Bill Reinert is the National Manager at Toyota Motor Sales USA's Advanced Technology Group. Reinert also represents Toyota as a key partner with WWF on environmental conservation efforts in the Galapagos islands. The former navy submariner is sort of an environmental vehicles guru and a poster child for Toyota's green image.
In a recent interview with Australian publication GoAuto, he made some interesting comments regarding Honda's FCX Clarify hydrogen fuel-cell powered car.
“Honda is taking a very different approach to us with the (fuel-cell) car,” he said. “And hats off to the Clarity. It’s a wonderful car, wonderfully well-engineered, and a beautiful car.
“But their approach is to develop a unified car. Our approach is to not focus as much
on the car, and focus more on systems development. So our car has a more open
architecture.
“The Clarity is very difficult to change the stack, just because it is a dedicated format for where you put the stack.
“(Instead) what you will see from us are incredibly well finished test mules, so we
can change our stack as things improve, we can change our motors as things improve,
and we can change our electronics as things as improve.
“Now all the while this leads to new product development for the car that will
probably hit the streets. That’s probably some time in the middle of next decade …
beyond 2010 but before 2020.
“And when I say hit the streets, I don’t mean in limited partnerships or in
demonstration projects. I mean you go to the dealers, trade-in your SUV and drive away in your fuel-cell car.”
His words hinted that mass produced Toyota branded fuel cell cars possible by around 2015, but stopped short of predicting any specific year or month citing refueling infrastructural challenges as the main obstacle, rather than the cost of the cars or even technical challenges surrounding packaging of fuel cell powertrains. He also mentions that together with Honda and Daimler, car manufacturers have done most of the heavy work in terms of fuel cell vehicles development. What remains now are government support and initiative in rolling out hydrogen fueling infrastructure.
“Obviously, they (customers) are not going to want to jump into something that they can’t get the energy for, and the fuelling stations globally have to be there. We’re a global producer, so it’s not just a problem for us in the United States or in Japan (where there is a hydrogen vehicle refuelling infrastructure). It is a big
problem in Europe, and it is going to be a problem in Australia.”
I am quite surprised by the rather casual references to works of other competing car companies. Car company executives, especially Japanese ones are usually very reluctant to make any comparisons or even to drop references on other competing models in official interviews. Attend a new Japanese car launch, executives / engineers usually mention the outgoing model as a benchmark, rather than to make any blatant comparisons with another rival product. I can only infer that the guys at TMS Advance Technology Group are allowed a freer reign at the fringes of Toyota's massive corporate hierarchy. Managing a team of innovators and creative thinkers require a slightly different approach. Even BMW's DesignWorks and Nissan's Design Center and Creative Box Inc. are intentionally placed far away from the dogmatic limitations that guys in grey suits and ties in corporate headquarters usually impose. Just look at the style of Adrian van Hooydonk and Shiro Nakamura.
Reinert also has an ally in Toyota headquarters in TMC Japan - Executive Technical Adviser Norihiko Nakamura who works at TMC's Higashi Fuji Technical Center.
But personally I see it as just differences in the corporate cultures of Honda and Toyota. The more conservative Toyota tends to adopt a wait and see approach, conducting a lot of market potential studies before jumping on the bandwagon. Honda has shown itself to be more ready to adopt new technologies. Plus, even though it was an early pioneer in hybrid cars Honda was forced to sit back and watch decades of their hardwork being rolled back as the popularity of Toyota's Prius swept across USA, Japan and Europe. The Prius became almost synonymous to hybrid when in fact Honda's first generation Insight was the first hybrid to be sold outside Japan. But poor practicality of the Insight and the lack of a distinctive design of the Civic Hybrid to appeal to greenies keen to shout their eco-friendly image meant that Honda was quickly forgotten as an also ran.
Insight II and second generation Prius. Image from Auto Bild.
Honda is keen to make a comeback with the Insight II and the FCX Clarity. Though the FCX Clarity lacks a convincing business case, I would guess Honda wants to continue pressing ahead by introducing the FCX Clarity for lease in California and Japan because they had to reclaim Honda's lead in next generation eco-friendly powertrain development. The FCX Clarity is supposed to be a sort of "halo-car" for the mass produced, lower priced Insight II. Note the similarity in their front fascia design. Its role is not necessary to generate profit but to build the technology lead and imprint Honda's green car image in the eyes of consumers as Honda slowly rolls out the regular hybrids. Bean counters might not agree easily to such a decision though, especially in the light of the current collapsing car market.
The lesson to be learned - the phrase the early bird catches the worm / first mover advantage does not always ring true in all cases. It is more important to have sufficient studies and planning backing any new product introduction than just being crowned 1st. Honda lost the Hybrid Wars 1.0 because it focused too much hard data on the product and consumer demographics, but failed to realise the "soft factors" - like the lifestyle of eco-conscious consumers and their keen interest in evangelising their gospel of environmentally sensitive living. The Prius's slightly quirky and distinctive shape won them over. Let's hope in Hybrid Wars 2.0, Honda will reclaim their lost ground. Personally I find the cheaper, more practical Insight II more appealing than the 3rd generation Prius which have become a bit too bloated with unnecessary gizmos and electronic toys.
