This is great news. I hope gas never falls below $4 again. Maybe it doesn't need to rise to $7 for us to act smarter, after all.

6 months? heh, guess they'll have to start making them in the US (which would probably reduce the price of the Prius because of tarriffs.)

When they make a smaller prius, then I'll be overjoyed.

I love this trend towards smaller cars. I am waiting for a fully electric auto about the size of a Smart car. I usually just ride my bike everywhere.

"...guess they'll have to start making them in the US..."

That wouldn't help. The greatest limiting factor is the supply of batteries - not how fast they can assemble the cars. The US built Camry Hybrid experienced the same issue.

"...we are constrained by battery supply on a global basis." - Irv Miller, Toyota's VP of Communications

For that matter, it seems to be an issue across the board for most if not all of the hybrid manufacturers.

That's sad that really is.

The idea that hybrid technology is considered "green" is the biggest rouse of them all. Just think of the logic, the extra batteries they pack into a Prius makes it the same weight as a FULL SIZE cadiallac. Is that "efficient?" uh.. no. I won't get into the whole battery disposal thing, point is non-hybrids don't have the battery so that is LESS waste.

If you really want MPG to write home about go diesel, and if you want to save on fuel go biodiesel.

1. Converting your diesel car to biodiesel still allows you to use either biodiesel (used vegetable oil) AND diesel gas together.

2. Diesel naturally gets more MPG because of efficiency. A diesel mini cooper D gets upwards of 70mpg.

3. It takes one third of the crude oil to make a gallon of diesel then it does to make the same amount in unleaded gasoline.

If you TRULY want to go green you go diesel/bio diesel.

Just look at the top 10 mpg cars in the UK
http://cars.uk.msn.com/greenmotoring/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1379476
ALL DIESEL

Why none of them are in the US?..

That's sad that really is.

The idea that hybrid technology is considered "green" is the biggest rouse of them all. Just think of the logic, the extra batteries they pack into a Prius makes it the same weight as a FULL SIZE cadiallac. Is that "efficient?" uh.. no. I won't get into the whole battery disposal thing, point is non-hybrids don't have the battery so that is LESS waste.

If you really want MPG to write home about go diesel, and if you want to save on fuel go biodiesel.

1. Converting your diesel car to biodiesel still allows you to use either biodiesel (used vegetable oil) AND diesel gas together.

2. Diesel naturally gets more MPG because of efficiency. A diesel mini cooper D gets upwards of 70mpg.

3. It takes one third of the crude oil to make a gallon of diesel then it does to make the same amount in unleaded gasoline.

If you TRULY want to go green you go diesel/bio diesel.

Just look at the top 10 mpg cars in the UK
http://cars.uk.msn.com/greenmotoring/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1379476
ALL DIESEL

Why none of them are in the US?..

There are plenty of hybrids here in Arkansas (central Arkansas).
In any case, I'm waiting for a plug-in hybrid version of the Prius.

"The idea that hybrid technology is considered "green" is the biggest rouse of them all. Just think of the logic, the extra batteries they pack into a Prius makes it the same weight as a FULL SIZE cadiallac. Is that "efficient?" uh.. no. I won't get into the whole battery disposal thing, point is non-hybrids don't have the battery so that is LESS waste."

That's like saying: "That house with the solar panels is less green than that other one that doesn't have them, because less panels = less waste, etc.."

Flawed logic. Thing about all elements, not just one.

If a 300 lbs battery can save thousands of gallons of gas and help reduce emissions, it's more than worth it. And where do you get your cadillac numbers?

Bernie does have flawed logic about Hybrids, but what would be a nice addition is a plugin hybrid with a diesel engine(with sealth mode and if it was me, additional battery compartments to give a few more miles on electric only for driving locally). Toyota, Honda and the rest still are not really trying...

What you guys must remember is that the Prius is 1990s technology developed when oil was $10-20/barrel.

I can't wait to see the next generation!

They actually already revealed the next gen prius. It gets about 70 mpg, is more aerodynamic and subjectively better looking. I think it has more room too despite being smaller. I don't know. Google it. You'll find it on Engadget or Gizmodo or one of those.

Bernie's claims are not very sound. Diesel is dirty. It has more carcinogenic particulate matter. Plus it's more expensive. So even if you get better mileage (I think the diesel Mini Cooper gets 50 mpg), there are trade-offs. The hybrid is the more economical and green-ER solution.

