The Prius That Shook.. - VFAQ Prius Site

time, nobody would actually say so.
It was Okuda who most eagerly checked up on the
development progress of low-emission vehicles, such as
Prius, through these test-drive sessions.
Okuda himself once sat behind the steering wheel of
Prius at one of these sessions, and told Fujii in the passenger
seat, "Fujii-kun, one day everyone will be driving a car like
this. You people are working on a great mission. It's probably
the most amazing work at Toyota. One day, these cars will be
needed outside of Japan, especially in India and China."
Later, Okuda drove another EV and mentioned, "I
guess people might think it's more fashionable to drive
cars like this in the future."
In fact, these cars were still in the development stage, and
were far from being marketable. Fujii felt deeply moved
and encouraged by Okuda who was willing to try such a car
and say that they would be sold in developing nations in the
future.
Reliability as a mass-produced vehicle
Soon it was the middle of summer in 1996. Although
power output was improving, the group could find no
way to solve the heat problem. When the car stopped at a
traffic light in August, the temperature of the battery
under the floor immediately exceeded 50 degrees.
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