PUBLIC MARKS from kzoo with tags toyota & ford

Just a few months ago (in July 2008) Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) was testing small pick-up trucks. Toyota Tacoma, Chevrolet Colorado, Dodge Dakota/Mitsubishi Raider, Ford Ranger/Mazda B Series and Nissan Frontier showed negative results.

Hybrid invasion of the U.S. is going fast and soon every second car on the roads will be “green”. This week was significant for Japanese and American automakers: Toyota has announced that it reached one million mark in sales of gas-electric cars for American customers and Ford has assembled 100,000th hybrid SUV.

According to records, Toyota, the Japanese auto maker, sold 224,058 vehicles in July from the 241,826 that it was able to sell last year. Ford was capable of making sales from their new products, the Ford Edge and the Lincoln MKX, and other models totaling to 195,245 vehicles sold on the same month.

That big SUV in your garage feels as modern as a Nixon-era Olds 88. Global warming and our everlasting oil dependency are dimming the prospects of GM and Ford following Chrysler into the rear-drive V-8 sedan business. You could drive yourself to work in a Toyota Prius or one of the stealthier hybrids, but even at $3 per, the hybrid won t pay off for years. By then, the interest on your adjustable-rate mortgage could be sky high.