EVLN(% GM/TMC NUMMI HEVs, perhaps then GM won't cry dumping foul %)

[Bruce {EVangel} Parmenter <brucedp@iname.com>]

EVLN(% GM/TMC NUMMI HEVs, perhaps then GM won't cry dumping foul %)
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 --- {EVangel}
EV - Orlando Sentinel (ORSE) TRANSPORTATION CALIFORNIA LIKELY HOME FOR
`GREEN CAR' PROJECT Automotive News 02/25/99 (Copyright 1999 by The
Orlando Sentinel)

If General Motors and Toyota Motor Corp. build an eco-friendly vehicle
together, California might be the place.  The New United Motor
Manufacturing Inc. factory in Fremont, Calif., factory builds Toyota
Corollas and Chevrolet Prizms on the same line. But this year, while
Corolla sales are soaring, NUMMI plans to build only about 50,000
Prizms - half of its available output. Last year, Chevrolet sold
49,552 Prizms.

GM has hinted that the Prizm may die. That leaves NUMMI with a hole to
fill at a time when its two parent companies are considering further
vehicle deals.  GM and Toyota hope to decide in the next three or four
months whether to begin developing new alternative vehicles jointly. 
Possibilities under discussion include electric vehicles, fuel cells
and hybrid gasoline-electric vehicles.

"We are not at the point where we are ready to talk to each other
formally," said GM spokesman Ed Lechtzin. "We are still at the stage
of asking whether we should go forward (on advanced vehicles), or
whether we even have anything in common." But the companies expect to
reach some form of agreement this spring to proceed on one or more
fronts.

GM and Toyota have a long history of partnerships. Their ties include
component supply agreements, sales of Chevrolet Cavaliers at Japanese
Toyota dealerships and the joint production at NUMMI.  Last June,
Toyota also signed an agreement to adopt GM's standard technology for
recharging electric cars.

Despite lackluster sales of the Prizm, NUMMI remains important to GM.
In 1993, the partners agreed to extend indefinitely the life of the
venture, which otherwise would have expired in 1996.  NUMMI proposed
building a hybrid electric vehicle of its own in 1993, but that deal
fell through.

Further, NUMMI's location in California lends itself to supplying an
eco-friendly product. NUMMI is the only auto plant in the state, which
has strong vehicle-emission regulations. California has decreed that
beginning in 2003, 10 percent of major automakers' fleets must have
zero emissions.  Toyota has other sources for the Corolla. It expanded
its Corolla plant in Cambridge, Ontario, in 1997. It also ships the
car from Japan.
 ...
 http://www.orlandosentinel.com    lafuente@knight-ridder.com 
(c) 1998, The Orlando Sentinel  America Online keyword: SENTINEL
633 North Orange Ave, Orlando, FL USA, Tel# 407-420-5000
Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News.
 ---
____________{Statements may not be my Employer's}  BruceDP@iname.com 
  ____         http://members.aol.com/brucedp/    EV List News Editor
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'@----- @'---(= Get Amp'd   'Electric cruis'n the Santa Clara Valley'
SJEAA EVents officer        Renewable Energy News contributing Editor
http://members.aol.com/sjeaa/  EAA Board member  http://www.eaaev.org