"Stewart Pinkerton" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 29 Dec 2005 23:50:58 +0100, "Ruud Broens"
wrote:

So what do you think of the upcoming Toyota Volta :-) ?
.. "The concept car features a carbon-fiber body and chassis, making it
extremely light --under 2900 pounds. The sports car also uses a
6-cylinder version of Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive that makes
more than 400 hp. "

I think it's a crock of ****. What's the point of putting a
carbon-fibre body on a pile of lead-acid batteries? It's pretty much
as risible as seeing some fat Californian on a $5,000 mountain bike
made entirely of carbon-fibre and Titanium..................

Lotus makes 'extremely light' cars using conventional materials - it
takes *two* of them to weigh the same as a Volta. That way, a 200HP
engine will provide the same performance while using half the fuel.


The point is that Toyota sells hundreds of cars, and probably thousands, for
every one car Lotus sells. And Toyota does not go bankrupt every few years.

Cheers,

Margaret