Toyota (NYSE: TM) is upping its bet on ion lithium-battery cars. It has set up a joint-venture with Matsushita Electric Industrial to start mass production of the power sources by 2010.
According to Reuters, "Toyota, the world's top maker of gasoline-electric hybrids, is keen to bring such vehicles into the mainstream by lowering their cost premium." Consumers can plug-in their cars before turning in for the night.
The news is another example of why Toyota stays more competitive than most other large car companies. Who would have seen the mass demand for alternative energy cars as oil doubled? Even Toyota could not have predicted that, but the firm was willing to make a significant investment that customers would continue to move away from gas even if prices did not spike up.
In Detroit, the last one to leave the building can pull the plug on the lights. At the US car companies, that is all electricity is good for.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com and author of the Ten Stocks Under $10 letter.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-11-2008 @ 11:07AM
Jeff said...
Toyota could predict - don't be jealous.
6-14-2008 @ 8:07PM
Keith said...
I hate to say it but the american car companies deserve to become extinct simply because they didn't adapt in a way that survival of the fittest and smartest would have allowed them. Had the car companies not fought the state of California when they tried to mandate the production of battery cars they would be sitting in the cat bird seat with sales of hundreds of thousands of units and a technological edge over Toyota who has sold over one million units of hybrids since then. battery technology should be well advanced and would be if the auto makers and car companies had embraced electric cars as they should have when they had the chance. Calif got one BILLION dollars from the federal government to put in charging stations for the infrastructure to make this work which they did, and both the auto makers and oil industry paid to fight the state on this and then destroyed all the great electric cars that were made when the state couldn't afford to take them on. We had the cars and the technology exists, we need to force them to bring it back, it's cheaper than oil subsidies and tax breaks.