Toyota claims Jim Press lied about gov't funding Prius development

Toyota claims Jim Press lied about gov't funding Prius development

Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative, Green, Toyota
Jim Press worked for Toyota in the U.S. a total of 37 years, so the Japanese automaker was no doubt shocked when the current co-captain of Chrysler LLC dropped a bit of untruthiness about his former employer in a recent Business Week article. Press claimed that the Japanese government paid for 100% of the development of battery and hybrid system of the Prius, an advantage that U.S. automakers don't receive from their government. Today, Toyota came out and said Press was just plain wrong. A Toyota spokesman claims that Toyota received absolutely no money from the Japanese government for developing the Prius. Who is telling the truth? We have no idea, but until Press parted his lips in this Business Week report, we had never heard of allegations that Toyota received funding for the Prius from the Japanese government, let alone that the vehicle's hybrid powertrain development was entirely paid for by the government.

[Source: The Detroit News, Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty]
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