Down & Up, Again.  Oil went down to $115 per barrel.  Gas climbed up to $3.69 per gallon.  In other words, it's more of the same as before.  We are far from the "good" old days.  They are just a long ago memory now.  The denial about this change becoming permanent has faded.  It's here to stay.  Hopefully, that means dedicated resources toward progress forward.  Simply shrinking the size & weight of vehicles won't cut it.  We won't be seeing a repeat of the 80's.

Quadruple Sighting.  That certainly was an odd visual.  There were 2 black and 2 white Tahoe SUVs, all with "H Y B R I D" lettering along the base of each.  All had Michigan manufacturer plates too.  Being at the location of the upcoming RNC (Republican National Convention) a week from now, that was no surprise.  It was said that promotion of that nature would take place.  But what kind of message will that convey?  What need is there for such a huge vehicle with seating room no larger than what Camry offers?  How often will that much towing capacity actually be needed?  It looks like a symbol of excess to me... especially when you see 4 at the same time!

Careless Reporters.  It's pretty easy to see what separates a hype-writer from a true journalist.  There's absolutely no excuse for reading this nonsense today: "Sales of Toyota's Prius, the world's biggest selling hybrid, rocketed 69 percent in the US last year as Hollywood stars including Leonardo Di Caprio and Cameron Diaz became converts."  They both purchased Classic model Prius, almost 7 years ago!  In other words, their decision to buy had nothing to do with last year's HSD increase.  What actually happened was Toyota increased production right before gas prices started to climb up dramatically.  Talking about not even bothering to research.  Just appeal to our sense of vanity.

More Propaganda.  This morning's hybrid article featuring Two-Mode was absolutely awful.  Like usual, it started seemingly innocent.  But then it gave this description: "At around 35 miles per hour Toyota's system largely becomes a gas powered vehicle, the electric propulsion side offers very little assist."  It was a clear attempt to make GM's system more appealing.  Stealth up to 42 MPH was conveniently forgotten.  Fuel-Cut at highway speeds was never mentioned.  And the 10 to 20 times the motor contributes power to the wheels every minute hardly justifies the claim of this for the competition: "electric motors' oomph constantly", since we know that all it's really doing is keeping the engine in half-cylinder mode.  Of course, this was just plain dishonest: "Unlike other hybrids, 2-Mode gets better fuel economy on the highway than city."  The writer simply pretends none of the IMA or BAS hybrids exist.  He also glorified the supposed Two-Mode advantage of being "scalable", but failed to point out it's inability to compete directly with Camry-Hybrid.  Instead, we got some green-hallow praise for Volt.  I tired of the misleading.  It's propaganda to conceal automaker problems.

$2.80 Per Gallon.  Things get interesting when you read the fine print.  Today, that came looking at the new window-sticker for the Prius on display at the Minnesota State Fair.  The "estimated annual fuel cost" was calculated with a price of $2.80 per gallon.  How is that even close to realistic?  The very purpose of the recent EPA update was to portray values that were at least close to real-world for some owners.  Now they are already way off, showing numbers that apply to literally no one.  Geez!  The revision process certainly wasn't well thought out.  They should have known how volatile gas prices were and used a relative-index instead.  After all, the distance people drive annually varies significantly, making a dollar amount listed misleading anyway.

100th Anniversary.  Not that it matters.  Consumers don't care really why there's a discount.  They save money regardless.  But this reason is rather lame.  For the last 3 years in a row, GM has offered employee-pricing in the Summer.  So with sales having been very disappointing this year, it only makes sense that steep cuts are again made to unload inventory before clearance time begins.  They aren't calling it that though; instead, we are getting advertisement nonsense that those prices are to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the automaker.  Who's actually going to believe it?  Was last year to celebrate 99, the year before that 98, and before that 97?  It's the same old story of putting too much focus on guzzling vehicles.  I'll sure be glad when their product-line no longer requires purging like this.

