sheesh… I think Toyota should have shaved off a couple hundred million from their F1 budget to try and make the Prius easier to look at. That would have been money well-spent.
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I would have tasered the design staff if they put a drawing of that on my desk.

What would be gained by Press saying the Prius dev was paid for by their government? What would that achieve? Would it hurt Toyota’s sales figures in the U.S.? I seriously doubt that. It’s not something american consumers would give a crap about. There are things they should care more about, which they don’t so I see no motive in him lying about this.
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Conversely, he was probably in a position where he knew how the money was flowing. Could be he’s been biting his lip about it for years and couldn’t hold it back any longer.
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I think it’ll be an anecdote… and a footnote. Not much more.

Just think what would happen if our government spent the Billions going to Iraq on better technology to allow us to not be so dependant on oil! Oh wait…that makes too much sense!!