In a recent interview with Australian publication GoAuto, he made some interesting comments regarding Honda's FCX Clarify hydrogen fuel-cell powered car.
“Honda is taking a very different approach to us with the (fuel-cell) car,” he said. “And hats off to the Clarity. It’s a wonderful car, wonderfully well-engineered, and a beautiful car.
“But their approach is to develop a unified car. Our approach is to not focus as much
on the car, and focus more on systems development. So our car has a more open
architecture.
“The Clarity is very difficult to change the stack, just because it is a dedicated format for where you put the stack.
“(Instead) what you will see from us are incredibly well finished test mules, so we
can change our stack as things improve, we can change our motors as things improve,
and we can change our electronics as things as improve.
“Now all the while this leads to new product development for the car that will
probably hit the streets. That’s probably some time in the middle of next decade …
beyond 2010 but before 2020.
“And when I say hit the streets, I don’t mean in limited partnerships or in
demonstration projects. I mean you go to the dealers, trade-in your SUV and drive away in your fuel-cell car.”
His words hinted that mass produced Toyota branded fuel cell cars possible by around 2015, but stopped short of predicting any specific year or month citing refueling infrastructural challenges as the main obstacle, rather than the cost of the cars or even technical challenges surrounding packaging of fuel cell powertrains. He also mentions that together with Honda and Daimler, car manufacturers have done most of the heavy work in terms of fuel cell vehicles development. What remains now are government support and initiative in rolling out hydrogen fueling infrastructure.
“Obviously, they (customers) are not going to want to jump into something that they can’t get the energy for, and the fuelling stations globally have to be there. We’re a global producer, so it’s not just a problem for us in the United States or in Japan (where there is a hydrogen vehicle refuelling infrastructure). It is a big
problem in Europe, and it is going to be a problem in Australia.”
I am quite surprised by the rather casual references to works of other competing car companies. Car company executives, especially Japanese ones are usually very reluctant to make any comparisons or even to drop references on other competing models in official interviews. Attend a new Japanese car launch, executives / engineers usually mention the outgoing model as a benchmark, rather than to make any blatant comparisons with another rival product. I can only infer that the guys at TMS Advance Technology Group are allowed a freer reign at the fringes of Toyota's massive corporate hierarchy. Managing a team of innovators and creative thinkers require a slightly different approach. Even BMW's DesignWorks and Nissan's Design Center and Creative Box Inc. are intentionally placed far away from the dogmatic limitations that guys in grey suits and ties in corporate headquarters usually impose. Just look at the style of Adrian van Hooydonk and Shiro Nakamura.
Reinert also has an ally in Toyota headquarters in TMC Japan - Executive Technical Adviser Norihiko Nakamura who works at TMC's Higashi Fuji Technical Center.
But personally I see it as just differences in the corporate cultures of Honda and Toyota. The more conservative Toyota tends to adopt a wait and see approach, conducting a lot of market potential studies before jumping on the bandwagon. Honda has shown itself to be more ready to adopt new technologies. Plus, even though it was an early pioneer in hybrid cars Honda was forced to sit back and watch decades of their hardwork being rolled back as the popularity of Toyota's Prius swept across USA, Japan and Europe. The Prius became almost synonymous to hybrid when in fact Honda's first generation Insight was the first hybrid to be sold outside Japan. But poor practicality of the Insight and the lack of a distinctive design of the Civic Hybrid to appeal to greenies keen to shout their eco-friendly image meant that Honda was quickly forgotten as an also ran.
Insight II and second generation Prius. Image from Auto Bild.
Honda is keen to make a comeback with the Insight II and the FCX Clarity. Though the FCX Clarity lacks a convincing business case, I would guess Honda wants to continue pressing ahead by introducing the FCX Clarity for lease in California and Japan because they had to reclaim Honda's lead in next generation eco-friendly powertrain development. The FCX Clarity is supposed to be a sort of "halo-car" for the mass produced, lower priced Insight II. Note the similarity in their front fascia design. Its role is not necessary to generate profit but to build the technology lead and imprint Honda's green car image in the eyes of consumers as Honda slowly rolls out the regular hybrids. Bean counters might not agree easily to such a decision though, especially in the light of the current collapsing car market.
The lesson to be learned - the phrase the early bird catches the worm / first mover advantage does not always ring true in all cases. It is more important to have sufficient studies and planning backing any new product introduction than just being crowned 1st. Honda lost the Hybrid Wars 1.0 because it focused too much hard data on the product and consumer demographics, but failed to realise the "soft factors" - like the lifestyle of eco-conscious consumers and their keen interest in evangelising their gospel of environmentally sensitive living. The Prius's slightly quirky and distinctive shape won them over. Let's hope in Hybrid Wars 2.0, Honda will reclaim their lost ground. Personally I find the cheaper, more practical Insight II more appealing than the 3rd generation Prius which have become a bit too bloated with unnecessary gizmos and electronic toys.
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