As American automakers lose market share, Honda and Toyota are soaring on the backs of their high-quality low-emissions vehicles. The increasing trend toward clean car technology means those companies that can build the best low-emission car will have the best chance of long-term success and survival. Clean Car Wars presents a revealing look at the Japanese auto industry and how its two biggest automakers are battling each other, and the world, for supremacy of this vital emerging market. What does the increasingly salient threat of global warming and rapidly rising oil prices mean for the world’s automotive industry and the survival of automakers in the coming years? Through a rich combination of research, front line reporting and direct interviews with leading automotive managers, industry officials and environmental experts, Clean Car Wars offers the general reader and industry insiders alike a highly readable and up-to-date narrative and assessment of the intensifying competition over green technologies in the automotive sector worldwide. It describes who are the leaders and the followers, the different environmental technologies and strategies being pursued, and which global auto makers are best positioning themselves to survive and emerge atop the zero-emissions, automotive world of the 21st century. How did Japanese auto makers, Toyota and Honda, succeed in gaining the upper hand in the “Clean Car Wars” through their hybrid technologies? Can European car manufacturers such as DaimlerChrysler and Volkswagen stifle the hybrid momentum with their rapidly advancing green diesel technologies? What will it take for embattled U.S. automakers, GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler, to bounce back from their financial woes and regain the initiative in the global auto market? How will the huge markets of China, India and other newly-emerging economies figure into the equation? Will Toyota and GM come to dominate the industry as the world’s two automotive powerhouses? Or will smaller competitors and alternative technologies, such as bioethanol or CNG gas, create new fault lines in the automotive landscape? The "Clean Car Wars" has just begun. But already the battle lines are being drawn, and the leading contenders are appearing. The need to reduce CO2 emissions and promote efficient energy use has increasingly grown into a sensitive and pressing issue that demands immediate attention. Invariably, the automotive industry finds itself at the center of this challenge. Yozo Hasegawa transports us to the front lines of the auto industry’s race to develop zero emission cars that will surely determine their future survival, if not contribute to that of the planet overall. Clean Car Wars stands as a compelling and informative reference to learn about not only how Japanese auto makers, Toyota and Honda, have set the bar early with their hybrid cars, but also how their engineers and managers are looking to redefine their company mandates to survive in a world threatened by global warming and the depletion of fossil fuels. Hiroshi Komiyama President Tokyo University Yozo Hasegawa’s Clean Car Wars illustrates how a mounting global consensus toward the realities of global warming and changing consumer demands are increasingly pulling the automotive industry away from its long-time dependence on oil. It provides a wealth of information about the various green technology initiatives that are leading us toward a greener automotive future, from plug-in hybrids to advanced diesel engines from both an engineering and managerial standpoint. Under his central message that whoever proves capable of leading the world in environmental technology will lead the industry as a whole, Mr. Hasegawa offers a bold picture of the auto industry in the near future and underscores the increasingly self-evident axiom that those companies most committed to global environmental preservation in the 21st century will stand the greatest chance of survival. Yuriko Koike Member of the House of Representatives Former Minister of the Environment Former Minister of Defense Government of Japan Leading Japanese manufacturers have indeed seen this as an opportunity to move ahead of competition—to become global leaders. This is what this book is about: detailed stories of how leading Japanese producers came up with winning solutions regarding the clean car war. The book offers rare insights into how Japanese companies function when it comes to succeeding with such fundamental innovations. Peter Lorange President IMD This book [ Clean Car Wars ] takes us to the starting line of the race, giving us a play-by-play of what auto companies are leading and why. Asahi Shimbun Yozo Hasegawa’s book [ Clean Car Wars ] provides a down-to-earth and human glimpse into where each major auto maker stands in the competition to develop eco-friendly automobiles of the future. Yomiuri Evening Newspaper Yozo Hasegawa was bor