Real-World Yukon-Hybrid.  His most recent six tanks have yielded displayed (not calculated, which is usually lower) values of 18.4, 17.9, 16.9, 16.9, 16.9, 16.9 MPG.  That seems pretty darn low for that two-wheel drive hybrid, even taking into account initial break-in of both vehicle & driver.  Needless to say, his post was a request to find out if there was something wrong.  I curious as heck to find out what kind of responses he gets.  That isn't exactly the type of publicity enthusiasts like to hear about.  It's the equivalent of a Prius owner reporting displayed averages of 38 MPG for this season, which is extremely rare.  Remember, the Two-Mode design was hyped as being far superior to the competition.

Now Available: Jetta TDI.  Today is the day.  The much touted "clean" diesel is now available.  In reality, it's pretty dirty.  The label comes from being a big improvement over the prior model.  But compared to a hybrid like I drive, they're as different as night & day.  Jetta TDI is the opposite end of the emission-rating scale, where SULEV/PZEV is at the top for an engine vehicle and Bin-5 the bottom.  In other words, being called "50-state" compliant means barely good enough to meet legal requirements.  That may sound harsh, but I'm tired of some automakers only doing the minimum... especially when prototypes of much cleaner diesels have been presented in years past.

Credibility Attacks.  In the past, troublemakers would use the element of uncertainty in their favor.  But as more and more owners hit the 100,000 milestone and the technology advanced, their rhetoric became easier to prove false.  So, they turned to attacking a person's credibility.  (You know, if they didn't like the message, they'd shot the messenger.)  Their desperation was quite obvious to the well informed.  But to the newbie, the undermining worked... until recently.  The interest from higher gas prices has crushed that.  Consumers just discovering hybrids see no reason to doubt their success.  Seeing Prius on the road often is all the more endorsement they need.  I'm sure glad that nonsense is over.  That intentional effort to harm was an unfortunate time in hybrid history.

Prius Pursuit.  At this point, you can say Prius has seen it all.  An article in the paper today was a report of one speeding.  It was doing 78 MPH in a 55.  When a state trooper attempted to stop it, the driver took off... since it was stolen.  The chase lead to a dead-end, where the driver failed to turn around entirely when it made contact with the police cruiser, then struck an embankment and flipped over.  That's quite a story!  Thankfully, mine will never see that kind of excitement.  It's just the same old impressive MPG year after year.

What Makes An Expert?  The history of hybrids is filled with expert predictions that aren't even remotely close to what actually happened.  It makes for great blogging.  You point out how absurd their claim is, wait patiently, then point out how erroneous it turned out to be.  The best example is how they'd do analysis calculations with a gas price of only $2 per gallon for the entire 8-year lifetime of the vehicle.  Were they that naive or intentionally trying to undermine success?  Whatever the case, it's much more interesting looking backward now.  For example a claim made this morning: "Honda stopped selling its Honda Accord hybrid because of weak sales.  Analysts said the higher price for the hybrid Accord was the main reason."  That doesn't even make any sense, especially considering how well Camry-Hybrid is selling.  The actual problem was the choice of engine size.  Honda chose a 6-cylinder instead of a 4.  So rather than trying to make the hybrid their most efficient model of Accord available, they focused on power instead.  You don't need much background to predict that as a bad choice.  Yet, the so-called experts still don't see that even afterwards.  Geez!

Insight Comparisons.  Remember them?  The same thing is already emerging with the new sub-compact hybrid coming from Honda next year.  It's much like it was 8 years ago.  Insight & Prius were endlessly compared, even though it made no sense to do so.  Because this new hybrid won't have a traditional counterpart either and the production volume will actually be fairly substantial, expect an onslaught of comparisons.  People won't care than the size difference is rather obvious or the fact that the hybrid designs will have almost nothing in common.  That's what the media craves in this new age of expensive gas and concern for the environment.

Environmentalist Label.  Have you noticed how it suddenly disappeared?  When gas was still cheap, if you showed any interest in hybrids, you were given that label.  Of course, that was the polite term.  Some were just plain insulting.  But all that is gone now.  The appearance of $4 gas caused an abrupt disappearance of anything related to the environment.  It's a perceived transformation of purpose, to help you pay less at the pump.  That loss of interest in emission reduction is unfortunate; however, this method of mainstream acceptance is still a step forward.  Growth in demand is the goal, regardless of what the reasoning for purchase is.  Hybrids like Prius reduce emissions even if all you care about is reduced consumption.

