Carmakers not interested in producing hybrids anymore
It seems that the future doesn`t include the hybrid anymore! Carmakers are starting to run away from the idea of performance hybrid. Toyota`s glamorous Lexus department wants to hawk the high-end hybrid cars as being environmentally better because the pollution is smaller than the rival companies.
"That was always supposed to be part of the message, but it just hasn’t come through" says Mark Templin, the new general manager for the division. "It legitimizes what we have been doing".
First dropped hybrid models come from Honda is: the six-cylinder hybrid variant of the performance-oriented Accord sedan. And the reason is… poor gas mileage in comparison with other hybrid models, like the four-cylinder Civic from Honda or Prius by Toyota.
General Motors skips the performance hybrid selling tactic for its new hybrid the Chevy Tahoe plus the GMC Yukon SUVs.
Each of three hybrids from Lexus achieves only one or two more miles at a gallon than the comparable non-hybrid variants. The Lexus LS 600h L $104,000 super-luxury sedan model gets 21 m.p.g. in mixed driving - city/highway, the RX 400h SUV $41,180 is achieving 25 m.p.g., and the GS 450h sedan $54,900 merits 23 m.p.g.
