Monday, April 04, 2005

New hybrid cars

We would talk about the new hybrid cars or to say future hybrid cars going to available in the market in near future. First lets look at the present oil prices. This week average gas price per gallon in US is $2.15 compared to last week of $2.11, it is quite a increase. A year ago the gas prices per gallon was $1.76. Trend shows that it is the right time to go green.

Some of the future or new hybrid cars going to be available in the market are:

2007 Chevy Malibu Hybrid:
2007 Chevy Malibu Hybrid is going to have similar hybrid system as planned Saturn VUE SUV hybrid. The car will have a 12 to 15% increases in fuel economy. 2007 Chevy Malibu Hybrid will have automatic transmission with 4 cylinder, 2.4-liter engine with front-wheel drive. Less then 6 miles an hour and the engine shuts down thus car runs on battery system. This car is going to be built at Kansas City. 2007 Chevy Malibu Hybrid is going to have 24 miles and 35 miles per gallon on city and highway respectively.

2006 Nissan Altima Hybrid:
Nissan is not going to develop any hybrid program. Sole intention of introducing 2006 Nissan Altima Hybrid is to meet fuel economy and emissions standards in some states like California. Altima is buying hybrid technology from Toyota to build the car. The primary focus of 2006 Nissan Altima Hybrid will not be the fuel economy or reduced emission but the car will try to match performance and acceleration of non-hybrid models.

2007 Toyota Sienna Hybrid Minivan:
A larger version of Estima is Sienna marketed in US and Europe by Toyota. Sienna hybrid will be the first hybrid minivan available in US market. The exact date for the launch is not specified by Toyota but it is most likely going to be introduced in 2007. 2007 Toyota Sienna Hybrid Minivan will have 2.4 liter, four-cylinder engine. The hybrid engine will be very likely similar to Highlander or Lexus Hybrid SUVs. The engine will deliver 270 hp of power and will come with an acceleration of 0-60 km/hour in 8 seconds.

A few other new hybrid cars waiting round the corners are 2006 Lexus GS, 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe, 2007 Dodge Durango and 2007 GMC Yukon. We would discuss these cars in detail on my future blog.