The Prius That Shook.. - VFAQ Prius Site

But, Uchiyamada disagreed with BR-VF team's idea.
"We are trying to build a car for the 21 st century, and our
work isn't about applying the hybrid system on existing
models. If we take the conventional method of `first trying
out the system in a large car,' we would end up making too
many compromises in terms of cost and size. There would be
less waste if we worked with a smaller car from the
beginning."
Unable to reach an agreement with Uchiyamada, BR-VF
began its research using the Camry as its basic platform.
Kubochi, G21 Phase I leader, had been appointed as a
Member of the Board in September 1994, and had
become General Manager of the Vehicle Development
Center II. He was supervising the G21 project again, this
time as the person in charge of developing FF models.
Kubochi also had doubts about using a hybrid system at that
time. Even with all the work that had been done so far, there
were no engineers who thought that a hybrid vehicle
would eventually go into production.
BR-VF engineers, such as Fujii, took the idea of putting
the hybrid system in a model based on Camry to Wada
and Shiomi. The two executives turned down the proposal as
being foreign to the G21 concept. The BRVF group
finally had to acknowledge that the hybrid system would
be used on a car designed by the G21 team.
In the meantime, the G21 team conducted thorough
discussions, but no one had any confidence in hybrid
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