American-Made Hybrids: What Did We Do Wrong?

Sometimes, it seems as if certain cities are so heavily populated with hybrids that you’d swear they were as widely produced as gasoline-only vehicles. But if you stop to think about the makers behind those silent emissions-reducers, you’d find just two companies manufacture the majority of them: Toyota with six models and General Motors boasting eight this year. 

General Motors, huh. Not the first, second or even third carmaker you’d couple with the word ‘hybrid’. But it does make sense. With Toyota they entered into a five-year collaboration to test and develop multiple components of the hybrid system back in the late 1990s. From that, Toyota developed the Prius and GM…well, what did it do?   
 

Well, apparently nothing until 2005, when GM first wedged a ‘mild’ hybrid system, one not able to run on battery power alone, into the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra. 
 

This was a full four years after the first Prius was unleashed on the U.S. market, and five after the launch of the original Honda Insight. These GM trucks were only available in six states in a very limited quantity. One year later they launched nationwide, but by 2007 they were no longer available for sale.  
 

The same year the Sierra and Silverado were yanked from dealer lots marked the debut of the Saturn VUE Green Line and Aura Green Line. What does green line mean? You’re not the only one to ask that question; most of the American public doesn’t know that it’s marketing-speak for hybrid. 
 

In 2007, a joint venture between GM, Chrysler, BMW and Daimler created the two-mode hybrid system – one that used two hybrid motors and specified transmission ratios to propel a larger vehicle on battery power alone. GM’s fleet immediately starting birthing hybrid clones, thanks in part to political pressure against monstrous SUVs. The GMC Yukon, Chevrolet Tahoe and Cadillac Escalade all received the two-mode hybrid treatment in 2008 and in 2009, the Silverado and Sierra were added to the hybrid fleet. That same year, GM’s Malibu received a mild hybrid system, netting a pitiful 2 mpg increase. The word ‘inconsistency’ springs violently to mind when talking about GM’s hybrid program.
 

You may be wondering where was Chrysler was during all of this. The company sat on the sidelines until the joint-venture two-mode system was developed, giving them the ability to put it in their 2009 Chrysler Aspen and Dodge Durango, a product line that lasted just a few short weeks – seriously, a few weeks – before production stopped due to the economic downturn. 
 

Ford has done better than the other big two by releasing the Escape Hybrid in 2004, which combines the eco-friendliness of a hybrid with a well-received and fully capable compact SUV. Of the Big Three, only Ford succeeded in establishing a recognizable hybrid lineup by giving the Escape Hybrid buyers a worthy gas savings jump – from 22 to 35 mpg on the highway. It’s so good, it just passed the 100,000-mark for sales. 
 

In addition to adding the Mercury Mariner and Mazda Tribute hybrids in the past year, Ford has also expanded to hedge its bets with a hybrid sedan, the Mercury Milan. In the past, most people haven’t gone to GM or Ford to look for a sedan hybrid; Toyota’s seed had already been sown and the Americans couldn’t offer anything in the way of competition. We’ll see if that changes with Ford’s 2010 Fusion Hybrid – bringing in the latest tech and strong mileage numbers.
 

On the whole, the Big Three have focused on converting the super gas gulpers into more moderate swallowers. Do the math and you’ll find an increase in mpgs by even a small amount can equate to a large amount of monetary savings (cha-ching!) over an entire year, especially when the vehicle is returning such poor mileage to begin with. But does the average truck or SUV buyer see the large price markup for the hybrid and think the extra few mpgs are worth the thousands more? 
 

Trust me, they don’t. Pricing has kept buyers away from more expensive hybrid systems that don’t seem to make up for it in savings. The least expensive Cadillac Escalade runs $10,000 cheaper than the hybrid version and the GMC Yukon Hybrid comes at a premium of over $12,000. Even if buyers end up adding that much in extras to the base model, the base price is the one that resonates on first glance. 
 

An absence of education is also demonstrated on the GM brand websites. You can tell a lot about a car company’s investment in technology by looking at what they market. Toyota’s website has an entire section devoted to its hybrids. Try finding any of GM’s as the information is buried deep into the site.
Poor marketing, pricing, inconsistency, the late arrival to the market and inconsistent political pressure against gas-guzzlers are all reasons that contribute to the general lack of success seen by American-made hybrids. 
 

GM seemed to do everything half-heartedly and was unwilling to commit, Ford has recently kept its nose to the ground and started going after the green market and Chrysler, they didn’t even bother showing up.
The Big Three’s hybrid projects accurately highlight what many people have said for years about these companies: a lack of direction, consistency and forward thinking when it comes to new technologies (especially by Chrysler and GM) continues to cost them buyers, supporters and – the thing that hurts them most of all – money.