Short hardware, you mean short battery packs. Panasonic currently only has the capacity for 100,000 Prius packs a year. I wonder if they might be working with Cobasys as a second source for now while Panasonic breaks ground on a second plant?
Lexus Customers Must Wait Longer For Hybrid-Electric Vehicle
Published 8/11/2004
DETROIT - The launch of the Lexus RX400h hybrid-electric vehicle has been pushed back to sometime in early 2005, a company spokesman confirmed to TheCarConnection.com, leaving the automaker scrambling to deal with thousands of potential customers, many of whom have left cash deposits for the HEV ute. The original “launch target” for the RX400h was autumn 2004, most likely around November, TCC had previously reported.
Exactly how much the introduction of the high-performance hybrid now will be delayed is unclear, and likely won’t be finalized until the last series of pre-production prototypes rolls off the assembly line in September. Unlike parent company Toyota’s Prius, the 400h will use a hybrid powertrain tuned to boost both mileage and performance. While engineers are using every opportunity to tweak the final design, the delay primarily reflects limited hardware availability, according to Lexus spokesman Bill Ussery. As it is, the automaker has had to repeatedly boost production capacity for the Prius, the latest expansion announced just last Friday.
All told, Toyota Motor Co. Chairman Fujio Cho believes his company can sell 300,000 hybrids next year, including Prius, the RX400h, and an HEV version of the Toyota Highlander set to debut several months after the Lexus hybrid. Company officials in the U.S. are pressing to get a larger share of RX400h production capacity, “but so is every other market,” said Ussery. Lexus dealers in the U.S. have already taken 8000 cash deposits on the RX400h, and the company has counted 27,000 “handraisers,” considered likely to buy. For those currently leasing either and RX300 or RX330, who’d hoped to trade in on the 400h, Lexus will extend their contracts up to six months without penalty due to the launch delay.
This story was provided by content partner TheCarConnection.Com. To subscribe, click on TheCarConnection.Com
< Next || Index || Previous >
Article 11 of 3182
Enter email address
Quick Register |
