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Google Reader Shared How the public, not SUVs, screwed up the idea of hybrids
The public is right to be upset to find that hybrids don’t automatically improve mileage by 20 MPG. Most hybrids now, compared with the market just a few years ago, are a bunch of SUVs with only slight improvements in mileage and very high annual fuel costs. The SUV fad began dying, so SUV makers looked to cost cuts, switched to crossovers, and added hybrid systems to hang on for dear life. We’ll see how much they tarnish the public’s perception of hybrids in the future.
Source: How SUVs screwed up the idea of hybrids - AutoblogGreen
The excerpt above pretty much summarizes this recent post from AutoblogGreen. They were covering an ABC News story which notes that the annual cost of hybrids (i.e. fuel cost) is rising. Both ABC News and ABG take it upon themselves to blame SUVs.
I have no love for SUVs, which is a whole other topic, but to condemn auto manufacturers for introducing “hybrids” which don’t get as high gas mileage as the Prius et al? That’s downright ludicrous.
They note that since 2000, the annual fuel costs of hybrids have gone up. This is due to the use of hybrid technology in pre-existing cars, resulting in a product that wasn’t fuel efficiency-designed from the ground up and generally just has an electric motor slapped into the mix. While in examples like GM full-size trucks this is just a bid to get a few points higher MPG, in others like the Saturn Aura it is an attempt to introduce hybrid technology to a new low in starting price. Regardless of the product, the bottom line is that hybrid technology increases fuel efficiency and that despite whatever motivation the manufacturer might have had, it is a step in the right direction.
Instead of blaming auto companies for introducing “hybrids” that don’t get elevnty-billion MPG like the Toyota Prius or Honda Insight, and thus “tarnish the public’s perception of hybrids in the future,” the public needs to take responsibility for knowing products before they buy. The public needs to know that the Honda Accord Hybrid, while not selling well and being discontinued after 2007, gave you the fuel economy of a compact four-cylinder car in a mid-size sedan with 255HP. The Ford Escape Hybrid gives you a mid-size SUV with gas mileage better than most sedans. GM is showing huge commitment to many forms of green auto technology, from offering the first semi-hybrid system on a full-size pickup truck to making strong pushes for E85 to offering hybrid technology (albeit not as efficient as Toyota’s more expensive systems) at a new low price point.
If the public knew that and realized that today’s hybrids are just a stepping stone to more efficient transportation, they might get off their keisters and pay more attention to something other than a keyword about the product they may buy - “hybrid.”
September 26th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
I see Hybrids as a middle step towards something else. What that is, beats me. With petrol going up with any excuse (crisis in middle east, it goes up, crisis resolved, up again, lack of production, up again, increase in production… you guess it: up; Oil has stopped obeying any known economic law) and probably depleting sometime during the 21st century we need alternatives.
As a matter of fact I have never understood why people in cities would like to have SUVs. I come from a mid-rural area, where rougher vehicles are needed because of the snow and mud, that makes sense. When I see the same vehicles running on pavement, struggling for large enough parking spots and wasting oil I just can’t understand it. Besides having a smaller, faster sports car is much more fun to drive!
Agreed, consumers are to blame, in part. But some not-very-honest marketing strategies don’t help that much either.
September 26th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
All good points Esteban, but I will say that the in the end responsibility is on consumers to know what they are buying. In today’s world there is no excuse for ignorance on purchases. This is the first google result of “real hybrid mpg”
http://www.greenhybrid.com/compare/mileage/
Marketers also have a responsibility to advertise their products realistically and accurately. But reality is that given the definition of hybrid car technology, pretty much every “hybrid” vehicle out there falls into that category; even the GM full-size trucks. I think the biggest misconception that people have is that hybrid = 60 MPG.
In the case of cars, the sales people also share a great deal of responsibility - but let’s face it, that’s a severely uphill battle.
September 30th, 2007 at 7:55 pm
Tim, Esteban,
In my opinion, for a portion of the population, some of the same desires that drove manufacturers to build bigger SUV and trucks, to offer ever higher capacity, power, this or that. It’s all in how you get people to buy the next model. 250hp? now 300, 400, 650 (coming soon to a vett near you). We saw the same thing in the SUVs, which until the 90’s there really weren’t many of. Bigger and bigger, with more stuff - more leather, more cup holders, more folding seats, telescoping mirrors, automatic running boards, whatever, etc, etc.
It’s all driven by the idea that our vehicles ARE expression and extension of our ego and self image. It’s a reflection of self.
Now, studies have shown that life goes on despite rising prices. People complain more, but they don’t stop driving, or doing anything else. We haven’t yet hit a point where people really will change. The media switched to green in the last couple years, and suddenly the hybrid became the next big thing. Not because there was a real need, or people really care about 60 mpg in mass. A few do. But the masses, flock in the direction of society. That’s why everyone got the SUV, then the cross over, and the lattest thing is to slap hybrid emblems on everything. I think Tim, you covered a story on members of the black eyed peas dumping their H2 Hummers because their PR people, or they themselves sensed that the enfatuation with giant SUVs with spinning 24″ wheels wasn’t the cool thing anymore. Overnight, it had become decidedly uncool.
Now everyone wants to appear socially aware, and environmentally concerned. Only because it’s THE thing to do right now. People are sheep.
October 1st, 2007 at 8:54 pm
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