Toyota Halts Plan to Build Prius in U.S., What Next?
Toyota’s decision to halt its plans to build the venerable Prius hybrid at a facility in Mississippi raises a number of interesting considerations. The foreign car companies are not immune to the current downturn in the industry, although they’re not suffering like GM and Chrysler. The real issue here would seem to be the fact that it’s perfectly possibly now, almost anywhere in the United States, to fill up for $1.50 or less a gallon. As a benchmark, when Bush took office gas was around $1.25 a gallon.
When gas was $4 and above, everyone was an “environmentalist” and the word “hybrid” and the phrase “alternative fuel” were on everyone’s lips. Now, however, with car loans all but dried up, the economy in the gutter, two of the Detroit Big Three on the brink of collapse — well, we’re all perfectly happy to drive our gas guzzlers especially if they’re paid for. And frankly, I’m in that boat. I paid off my Honda Odyssey in November and I have every intention of driving it until the wheels fall off.
So then, what lies in the future for the hybrid technology that I admittedly love but cannot afford? The answer would seem to be the two words on everyone’s lips these days — Barak Obama. If the new president can successfully tie programs for economic recovery to innovations in green technology, he may just be able to jump start the environmental ethos that has so quickly evaporated in the face of falling oil prices.
If GM and Chrysler go under, consumers may be forced to turn to brands they would not have previously considered. I’m 46-years-old and never drove a foreign car until I was 41. Every set of wheels before the Honda was a Ford. What I did of my own free will may, however, become a matter of necessity as the automotive horizon seems to be narrowing.
Will the Prius disappear from the American roadway? Hardly. But Toyota’s decision confirms that consumers have pulled back on all levels and, like GM and Chrysler, are waiting to see what comes next. And if I had a crystal ball, I’d tell you what that is.