The Prius That Shook.. - VFAQ Prius Site

eputable manufacturer. No one at Toyota seemed to be eager to
work on its development at that time. Some, in fact, suggested
that a Toyota Group parts supplier should take care of it.
Board Members Shiomi and Fukuma who were in
charge of development, put an end to the argument.
Fukuma, who was responsible for electronics, told his staff;
"There is no way of telling until we try. Just give it a shot. After
that, we can decide."
Shiomi was the one who made the final decision,
however. He was in charge of development, and would have
supported the idea of purchasing from an electronics
manufacturer, but he said, "We should try to do it even if we
suffer a little. This is the kind of situation for which we built
the semiconductor plant ten years ago. It is not too early for
the plant to start producing results. We should bet on
making a great breakthrough by trying to make the part at
Hirose Plant."
Making it the global standard
Shiomi had boldly ambitious plans. His analysis of the
situation went something like this: "The market for
high-capacity IGBT is less than 50,000 units per month.
Moreover, most are for production facilities, and mass-
production technology has yet to be developed. Even if
we commissioned the development of IGBT to outside
215