Prius was 100% subsidized by Japanese Government [View All]

[DainBramaged]

Chrysler co-President Jim Press is stirring things up at his former employer, Toyota Motor Corp., by saying development of the Prius hybrid was subsidized by the Japanese government.

In a BusinessWeek story published Thursday, March 24, Press said that when he was at Toyota, “The Japanese government paid for 100 percent of the development of the battery and hybrid system that went into the Toyota Prius.”

Toyota today denied the remark made by Press, who left Toyota last year after a long career at the Japanese automaker. His last position there was president of Toyota Motor North America Inc.

“I can say 100 percent that Toyota received absolutely no support--no money, no grants--from the Japanese government for the development of the Prius,” Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco told The Associated Press today in Tokyo.

According to the report, Nolasco said Toyota received no public money for developing the battery or any other part of the Prius.

The Prius dominates the U.S. hybrid market. During the first quarter, Toyota sold 42,907 Priuses, up 8.1 percent over the same period a year ago. In 2007, Toyota sold 181,221 Priuses, up 69.4 percent over 2006.

Press’ comment was in a broader story about new corporate average fuel economy standards passed by Congress and signed by President Bush in December.

Press, a longtime advocate for hybrid technology, told BusinessWeek the new laws were “just part of the political process.”

http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080402/FREE/199919373/1024

http://www.businessweek.com/autos/autobeat/archives/2008/04/chryslers_jim_p.html#more?chan=top+news_top+news+index_businessweek+exclusives

Did former Toyota executive James Press rat out his old company? Or was he just pointing out how smart the Japanese were to back gas-electric hybrid technology, which has been a boon to the company’s fortunes and image, especially in the U.S.

Chrysler LLC vice chairman James Press said Wednesday that he was not intending to speak negatively about Toyota, his former employer, when he told BusinessWeek that the Japanese automaker benefited from government investment in its gas-electric hybrid technology.

Press was responding to a statement made by Toyota, where the Chrysler executive worked for 37 years and served as a board member before leaving last year, denying Press’s assertion made in an interview with BusinessWeek on March 20 that the Japanese government had subsidized “100% of the research and development costs” of the automaker’s gas-electric hybrid system that was launched in the 1997 Prius and now powers all of Toyota’s hybrid vehicles.

In a wide-ranging interview with Businessweek editors and two correspondents that also included Chrysler LLC CEO Robert Nardelli and vice chairman Tom Lasorda, Press said on-the-record, “The Japanese government paid for 100% of the development of the battery and hybrid system that went into the Toyota Prius.” He did not specify the forms those investments took. But the statement contradicted those made by Press when he was a Toyota employee.

Toyota refutes Press’s claim. “I can say 100 per cent that Toyota received absolutely no support - no money, no grants - from the Japanese government for the development of the Prius,” said Toyota’s Tokyo-based spokesman Paul Nolasco.

In a statement by Press released through a spokesperson, he doesn’t refute what he said to BusinessWeek on March 20. “The Japanese government strongly supported R & D (research and development) investment in battery development, and the Prius and other Japanese models benefited from that investment.” He cited this “investment” as an example of cooperation for the U.S. government and industry. “Instead of being at odds with each other over CAFE and other policies that put U.S. companies at a disadvantage, the two should work together to find technological improvements that help give U.S. companies a competitive advantage,” said Press.
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I said previously, Toyota doesn't work for free, and if anyone thinks that they make money on the hybrid, think again.

Would be nice if OUR government helped Detroit for once.