow" and "dangerous" and "behind".

In other words, if the design isn't appealing enough to entice a mainstream buyer without the plug being primary focus, that technology is doomed.  This is exactly why GM abandoned Voltec.  It was a niche that sacrificed too many ordinary purchase priorities.  And rather than spreading the technology to a better platform, one far easier to sell... like Equinox... they attempted to force shoppers to change their purchase priorities. That was a fatal mistake.

Remember, the point is to end production of traditional models by replacing them with hybrid and plug-in choices.  That is for the entire fleet of passenger vehicles, everything the dealer carries for regular inventory.  Put another way, you are very wrong about the "wander off the street" experience.  Know your audience.