Toyota's electric-drive goal

Yukitoshi Funo last visited Australia 15 years ago. The Executive Vice President of Toyota previously served in Australia during two postings, so he's quite familiar with the country, the people and the market. Last week, however, he returned Down Under for Toyota Australia's 'line off' ceremony, marking the commencement of Hybrid Camry production at the company's Altona plant. In a speech delivered to Toyota staff, dignitaries and the press, Funo hinted at what the future holds for Toyota, both globally and locally.

"Globally, Toyota is now faced with a unique opportunity -- created by the Global Financial Crisis and the advent of a global energy crisis," he said. "We are in the midst of an occurrence that creates new space for re-thinking and re-shaping our industry; for establishing partnerships between private, public and independent sectors working together; to find the missing ingredients to make things happen; to find solutions to climate change and building sustainable automotive industries; to revitalise our business."

Barely pausing to draw breath, the Toyota executive extended his thanks to PM Kevin Rudd and Victorian premier John Brumby (both pictured at the ceremony) for their personal intercession on behalf of Toyota Australia, requesting the local plant be given the chance to build the Hybrid Camry.

"I would like to personally thank the Australian Prime Minister and the Victorian Premier for coming to Japan to convey, in the strongest possible terms, the importance of introducing environmentally-conscious vehicles -- hybrids -- into the Australian marketplace. Their support demonstrated how serious they were about building a new, sustainable and vibrant local car-making industry in Australia."

The importance of this statement should not be underestimated. In a market known for its love of V8-powered rear-drive large cars, the visit by the two Aussie politicians was an apparent revelation for Toyota management. It marked a sea-change among Australian consumers and a determination to be more environmentally-conscious.

"The basic philosophy of Toyota is to design cars that meet customers' desires, produce them locally -- where there is local demand -- and contribute to employment and economic growth of the local society," Funo continued.

"And we want to provide quality vehicles at affordable prices. This underlying philosophy has been the road map for our business in Australia. Our local manufacturing presence in Victoria since 1963 has been about creating jobs at our plant and at our suppliers.

"When we look to the future, achieving sustainable mobility is an imminent task," he said next, moving on to Toyota's global ambitions in the future. "We are keenly aware that without focusing on energy issues and global warming, there can be no future for automobiles.

"In that regard, we view electricity, hydrogen and bio-energy as leading potential alternative energies. In the foreseeable future, there will be a coexistence of these energy sources. Among them, electricity is very promising, because it is renewable when derived from wind or solar power.

"Toyota has vast experience in electric use. In fact, Toyota has 12 years of experience in hybrids and has promoted widespread use of hybrid vehicles around the world, including the Camry Hybrid that is being rolled out today.

"I'd also like to note that Toyota's hybrid technology, which manages both the engine and the electric motor at the highest level of efficiency, is applicable to other eco-car technologies, like the plug-in hybrid vehicle, the pure electric vehicle and the fuel-cell hybrid vehicle. That's why we positioned the hybrid technology as our core technology.

"In this way, our aim is to become number one in electric-use technology."

Toyota has already committed a lot of time and money to developing alternative energy transport and the fuel cell vehicles built by the company to date do employ the same combination of battery-electric power and motive power that the Prius does. The only difference is that the motive power generated on the fly in the Prius comes from a petrol engine, whereas in the FCHV experimental vehicle, it's electrical power produced by a hydrogen fuel cell.

"During the past five decades, Australia has demonstrated it is vitally important to Toyota, because it has helped Toyota globally, to learn, grow and prosper along with this country," says Funo. "As the company and industry embarks on a new period of change, I can see that Toyota Australia is doing everything it can [to] be part of Toyota's global vision."

These remarks, coupled with the following statements, suggest that Funo considers Australia could be ideally placed to evaluate alternative energy transport systems. Taking into account the country's size, the highly urbanised population, the growing awareness of environmental issues and Australia being in the same time zone as Japan, this country is a ready-made, continent-sized proving ground.

"The introduction of hybrid technology into the Australian car industry is a practical example of how we can revitalise our company around the world," says Funo. "The Hybrid Camry will satisfy the expectations of Australian consumers for local production of environmentally conscious vehicles and drive innovation in every part of Toyota's business.

"While I hope our customers really love our Hybrid Camry, I also expect that this car will bring a new set of business opportunities to the local community, so that the Australian and Victorian auto industry will step [up] to the next level, both economically and environmentally."

To reinforce the suspicion that Toyota Australia is shaping up to be a bigger cog in Toyota's worldwide alternative energy systems strategy, David Buttner, Senior Executive Director Sales and Marketing for Toyota Australia, informed journalists subsequent to Funo's speech that some of the 500 Plug-in Prius pre-production cars will come here for local testing. Previously, the test cars were slated for just Europe, Japan and the USA.

"As you know, Toyota globally is producing 500 plug-in Priuses," Buttner explained. "We will be [receiving] a number of those and we will put those out with various fleets and departments. As you're aware, that's really the first foray into lithium-ion battery technology for Toyota."

Asked whether the next generation of Hybrid Camry would migrate from the current car's Nickel-metal Hydride batteries to Lithium-ion -- the battery type to be introduced in the Plug-in Prius, Buttner had this to say: "I don't know whether [lithium-ion for future Hybrid Camry] would be a certainty.

"That's why these 500 electric Priuses are being put out around the world; Europe, US, Japan -- and we have a few coming to Australia. That will really be the litmus test of how do these vehicles perform in the marketplace."

So there it is, confirmation that a handful of plug-in Priuses will be coming here for testing -- and possibly a sign of things to come...

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