Hybrids Everywhere! Toyota Pushing to Make Them a Standard Option
As automakers roll out new hybrid models, they edge closer and closer to the obvious end point -- a hybrid option for every model in their lineup. That way, hybrids aren't necessarily a big deal, but just another box to check on the options list. Toyota is in the vanguard here, because it has said it will actually do this in a decade, but others are moving in that direction -- starting with their luxury divisions.
The beauty of hybrid drive is that it's scalable up or down, and will offer the fuel economy benefits everyone wants to both big trucks and tiny subcompacts. General Motors offers a monster Silverado hybrid, and Honda a version of its minuscule Fit (in Japan). As the cost of hybrid drive comes down (it's moving at about the same fast pace as battery packs), the full-line concept becomes more and more practical as a fairly affordable option.
It can be done
There's no big technical barrier to a full line of hybrids, but maybe there are psychological and economic ones. It's an expensive program if only 10 percent of consumers order a hybrid. And right now hybrids are special cars, with bragging rights. Extending the option to everything in the product line might make hybrids less exclusive, and therefore not as desirable. But that process is inevitable, anyway, as hybrid expand from a small niche to a more mainstream product.
John Hanson, a spokesman for Toyota, told me:
We've been saying for quite a while that we're going to hybridize the entire line, and that's still our intention -- by sometime in the 2020s. We'll have hybrid drivetrains either as standard or an option on all our products.Obviously, that means hybrid Toyotas that don't exist now, including a minivan. Toyota actually has one, but it's sold only in Japan (as the Estima). A Toyota hybrid van is coming here, but there are complications and it may take awhile. U.S.-spec minivans are much bigger and heavier than their Japanese counterparts, so the company will need extra-clever engineering for big fuel economy gains. And coming up with a high-mpg minivan is just one of the hurdles to hybridizing the entire American product line.
Honda: no commitment, but a luxury trend
Honda is moving in the full-line hybrid direction, too, though it hasn't actually committed to that. Chris Naughton, a spokesman for the company, told me:
Honda had the first U.S.-market hybrid with the Insight in 1999, but we haven't announced a date or intent to apply hybrids across our entire line-up. In lieu of that, we're now offering a wider array of hybrid models than ever before, including, next year, a hybrid Acura and a Honda plug-in hybrid.Both those new cars will find a market, and the plug-in hybrid could well be another addition to the expanding Civic line. But the Acura is part of a distinct trend toward more luxury hybrid offerings. That's good bottom-line thinking, says analyst George Augustaitis of Mintel International:
Our consumer research shows that households with higher income levels are more likely to buy a hybrid over an electric vehicle. Luxury products have higher profits per vehicle as it stands, so if an automotive company has a hybrid option for over half of their vehicles, chances are they would still make money. Lexus has five hybrid vehicles, and Acura is thinking about making three to five vehicles with a hybrid option. BMW has the Hybrid 7 and X6, and is supposed to be adding no less than four more. And Audi is adding the Q5 and A6 hybrids.Augustaitis didn't mention Mercedes, but the automaker said in 2009 that its top-of-the-line S-Class could become hybrid only. Spokesman Dan Barile said back then that the automaker was "seriously exploring" that idea. The next generation of the luxury S-Class is due in 2014.
It's good for big companies to have big goals, and Toyota's vision is achievable, practical, and will attract copycat automakers down the road.
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Photo: Toyota