1997 wasn't a great year for cars. The Ford Puma, Alfa 156 and VW Golf Mk4 are all fine cars in their own way but they aren't especially exciting. Especially when you consider the year before saw the Ferrari 550 and TVR Cerbera launched, then the water-cooled 911 in 1998. But 1997 was made an especially bad year for cars because it was the year Toyota introduced the Prius. Oh dear.
Can't it just go in the Thames?
Why is that significant? Well now, just 18 years later and having sold only 300 cars in that first year, Toyota has flogged eight million ruddy hybrids. Eight million! Along the way Toyota claims approximately 58 million fewer tons of CO2 have been emitted than if similar size combustion engined cars had been used. Here we won't so much celebrate the occasion as point out that the situation might not be as bad as it seems.
Alright, there's little hope from Toyota's portfolio. The Prius has always been uninspiring to say the least (we'll keep it polite), even if they did set a 'ring record in it. Remember the original was around at about the same time as the Honda Insight, the funky and innovative hybrid assembled alongside the NSX. Everyone after a hybrid went with the tedious Toyota, forcing Honda to make the incredibly dull second-gen Insight. There's little to be excited by elsewhere in the current line up either; Yaris or Auris Hybrid do much for you? Lexus IS300h? Exactly.
Come on Toyota, you know what to do
But there's hope. What the past few years have taught petrolheads across the globe is that hybrid needn't mean hideous. The
hypercar trio
arguably had the greatest impact but cars like the
Golf GTE
Mercedes SLS Electric Drive
BMW
i8
have really boosted (sorry) the appeal of electric and hybrid vehicles. Toyota could even reclaim some credibility with a production version of
the FT-1
; a turbocharged straight-six like the
good old days
with some electric assistance? Looking like the concept car? That would add a few to the eight million!
So well done Toyota on proving your hybrids have staying power. Fingers crossed a few of the next eight million might be rather more appealing to enthusiasts.