Toyota = Corolla $20,075. C-HR $21,595. Corolla Hybrid $23,650. Prius $24,525. Camry $25,045. RAV4 $26,250. Tacoma $26,400. Camry Hybrid $27,270. Prius Prime $28,220. RAV4 Hybrid $28,800.

Rewritting History.  It sometimes happens in real-time, as the event is playing out.  We see that a lot.  It's referred to as a narrative.  Those who want to mislead will feed you only the information they want you to know.  Omitting important facts will distort your perspective of what's happening.  Most people never notice an effort to mislead, since they have no idea what's missing.  History can be manipulated that way too.  I have seen it far too many times.  Someone will power will erase what they don't want you to know.  Remember how the enthusiasts on that daily blog for Volt would simply downvote to hide particular posts?  It was a blatant effort to undermine.  Some can actually delete.  I saw that play out awhile back with RAV4 Prime.  Rather than accept feedback as it comes and learn from it, he deleted what he didn't like.  It's how you lose credibility.  Those wanting to learn will seek out opinions of those who don't share the same view, then share their own observations.  You don't remove.  That happens though.  It did with results posted for the first half of 2021 sales.  I clicked on the link in today's industry summary article for "electrified" sales and discovered my post was attached to a "deleted comment" post.  Since I have this blog, I could just look up what had been deleted.  It was: "Hahahahaha.  587% of nothing is still nothing.  Total Toyota BEVs sold: ZERO.  3.7% BEVs of 56M vehicles annually = 2,072,000 down.  53,928,000 to go."  I had called out the person for posting such blatantly false information.  That attitude never ceases to amaze me.  Some people don't care.  They will lie to mislead, whatever it takes to get their "win" from a situation.  That's the extreme denial we see again and again.  They can't deal with the truth, so they create their own reality to cope.  Ugh.

Tesla cannot compete with Tesla.

Barriers.  It is quite interesting to hear people discuss solutions, but not actually address the problem.  I get that a lot at work.  When asking a question, the answer won't always be related.  That person providing it will sometimes get flustered too, irritated by you not accepting what had been provided in great detail.  They feel their time was wasted, when ironically it was them wasting your time.  I see a lot... overwhelming quantity, in fact... of that very situation online.  This is stated, "They are not long term solutions.", followed by nothing referencing the problem itself.  It all goes back to stating goals.  A reason they don't is because they don't understand purpose.  Think about how Volt was promoted as "vastly superior" compared to everything else with a plug.  What made it better with regard to overcoming barriers?  They couldn't answered because it wasn't really a solution.  It was just a really cool advance in technology.  So when you want to refine criteria, forget it.  There was no long, short, or near term.  It had no focus.  Toyota's hybrid transition does.  They are starting to see that now.  We couldn't fix the stupid.  They weren't helpful.  That's why they disappeared.  This new audience might be an improvement.  Recognition of barriers would be a confirmation of potential.  Hopefully, this post reveals something as to what the verdict may be:  No one ever said anything about being a long-term solution.  In fact, it has been called the opposite.  They are a bridge, something to help bring down emissions & consumption right away, rather than having to wait for infrastructure, production, and chemistry shortcomings to be overcome.  Also, the PHEV with EV drive is a very simple means of persuading both dealer & consumer to embrace plugging in.  In other words, Toyota has an effective plan for transitioning their entire fleet.  Other automakers have dabbled with direct BEV rollouts and struggled to entice their own loyal customers... hence the "slow down" narrative. If you look at the bigger picture, they are going slow too but are unwilling to address barriers.  Toyota is quite open about theirs.

