Toyota going 100% hybrid by 2020

"Takimoto also made the bold claim that by 2020, hybrids will be the standard drivetrain and account for “100 percent” of Toyota’s cars."

In other news, Toyota will eliminate all sense of driving enjoyment in it's cars by 2020.

Now if I were the cynical type I'd write something like:
 
"That's impossible desmolicious. It assumes they are currently building cars that DO have a sense of driving enjoyment."
 
But as everyone knows I'm not cynical -- so no attributing that quote to me!

The LF-A and the Supra will tell.
But the GT-R has already tempted my interest away.

I imagine hybrids will start getting bad publicity in about 6-7 more years when dead batteries start constituting huge amounts of waste. Toyota will probably begin to rethink things by that time. I dunno. We'll see.

The article this is based on is incorrect when saying the Prius has been suffering of late. It has in fact been selling as strong as ever -- supply has simply finally surpassed demand.

Toyota, or ToMoCo? Big difference.

IMO, diesel is about the best current way to go. That or a hybrid car with a solar panel to recharge the battery instead of pluging it in! A solar panel in the rear spoiler, the sunroof, the strip above the rear defrosters, ect?
 
-Cj

Dead batteries contributing to huge amounts of waste? I don't think so; today's conventional lead-acid batteries in every vehicle are recycled very efficiently (something like 97% are recycled as I recall reading somewhere). Why shouldn't the same be true with NiMH or Li-Ion batteries?

hmm i think the major issues is when drivers start to realise once the battery dies then that's it, and then they need to pay the couple of thousand dollars for the thing to make it back to japan to be recycled or whatever happen's to it
 
Toyota will more than likely change their minds on this idea - how will they fit all the hybrid components into cars like the Yaris & Corolla and still keep all the those cars space capabilites? and i seriously doubt they will be able to make as much, if not more, money on Hybrid's than they currently do
 
is this idea a quick-fire responce to those critics who bag Toyota for selling so many SUV's/Trucks, or is it a serious responce?

210 - Are they that recyclable? I was under the impression that batteries were a rather big nusiance.

Keep in mind the Prius went on sale in 1997, so it's already been 10 years. We haven't seen a lot of dead batteries, else we'd all be talking about that. In most cases I bet the batteries last the useful life of the vehicle.
 
I do think that they mean hybrids will be available, and not standard, but 2020 is so far it's just a forecast at this point.

There are lots of >10 year old gas powered cars still on the roads today. Many would argue that those vehicles are the major real contributors of automotive pollution. But that's not the point I'm after here. That would be that what happens after 10 years or so with the Prius (the "useful life" you refer to ateixeira)? When the batteries wear out, what's the future potential of these vehicles, beyond the junkyard? (recycling sounds great, but in the case of all these new technologies it doesn't seem like it will be nearly so straightforward as the existing system uses for "regular" cars)

BY the year 2020 we all will be driving Plug-in electric car or Hydrogen powered vehicle SORRY TOYOTA to late!!!