By David Ibison in Tokyo
Published: October 19 2004 10:59 | Last updated: October 19 2004 10:59

Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor of California, will meet executives from Toyota Motor next month and ask them to consider using its plant in California to manufacture the Prius, the company’s popular petrol and electricity-powered car.

A combination of rising fuel prices in the US and celebrity endorsements from Prius drivers such as Leonardo di Caprio, the movie star, have turned the eco-friendly vehicle into a surprise hit for Toyota, especially in California, which has strict car emission guidelines.

Toyota sold 43,000 Prius’ last year and is forecasting sales of 130,000 this year, having sold 72,000 in the year to July. Sales in North America were 25,000 last year, but it has already sold 33,000 between January and August, the company said on Tuesday.

The world’s second largest carmaker has announced it is considering various locations for manufacturing the Prius in the US but has yet to make a final decision. In California, it operates a joint venture called New United Motor Manufacturing alongside General Motors.

Toyota only makes the Prius in Japan, where production capacity is 130,000 units, but this is set to expand to 180,000. It said it would not build a new plant in the US to make the cars but use an existing plant.

Mr Schwarzenegger’s role as an advocate for green technology in the ’Golden State’, as California is known, is at odds with his personal choice of transportation. He drives a Hummer, which is based on a military vehicle driven by US Marines and made by GM.

According to road tests in the US, the Hummer averages around 19 miles to the gallon, compared to about 59 for the Prius. In addition, because the Hummer weighs over 8,500lbs, it is exempt from California’s emission laws, and the section in GM’s owner’s manual for the Hummer on fuel efficiency reads: “Not Applicable”.

Last month, Toyota said it would join forces with First Automotive Works, China’s largest manufacturer of vehicles and one of its two main partners in the country, to assemble an undisclosed number of Prius kits in the northeastern city of Changchun. All of the vehicles will be for sale in China and not for export.


Source here

 

I call BS on that one.

 

Maybe Lexus could build the GS to weigh over 8500lbs (I mean it's close already...right?), then all of us in CA can FI the car to our heart's content and never have to deal with the smog issues...

 

So, in an article that talks about Arnold attempting to bring jobs to the U.S., what is gleaned is that Arnold drives a Hummer that is bad with regards to gas mileage? Is that a forest? I mean, I'm not seeing any trees.

Kudos to Arnold for working to help the blue collars of his state, regardless of what he drives.

 

Hyrbids are the future. Sadly, only Toyota and Honda see it that way. Others kind of do (Nissan/Ford) but they are buying Toyota Tech. BMW of course, must do things their way, with Hydrogen.

 

for Arnold.

Ya, there's no way in hell the Hummer averages 19 mpg. My SC gets about that much!

Also, what do people expect, Arnold driving around in a Prius! Come on now! LOL!!!

 

come on, that's one of his cars he has, but now as a governoer, he doesnt' drive no more... hummer's just a weekend fun car..

 

Only for a couple of years. By 2006-2007, when we get both cleaner diesels and cleaner diesel fuel, we will start to see MANY more diesels in the American market, which offer comparable mileage to hybrids but with MUCH less complexity and expense. I've already covered this subject in detail in other posts, so I won't re-iterate the whole thing again here.

By the way, I agree that 19 MPG figure posted for the Hummer was pure bulls***. They no doubt meant the smaller Hummer H2, which is built on the Chevy Trailblazer platform.

 

Even the H2 only gets about 10-13 MPG.

 

Maybe rock-climbing in low range, but it should do a little better than that with normal driving on dry pavement.

Maybe you're right, though....Certainly neither Hummer was designed for gas mileage.

 

Politics aside, Arnold has been surprising me.

I drove a Prius for 2 days and although void of things I'm, accustomed to in the Lexus, this is a surprisingly nice little car. My 90 mile loop I averaged 46.7 MPG and that was quite nice. This thing can stop HARD too! Since some of the enrgey is used to charge the battery, the added effect makes it feel like it stops in very short distances.

Go Toyota!

 

then we'll have hybrid diesels averaging about 80mpg

 

i still think its ironic he is pushing for such a green state and he drives a hummer H1

 

No way it does 19MPG, thats better than my RX300 that does 17MPG!

 

What about the Ford Escape Hybrid? 35MPG.