Can't Fix Stupid.  That was basically the lesson to be learned from the troublemakers enabling the daily blog for Volt.  Discovering some did not actually understanding how their own vehicle worked explains the problem I had with fundamentals.  No matter how much detail I provided about Prius, they simply didn't care because their basis of comparison was flawed.  Finding out all these years later that they were unfixable is quite annoying... though, an interesting lesson for me to learn.  Some of that nonsense continues to this day, so perfects my awareness now can help deal with it: "The Serial hybrid like the Chevrolet Volt is probably what John1701a is talking about, where only the electric motor drives the wheels and the engine only charges the. Most plug-in hybrids (example: Ford's Energi cars) still insist on using the ICE engine to power the wheels at least some of the time. This approach allows the OEM to put in much smaller batteries and lower power motors. And it means twice as much can break down."  I find it rather intriguing that both examples sighted were discontinued years ago.  Having ended the production should raise a red flag when the word "still" is used.  I know it is an effort to undermine Toyota by misleading others, hoping they'll assume all hybrids are the same.  This is why I recently started referring to the Prime vehicles as "PHEV with EV drive".  If those supporting Bolt absolutely insist upon it being referred to as "Bolt EV", why not add a suffix to Prime vehicles too?  After all, there wasn't just a plain "Bolt" for years and now the new one is called "Bolt EUV".  It's more GM's confused messaging.  Ugh.  Of course, that's what got us into this mess in the first place.  Remember all the "direct drive" nonsense?  It lives on.  This is how I dealt with it today:  Volt was actually parallel-series hybrid.  Both generations had the ability to send mechanical power directly to the wheels.  Gen-1 only used the efficiency benefit during very specific modes of hybrid operation.  Gen-2 expanded upon that ability, making that charge-depleted design even more efficient.  Point being, it wasn't a series type.  Neither Prime from Toyota is either.  Both have a power-split device and clutch which allows operation to completely disengage the gas-engine, providing the ability to drive entirely with electricity.  That all-electric behavior is default when the vehicle is started.  That's the EV mode often referred to.  Point being, no gas is used until plug-supplied electricity is used up.  As for twice as much to break down, that's just plain false.  Toyota's system doesn't have gears, belts, or a starter.  There's no power-steering fluid.  The cool pumping is electric too.  Components you would expect to find to make that "twice" are not present.  In fact, the simplification of their design is what makes it profitable.

Actual Sales.  I was quite annoyed seeing this, "When they came out with the RAV4 Prime, they made 3,000 for the whole US, way fewer than people wanted to buy.", since it was followed by an obvious effort to mislead... since it only took me a few minutes to look up counts of actual sales.  Context of being in a pandemic with parts shortages, yet rolling out new products anyway, is completely disregarded.  The situation is presented as if everything was normal and demand within the newly emerging market is obvious worldwide.  Ugh.  We were allocated a quota.  It's that simple.  How long it takes to produce or how it is distributed doesn't matter.  There was only a finite amount.  That's how profitable contracts work.  You negotiate and plan accordingly.  That's how other industries operate.  Think about planning Christmas inventory.  Gambling on demand is short-term, at best.  Automotive sales don't make sense that way.  Profits are much more challenging.  With numbers so much smaller due to the infrequency of purchase and the significantly higher price, setting expectations the same is absurd.  Fast can be costly.  What's wrong with waiting until next year?  Start slow, then ramp up as education about the product itself catches up.  After all, it is not at all obvious how plug-in vehicles work.  So, anything else misleading about them really stirs me up.  I simply don't feel any need to tolerate the poorly informed spreading assumptions and drawing incorrect conclusions.  So, I jump it with real-world data to hopefully clear up the mess:  That is extremely misleading.  These are the counts for the United States.  Keep in mind, RAV4 Prime was rolled out mid-year in 2020 worldwide.  Delivering to several different markets all the same time is a really big deal.  3,200 sales for 2020 in the US.  2,975 sales for June 2021 in the US.  9,667 total sales for the first half of 2021 in the US.

Context & Dismissal.  You gotta love when someone pushes a hypothetical that has already been proven false: "Hybrids still have ICE engines, and still burn fossil fuels -- especially the plugless weak-hybrids that Toyota is pushing.  If their entire line-up was nothing but weak-hybrids, then they would still be polluting too much."  There is no if.  Many other automakers only have weak hybrids.  Why is Toyota being targeted for having already addressed a bulk of their passenger fleet?  The reason is obvious.  Enthusiasts are looking for a distraction.  They are so blinded by current niche offerings, they simply don't see anything else.  I find it quite telling.  Such a lack of business sense has been the downfall of countless enthusiasts.  They fail to learn from the past which inevitably means they will almost certainly make the same mistake.  I suspect today's comment came from yet another example of that.  Here's how I responded:  Like I said, no context and dismissal.  Toyota offers ALL-ELECTRIC drive plug-in hybrids already and intends to continue to expand upon that technology.  Toyota is also planning to rollout their first BEV dedicated platform, adding to the refits already available.  Following that will be 6 more based upon their new e-TNGA design approach.

It takes quite a bit of dismissal to not acknowledge that progress forward... to the point of questioning what "slow down" actually means.