/ 13 December 2004

‘Humble hybrid’ on road to success

When the Liverpool footballer Harry Kewell parked his ”greenmobile” beside his team-mates’ Ferraris and Aston Martins he was teased mercilessly over his choice of wheels.

Friends of Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz and Jeff Goldblum may also have raised an eyebrow when they hit the highways of Hollywood in a car that even the makers describe as ”humble”.

But this month the Toyota Prius, a ”hybrid” propelled by a combination of an electric motor and petrol engine, was named European Car of the Year by a panel of industry journalists from 22 countries.

The Prius has won plaudits from motoring journalists since it rolled off the production line earlier this year.

Giles Smith, The Guardian’s car reviewer, described it as having the ”soul of a milkfloat in the body of a car”, but concluded it was the ”best compromise going” for those who wanted to help save the planet and still have the convenience of a car.

Toyota is more bullish, billing it as ”a car of the future”.

When starting off at a normal speed and cruising at a reasonable clip, the car is powered by the electric motor, fed by a battery.

As the charge is depleted, the petrol engine powers an electric generator that recharges the battery. If more power is suddenly needed, for instance to overtake, both the petrol engine and the electric motor drive the wheels. When the car slows down kinetic energy from the wheels is used to charge the battery.

The Prius will not match the raw power of the cars driven by the majority of the Liverpool first-team squad, but it does nought to 60 in about 10 seconds and has a top speed of 170kph.

Tadashi Arashima, the president of Toyota Motors in Europe, said the car’s patented ”hybrid synergy drive” system was a ”big step forward in reducing the environmental impact of automobiles”.

He said the award was ”a major milestone in the acceptance of the hybrid. It is a great encouragement to us in our work on developing more environmentally friendly vehicles.”

By the end of the year it is expected that 8 500 of the cars will have been sold in Europe, and Toyota is hoping to sell almost twice that next year.

In Toyota’s publicity blurb Kewell, who was lent one of the cars by the company, says: ”I had reservations at first, because I haven’t heard many good things about cars which are supposed to be environmentally friendly.

”If you’re looking for supercar acceleration, then you’re looking at the wrong car. But if you want comfort, safety, economy, a great sound system and the best navigation system, then the Prius is the one.”

Still, Kewell probably won’t convince many of his team-mates to trade in the Ferrari. — Â