One thing becomes clear in any appraisal of the past year's automotive offerings: any U.S., European and Asian carmaker can make great cars as well as dogs.
Obviously vehicles have to be profitable. But even those that aren't home runs can be important for what they say about the companies that build them, as well as what they portend for the market.
First on this list of hits and misses is Toyota Motor Corp.'s Prius, with its gas-electric hybrid engine, which offers superior fuel efficiency, especially in city driving. This is a car whose strong sales and media acclaim are driving the rest of the auto industry nuts. Executives at competing automakers insisted Toyota's technology made no sense; now they are rushing to catch up because customers love hybrids.
Full article here