Toyota announced yesterday that sales of the world’s first mass produced gas/electric hybrid car has reached one million sales worldwide. The Toyota Prius brand is sold in 40 countries worldwide with actual sales of 1,028,000 as of April 30^th of this year. Most of the sales come from Japan and North America however Toyota is actively moving into emerging markets all over the world. Plus with gas prices at an all time high in the U.S. you can expect sales to increase quite a bit in my opinion.

The Toyota Prius debuted in 1997 for the Japanese market only and sold a whopping 300 vehicles. By the year 2000 Toyota started to sell the Prius on North America with sales reaching 19,000 units being sold worldwide for fiscal year 2000. Now we arrive in the first quarter 2008 and Toyota has sold 107,100 units so far this year. If trends continue at this pace Toyota will sell at least 400,000 this year alone. Of course this is all speculation by me because due to market trends and the United States economic downturn that we are experiencing right now Prius sales this year may slow down just a bit. For all we know Toyota may not sell another Prius the rest of the year (yea right).

Although the sale of 1 million Prius vehicles is exciting I think the more exciting news is the amount of CO2 that Toyota has saved the environment with the Prius hybrid technology. According to Toyota 4.5 million tons of CO2 have been kept out of our atmosphere due to the innovative hybrid technology that the Prius boasts. I think maybe Al Gore would be proud of the Prius for this accomplishment don’t you?

Total Prius Sales Worldwide:

2008 Toyota Prius

Source: [Toyota]

ASIMO which stands for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility conducted the Detroit Symphony Orchestra on May 14, 2008. We mentioned that the humanoid robot was going to conduct this world renowned orchestra back on April 28^th 2008. Now he has done and we have the video to prove it. After watching the video I am totally amazed by how fluid ASIMO moved. Initially I thought that it might be hard for the orchestra to follow what ASIMO was doing. However from the sound and look of it the Detroit Synphony Orchestra had no problems whatsoever. The Orchestra played the song “The Impossible Dream” which coincides with Honda’s tagline “The Power of Dreams”.

Also at the production ASIMO along with DSO Music Director Designate Leonard Slatkin, and American Honda Vice President Dick Szamborski presented Yo-Yo Ma with the “Changing Lives through Music” award. This award is given to individuals in the field of music who provide leadership in the music field for future generations. Yo-Yo Ma in my opinion deserves the award for his tireless help with spreading the desire to play and be involved in music especially for young children. With so many school systems canceling music programs these days Yo-Yo Ma is one of those people who will be remembered by those kids that he helps get involved with music.

Source: [Honda]

So I was looking through the new press releases and found a link to some videos on Youtube for Honda. So with this new information I took the liberty of updating a few of the posts that I have written with some videos from Honda. The following posts have been updated with new content.

1. Honda Has Designed An Exoskeleton
2. 2009 Honda FCX Clarity
3. New “Honda Racer” From Hot Wheels.

Other posts that I write will include videos from Youtube if the post warrants it. So go ahead and check out the videos on these posts from Cellounge. The videos will always appear at the bottom of the posts so just scroll down to see them.

Shane

While a lot of other automakers are pulling back with production and new models being introduced Nissan is moving full speed ahead with their new “Nissan GT 2012″ plan. In 2007 Nissan unveiled 11 new models and in 2008 Nissan is expected to release nine new models globally. These new models include the Teana, Infiniti FX, Maxima, Bakkie successor, Qashqai+2, a mini SUV, Cube, Z and Infiniti G37 Convertible. These model releases are a part of Nissan’s GT 2012 with the “G” standing for growth and “T” standing for trust. Other things that will be introduced under this plan include an all electric vehicle in the U.S. and Japan by 2010 and then globally by 2012.

“Nissan GT 2012 reflects the determination of our company to play a major role in the development of a sustainable mobile society,” commented Ghosn. “There’s a balance to be sought between the potential growth in world markets and the demand for a cleaner planet. We are convinced that the mass availability of affordable zero-emission vehicles is the most significant breakthrough our industry could deliver, and, together with Renault, Nissan intends to be the breakthrough leader.”

Nissan will also be unveiling an Infiniti G37 convertible which is pretty exciting for Infiniti owners. This new convertible will go on sale February 2009 in the United States. Details are pretty scarce but we do know that the 2009 Infiniti G37 Convertible will be powered by the same 3.7 liter V6 engine that the coupe version is powered by. With the G37 having 330 hp it should be no problem for Infiniti owners to test the roads just as they always have before. As always when pictures and details come in we will report them here on Cellounge.

So I am like a day late and dollar short reporting this little bit of news however with gas prices in Marysville, Ohio hitting $3.95 a gallon yesterday it is worth mentioning. Even if it is a little late as far as news standards go. Suzuki is offering “free” gas for the summer to bolster their sales of their brand. Now here is the catch the people who will qualify for this sales event are the same people who can afford gas anyway. Please don’t whine to me if you have a $250,000 mortgage, have two unpaid for cars and 10 credit cards that need paid off. People like you do not have my sympathy whatsoever. The people who need deals like this are single mothers with three kids working their tails off to provide a living for their kids that they themselves did not have as a child.

Anyway the sale is for retail purchases of 2007 and 2008 Suzuki cars through the June 30^th. With this little “offer” the shopper will also get 0% financing. We all know who gets deals like that and it is not the average buyer. The deal has so many restrictions to it that it probably isn’t even worth looking into for the “average” person. I mean Suzuki is giving you a debit card for gas that is based on what they “think” you will drive this summer. So in other words it is not gas for the entire summer. It is more like a cheap gimmick rebate check. This kind of deal really pisses me off because the little guy is not getting helped out at all. Suzuki ought to be ashamed of themselves for this lame attempt at increasing their sales. If you want to help out the little guy then get rid of one year of payments then you might have a deal. Oh I get it give away $300-$400 then up sale the packages to make up the differences.

Here is the breakdown for what you will get based on the vehicle you purchase.

“Free Gas for summer” Program

Source: [Suzuki]