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The main question is, how the hell did Toyota foresee this? They didn't go all gung-ho on the EV hype train and stuck to their word, even when the others rushed in headfirst.

Is this "Hybrid Hype" a realization, or is it a knee-jerk reaction to China now gaining more ground on the EV vehicles + Elon's latest antics?

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Toyota didn't foresee this, Toyota is still just riding the conservative strategy they've been following for 20+ years and the Prius as the hybrid that most matters to the US market. Also hybrids aren't really growing, it's mostly that EVs haven't yet dethroned the Prius, despite Toyota failing to properly invest in it and getting lost in the wilderness of Hydrogen for two decades.

(Honda is the fun one mentioned in the article and is mostly playing catch-up to Toyota 20 years after having also wasted too much time on Hydrogen.)

To me the edge cases were always obvious. For city car something like plug-in Yaris will do the same job. But also manage to cover the trips on limit of range. That is two way trips. Going to somewhere and coming back without stopping, maybe 4 hour drive total on highway...

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