Toyota Life Featured Picks

Hybrid Synergy View Newsletter
Winter 2007

“American father of the Prius” made immeasurable contributions. Toyota associates and everyone concerned with the environment lost a valued friend with the death of Dave Hermance, Toyota’s top North American engineer for advanced technology vehicles. Dave was widely recognized as the most authoritative voice on hybrid-power vehicles in the United States as well as a dedicated environmental advocate. He died in November while performing aerobatic maneuvers in his plane off the coast of San Pedro, California.

Dave had a remarkable ability to explain complex hybrid and advanced technology with equal ease before scientists, regulators, environmentalists, the media and consumers. He served as Toyota’s hybrid-engineering ambassador and worked tirelessly to promote hybrid and advanced technology vehicles all across North America.

Jim Press, president of Toyota Motor North America, told a meeting of the Electric Drive Transportation Association, “Dave was considered by many to be the ‘American father of the Prius.’ He dedicated his life to promoting electric-drive technology. As a result, he earned the respect of the engineering community, policy makers and environmentalists.”

Dave joined Toyota in 1991 at the Toyota Technical Center, USA, in Gardena, California, as senior manager in Engine Evaluation. He became general manager of the Powertrain department, responsible for engine and drivetrain calibrations for the North American market, and went on to become the executive engineer for advanced technology vehicles. Earlier, during 26 years with General Motors, he had led Durability Test Development and served in various roles in the Vehicle Emissions laboratory. Dave Hermance’s careers at General Motors and Toyota spanned four decades.

Duke Helfand and Kurt Streeter of Los Angeles Times called Dave “an engineering wizard for Toyota with an environmentalist’s heart -- an executive who championed hybrid gasoline-electric cars years before global warming entered the popular conversation.” They added, “He translated the virtues of the fuel-efficient Prius in appearances before lawmakers and scientists, promoting a car of the future that would win the embrace of a once-skeptical American public.”

AutoWeek magazine’s Mark Vaughn wrote, “Apart from getting the public to accept the idea of hybrid cars, Hermance had the difficult task of explaining post-graduate physics and engineering concepts to powerful regulatory bureaucrats and lawmakers who usually didn’t have technical backgrounds. Hermance could do that in a way that didn’t make those he spoke to feel ignorant and didn’t make him appear arrogant. It was a process almost always a pleasure for both parties.”

Dave Hermance was remembered by the chairman of the Center for Automotive Research with words that expressed the feelings of Dave’s associates at Toyota: “He possessed deep knowledge, was highly articulate and a pleasure to work with in every respect. On top of his professional attributes he was a terrific human being. He will be missed by all.”