That being said, I'm happy for Honda. I like them as a company. They even have plants in the US so they employ thousands of Americans. It's good to know next time you encounter someone driving a GM (made in Mexico) with a bumper sticker that says something negative about jap cars and to buy american.

Next Gen Prius:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/29/next-gen-toyota-prius-bigger-stronger-more-prius-like-than-ev/

"...will sport a larger, 1.8 liter engine, a ten percent increase in fuel efficiency, and will undergo a fairly noticeable redesign"

Also possibly a plug-in option. Yay.

A Prius weighs 2890 lbs. as far as the info I can find.

The smallest Cadillac car (not full size SUV) weighs around 3200 lbs.

Don't shoot off your mouth when you don't know what you are talking about. Please get your facts straight before posting a critical comment.

There's some info out, but the next gen prius hasn't been officially debuted, and I'm pretty sure that's it's not going to look like the car in that photo (a concept car, probably). Fuel economy might also be different, esp. because of oil prices in the past year.

The point is that you shouldn't need the 300lb+ (which is really more like 400-500lb counting all the extra crap they need to run that thing) battery to save gas to begin with, and if you're plugged in and sucking power from the power grid you're also increasing your carbon footprint by demanding more power which probably means coal mining. (unless you're ed-begley with solar panels on his roof).

Anyway, the basis that you're carrying around the weight of two grown men at all times in order to be efficient is where this is all wrong.

Diesel allows you to go bio diesel meaning you can barter with your local KFC to buy the gallons of vegetable oil that they toss out anyway. Diesel is also less processed than gasoline, taking one third of the crude oil to make. Everyone other country in the world knows it burns cleaner and is more efficient.

If we're talking about comparing prices for gas, then you really gotta do the math, and again no comparison.

Lets take the Mini Cooper D
Gas - 40mpg (that's the high)
Diesel - 72 mpg

Now we assume you're paying $4 for Unleaded, and heck lets say you're being gouged and paying $5 for Diesel (but the real world difference is more like .40-.60 a gallon)

That means for the regular Cooper you're paying 10cents a mile but for the diesel you're paying 7cents a mile.

Which then means if you're driving 20k miles a year, you're saving $800 a year on gas alone (assuming you don't even touch biodiesel)

Now lets compare it to the upcoming Audi TT (featured on this great site)
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/02/audi-tt-turbo-diesel.php
Diesel roadster 2 liter version - 44mpg
Gasoline roadster 2 liter version - 29mpg (highway)

Same formula...
Diesel ($5) - 11.4 cents a mile - $2272 a year on gas
Gas ($4) - 13.8 cents a mile - $2758 a year on gas

Look I'm all for being green, saving gas, and reducing emissions. I'm just saying we're doing it all wrong. I believe in the long term those 1 million (and rising) prius' on the road, plugged into our homes, and eventually landfilled with those nickel batteries, will do more harm then good.

Ford Focus - Urban 78.3 mpg - Available in UK

http://www.opel-europe.com/agila2008/
www.opel.com is operated by General Motors Europe

The new Opel mini-monocab bears balanced proportions, soft curves and a distinctive side graphic. Its passengers still sit high and upright, but the roofline has been dynamically lowered and blends into a smooth arc toward the rear. This helps create the Agila's aerodynamic drag coefficient of 0.32 - a relatively low figure for a vehicle of this size.

http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/
Vauxhall Corsa The 1.0 is suitably miserly, giving 50.4 mpg and emitting a low-tax 134g/km of carbon dioxide; the 1.2 and 1.4, thanks to Vauxhall/Opel's new Twinport fuel intake technology, deliver 48.7mpg/139 g/km and 47.9mpg/142g/km respectively.
The diesels? 61.4mpg/124 g/km from both the 75bhp and 90bhp 1.3 CDT, and 58.8mpg/130 g/km from the 1.7 CDTi.

From Advertisement > All you need to do now is tell us if you have a part exchange vehicle, any GM Card Rebate points or if you want finance from GMAC (UK) plc.. All we need to confirm your order is a fully refundable £20 administration fee.
£7595.00 = $15.133.00 US -- 07/02/2008

Models Miles per gallon (MPG)
1 - 83.10 mph CITROEN C1 MPG
2 - 83.10 mph TOYOTA Aygo MPG
3 - 80.70 mph FIAT Grande-Punto MPG
4 - 78.40 mph VAUXHALL Corsa-MY
5 - 76.30 mph FIAT New-Panda MPG
6 - 76.30 mph PEUGEOT MPG
7 - 76.30 mph CITROEN C2 MPG
8 - 76.30 mph CITROEN C3 MPG
9 - 76.30 mph VAUXHALL Corsa-MY2006 MPG

Thank you Lloyd..

