Oftentimes, we receive press releases that are presented with all the attendant fanfare and flourishes that would make you almost believe that the issue is not some new car or factory or tool but The Most Astonishing Thing To Happen In Our Times.  I suppose that the people involved either (a) think that that is the case or (b) know that it isn’t the case, but just want to make their client feel better about the new car or factory or tool.

What is rarely the case is that there is a press release that’s, well, subdued and factual.  If such things weren’t so rare, they might slip by unnoticed.  And that’s the case with one that recently arrived with the headline: “Panasonic EV Energy Plans HV Battery Plant in Miyagi Prefecture.”  The release is dated May 27, 2008.

The release, nearly in full, reads:

1. Prospective location: Taiwa Ryutsu Kogyo Danchi (logistics & industrial park), Taiwa-cho, Kurokawa-gun, Miyagi Prefecture

2. Start of operations: Beginning of 2010 (scheduled)

3. Product lineup: Nickel-metal hydride batteries for hybrid vehicles

4. Production capacity: Approx. 200,000 battery packs a year (approx. 100,000 packs a year at start-up)

5. Investment: Approximately 30 billion yen

Rather straightforward, don’t you think?

But at the same time, somewhat startling.

First of all, know that Panasonic EV Energy Co., Ltd. (PEVE) is a joint venture between Matsushita Group—which brings in the Panasonic portion—and Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC).  Although “HV,” as used in the headline, has not exactly caught on as an acronym the way, say, SUV has in the U.S., it stands for, as you might figure from point three, “hybrid vehicles.”

Another news release that nearly slipped by is dated May 15, 2008, and it comes from TMC.  Its headline: “Worldwide Prius Sales Top 1Million Mark.”  That’s right.  Since its Japan-only introduction in 1997 to April 2008, the vehicle, which is sold in some 40 countries, has sold a cumulative 1,028,000 units.  Of that total, 591,600 were sold in North America and just 315,000 in Japan, the market for which it was ostensibly engineered.  In calendar year 2007, Toyota sold 181,221 Prius vehicles in the U.S.  To put that in context, it is worth noting that the entire Buick Division sold 185,791 vehicles in the same time period.  Mercury Division sold 168,422 in toto.  Enough said.

What’s interesting about the PEVE announcement is in the detail: nickel-metal hydride batteries; 2010.  That’s the timeframe that General Motors has been talking about having the E-Flex architecture available for production—but that’s an architecture predicated on lithium-ion batteries, not nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries.  And at present, while lithium-ion batteries may be powering your notebook computer or digital camera or weed whacker, automotive production-ready versions have yet to be devised.

NiMH batteries are seemingly considered old school.  Yet the Prius sales (and let’s not forget the hybrid Camry, Highlander, Lexus RX 400h, GS 450h, and LS 600h L) soldier on.  With NiMH batteries.  Racking up sales.

Maybe the PEVE announcement really is small.  Not a big deal.  But when a single car can outsell entire divisions and there’s more capacity being added that can help increase the sales of that vehicle (or those like it), well, that is a Big Deal.