We re waiting to see how customers are going to embrace the technology, Yoza says. Other manufacturers, including Ford Motor Co. and General Motors, already have hybrids in the pipeline, anticipating consumer demand as well as eventual tightening of clean air regulations. Ford has announced plans to offer a hybrid Explorer by 2004 and GM has said it will use 42-volt electrical systems on some vehicles by the same year. Hybrids use an internal gasoline combustion engine and an electric motor that continuously recharges itself. This feat is largely accomplished by regenerative braking, which captures energy from the vehicle s forward momentum during braking, and generates electricity for storage in a battery pack.
Hybrids drive just like other cars their range of travel limited only by their gas tank capacity.
The Insight can travel 700 miles on a single tank. About 80 percent of Toyota dealers are Prius-certified, which means they ve had sales and service training, says Yoza. Toyota s highest-level technical representative must certify the dealership s service department. Showroom Strategies Toyota did a good job ensuring that the dealership s infrastructure was in place before we could begin selling the Prius, says David Nelson, general sales manager of Toyota of Berkeley. The California dealership has sold about 40 hybrids and taken orders for nearly 100 more.