All Entries Tagged With: "ford toyota hybrid"

Gas Prices on the Rise – Hybrid Collaborations The Answer?

Normally the end of July means lower gas prices, not this year apparently. Many analysts expects prices to hit a peak of $4/gallon before failing back in September. Is the answer to higher gas prices building more hybrid pickups? And are collaborations to build them faster better for consumers?

As gas prices rise are hybrid collaborations between companies great for everyone?

Ford and Toyota Reach Hybrid Agreement – Who Wins?

Straight from the “you’re not gonna believe this one” news pile, we learn today from CNN.com and PickupTrucks.com that Toyota and Ford have agreed to co-develop hybrid systems for trucks and big SUVs. From CNN:

Rivals Ford Motor and Toyota Motor announced an agreement Monday to work together to develop a new hybrid light truck. The agreement is expected to produce hybrid rear-wheel drive pickups and SUVs sometime later this decade. The agreement brings together Toyota, which has been a leader in hybrid technology, with Ford, which still has a leading position in the pickup and SUV portion of the market, where hybrids are still less common.

Over at PickupTrucks.com, Dave Thomas writes:

If there was any doubt that new fuel regulations would make an immediate and widespread impact on the automotive industry, it evaporated this morning. Today, Ford and Toyota announced an agreement to jointly develop — as equal partners — a new hybrid drivetrain specifically for light trucks and SUVs. This new technology would go on sale by the end of the decade.

Let that soak in for a moment…Ford, arguably the world’s leader in pickups, working with Toyota, arguably the world’s leader in hybrids. Why?