Big pickups, SUVs will be hybrids

ASSOCIATED PRESS

In the race to get greener, automakers want to leave no vehicle behind.

Some of the largest pickups and sport utility vehicles will soon come in hybrid versions, as automakers bet that consumers want to save fuel without compromising capability. Chrysler LLC will show its first two hybrids — both SUVs — at this week’s Los Angeles Auto Show, while General Motors Corp. will unveil its hybrid Chevrolet Silverado pickup. Even the mammoth Cadillac Escalade is getting a hybrid option.

But with efficiency comes a price. Although specific numbers aren’t being released yet, the new hybrids will cost more than models with conventional engines. And industry analysts are wondering just how much demand there will be for the new power systems.

“Americans shouldn’t have to choose tiny little vehicles to get fuel efficiency,” Mark LaNeve, General Motors Corp.’s vice president of North American sales, service and marketing, said during a media preview.

The big hybrids will be one story at the show, which is often a showcase for automakers’ greenest ideas. Honda Motor Co. will introduce a new hydrogen fuel-cell car that will be marketed to consumers next year, while GM is announcing plans to provide 10 fuel-cell vehicles to ferry customers around at Disneyland. Hyundai Motor Co. will show the QarmaQ concept car, which is made from recycled plastic bottles.

It’s unclear how much demand there is for full-size hybrids, said Mike Omotoso, senior manager of global powertrain forecasting for J.D. Power and Associates. Omotoso predicts about 10 percent of customers buying large SUVs would choose the hybrid option. Overall, hybrid sales are expected to reach 300,000 this year, or about 2 percent of all U.S. sales, according to R.L. Polk and Co., an auto information and marketing company.

A hybrid system developed by GM, Chrysler, Mercedes-Benz and BMW will debut on 2009 models of the Chrysler Aspen, Dodge Durango, the Silverado and the Escalade. The automakers say the hybrid system — called a two-mode hybrid — improves fuel economy by 25 percent, or between 40 percent and 50 percent in city driving. For the Silverado, which now gets 15 miles per gallon in the city, that could mean an improvement to 21 miles per gallon, similar to the Toyota Camry in city driving.

The system can operate in electric-only mode at low speeds or with a combination of the gas engine and electric assistance at higher speeds. Like single-mode hybrid systems now used by Toyota Motor Corp., Ford Motor Co. and others, the two-mode runs without the gas engine at low speeds, but at higher speeds, the electric motor contributes more power. Single-mode systems also have heavier motors, making them less ideal for towing.

Hybrid versions of the Chrysler Aspen and Dodge Durango SUVs are scheduled to arrive in showrooms in mid-2008, Chrysler said.

GM already has introduced the two-mode hybrid system in its Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon SUVs, which will be available in early 2008.