Today's Diesel's are getting far better mileage then today's hybrids. You don't need to make that ecologically devastating battery.

Bernie you do know that diesel engines are also a lot heavier than their gasoline counter parts, so if your objection to hybrids is from the extra 300lbs, then you should be dissing diesels as well.

For example my vehicle's gasoline engine is 425 lbs wet weight. The diesel version is 538 lbs dry weight. So right there using your math, you are always carrying a 113 lb date around with you.

That said I would LOVE a diesel prius that is fully decked out for efficiency. Even if it does weigh as much as a Caddy.

Yes, a diesel version does weigh a little more than a Gas version. For example, a regular 2008 Mercedes E350 weighs 3,703 lbs while the Diesel E 320 weighs 3,835 lbs.....but at the same time a base 2008 Camry weighs 3,263 lbs. and its Hybrid counterpart weighs 3,680 lbs. So thats a date, and her 2 friends! The only endurance data we have on Hybrids are the the ones in taxi service, the Diesel has been around many years and are proven to last well past 300,000 miles. Hybrids are not green, don't make any sense and are nothing but marketing to make people feel like they are saving the earth.

The hybrid Camry is almost fully loaded, afaik. And that's just proving that the hybrid system works, since it still gets better fuel economy even with that extra weight, not to mention the AT-PZEV emissions that no diesel can match for the foreseeable future.

You know this guy blasting the hybrid because of "landfilling" batteries is just off his nut. I'm super sorry, but cars are no longer "landfilled" -- they are pretty much stripped clean of usable and recyclable parts nowadays, and any hybrids, with their extra special and extra valuable alloys, electronics, motors and the like will be gold mines for wreckers at their end of life. Likely ALL the hybrid batteries will be recycled or re-conditioned.

Diesel is great and its should definitely be expanded, no doubt about it. It's disgusting how US automakers sell fabulous, efficient cars in Europe with a huge variety of gasoline and diesel engines, but here in the US we get their antequated crap! It's infuriating, frankly.

But hybrids are also very good means to a similar end. That being increasing fuel efficiency.

And those can only be good things, no matter how you slice it.

The biggest problem we face in the US is ignorance about what is ALREADY available around the world, that we aren't getting. Americans have been conditioned to think hybrids are the only way to an efficient car, and that's soooooo untrue. Our cousins in Europe know whats really available in terms of high mpg vehicles, and we here in the US should be offered no less by our US auto industry!

You know this guy blasting the hybrid because of "landfilling" batteries is just off his nut. I'm super sorry, but cars are no longer "landfilled" -- they are pretty much stripped clean of usable and recyclable parts nowadays, and any hybrids, with their extra special and extra valuable alloys, electronics, motors and the like will be gold mines for wreckers at their end of life. Likely ALL the hybrid batteries will be recycled or re-conditioned.

Diesel is great and its should definitely be expanded, no doubt about it. It's disgusting how US automakers sell fabulous, efficient cars in Europe with a huge variety of gasoline and diesel engines, but here in the US we get their antequated crap! It's infuriating, frankly.

But hybrids are also very good means to a similar end. That being increasing fuel efficiency.

And those can only be good things, no matter how you slice it.

The biggest problem we face in the US is ignorance about what is ALREADY available around the world, that we aren't getting. Americans have been conditioned to think hybrids are the only way to an efficient car, and that's soooooo untrue. Our cousins in Europe know whats really available in terms of high mpg vehicles, and we here in the US should be offered no less by our US auto industry!

Well again, the point is that hybrid technology isn't needed.
We shouldn't be using the resources to make it, and we shouldn't be causing the ecological disaster that is nickel mining. (look it up)

As much as all the parts of most cars can be reused, we still have not found a way to dispose of/recycle used up Nickel batteries (which is what Hybrid technology is based on). There are one million Prius' out on the road.. and rising. That is ALOT of nickel battery waste seeping into our enviroment.

1) Nickel batteries can and are being recycled. There are a lot more of them in electronics than in all hybrid cars combined.

2) Nickel batteries are the past. Within a few years, everyone will have moved to other chemitries, probably based on li-ion, which is non-toxic and also recyclable.

Nickel?? Obviously you weren't reading up either, if you looked it up, the next generation is anticipated to be LITHIUM