Jim Press “Clarifies” Outburst that Japanese Government Paid to Develop Prius | Autopia from Wired.com

Jim Press “Clarifies” Outburst that Japanese Government Paid to Develop Prius | Autopia from Wired.com By Marty Jerome

Perhaps the allegations wouldn’t have seemed so inflammatory, but Chrysler’s vice chairman and president Jim Press is, after all, a former Toyota board member and career executive with the Japanese auto giant for more than 30 years.

Early this week, he claimed that the Japanese government “paid for 100 percent of the development of the battery and hybrid system that went into the Toyota Prius.” Cerberus spokespeople have since, well, backpedaled. “He referenced the close cooperation between the Japanese government and the Japanese industry. He said the Japanese government strongly supported R&D investment in battery development, and the Prius and other Japanese models benefited from that investment in industry,” according to company officials.

Well, is it true or not?

There may have been a pang of jealousy in the man’s outburst. After all, most analysts believe that Toyota was lying when it said the Prius was profitable as far back as 2002. GM ’s Bob Lutz dismissed the Prius as a marketing expense designed to put a green halo over the company.

But production capacity and demand for the hybrid are up. Today few doubt that the Prius makes money. And in the end, isn’t this what counts? Government-industry alliances are common in Japan. They inevitably raise a chorus of “Unfair!” in the U.S. But they often get results.

The issue is pertinent to other alternative vehicles. California’s so-called hydrogen highway stands to become vapor from a lack of state funding. In a recent interview with the “Sacramento Bee,” GM’s Larry Burns, who heads Research & Development and Planning for General Motors Corp., made clear that without government help for building hydrogen filling stations, there wasn’t much use in building hydrogen cars.

Sources: AutoWeek, BusinessWeek, AP, mLive, Sacramento Bee

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