Price Point.  I doubt this aspect of game changing will stir any constructive response either...  Price point is the big reason Toyota is holding back on plug-in augmentation.  The battery technology works just fine, but being too expensive is something they recognize as a serious hurdle for mainstream acceptance.  GM didn't consider cost a high priority when developing Two-Mode.  Now they have a hybrid technology that works as promised, but the price is prohibitive for most.  What is good is that?  Now Volt seems to be following the same pattern.

Game Changer.  The claims of leadership are have grown very annoying, as I sounded off with several others all stating the same point...  The enthusiasts keep exclaiming the "game changer" label, yet refuse to acknowledge what that actually means.  To really make a difference, it must appeal to the masses.  That means a car who's destiny is to become everyday common, a technology which isn't special because so many use it.  In other words, a good old reliable appliance.  We're talking numbers so large they become the business.  Then it earns the label.  Realistically, that kind of volume is at least 25% of an automaker's annual production.  No paradigm-shift is going to happen if quantity is tiny.  They must seriously commit resources, accepting a no-look-back approach.  Toyota is preparing for that, but even reaching the 10% mark is still a few years away.  So this nonsense about GM becoming some type of overnight sensation is quite unrealistic.  Study history.  It's filled with examples of painfully slow transitions.

It's Getting Ugly, part 5.  The latest example of Prius owner contributions is the documenting (which includes photos) of one of the first aftermarket augmentations done for a consumer.  Hymotion installed their custom controller and a high-capacity battery-pack.  That will dramatically increase efficiency in his 2005 Prius.  Of course, that MPG does come at a cost.  But someday the price paid will drop to mainstream affordability.  Until then, we'll have plenty of real-world data to study.  Just imagine how things would be if Toyota was already advertising this feature, a good 2 years before it is actually offered.  It's exactly what GM is doing with Volt.  Nothing available doesn't stop some from trying to gain merit before it is earned.  That difference is what makes this so  ugly.

It's Getting Ugly, part 4.  Attempts to be constructive are met with mixed results.  I liked reading this comment: "Once again GM doesn't have a clue as to what the average American wants."  But not much came from it.  Maybe that's because realize how ugly the situation actually is.  Whatever the case, here's what I added...  The true problem is not wanting to produce them.  It's the flashy vehicles they prefer to invest in the large & powerful trucks, the fast sports cars, and yes, a vehicle like Volt.  The Corolla/Camry/Prius category is what the bulk of the worldwide population, including America, would be quite happy with.  But since those don't fulfill the traditional excitement factor, they aren't given much attention.  It's that old-school thinking which is eroding away the opportunity for recovery.  Put an entirely different way, relying on high-profit vehicles isn't a realistic business approach anymore.  Large-volume, low-margin is where the market is heading… whether they like it or not.

It's Getting Ugly, part 3.  I'm not alone.  There are others trying to convey the same message of needing to actually do something.  Just blogging and putting you name on a non-official, no obligation waiting list is not enough.  So when this was posted: "With respect, this is not a waiting list.  It's a fan site."  I chimed in with this...  Fortunately, there is time still for enthusiasts to make the transition to supporters.  "Volt" is basically still an ideal, with concept models to help better define what's realistic.  Unfortunately, it's pretty vague from there.  Most of the usual vehicle purchase decision factors remain quite uncertain, especially price.  That's a terrible way to appeal to the mainstream.  Lots of work needs to be done to properly promote, not just teasers like we see in those PR commercials.  The suggestion of where to start is: focus on component interaction.  It's overwhelming clear that the differences between SERIES and FULL hybrids are not understood here.  Posts with errors are common.  So just imagine what the typical consumer will think, especially with GM also pushing their ASSIST design.  Many don't even know how many motors there are or how the engine is attached. There's much work to do and few stepping up to do anymore than make comments online.  How serious are you about Volt?