A Hybrid Electric Car Isn't That Much Use; How about

A Hybrid Electric Car Isn't That Much Use; How about a Hybrid Minivan?

People who buy sedans, would often not mind a bit of performance or sportiness every now and then. The fact that Toyota would pick the sedan as the form to give its first hybrid vehicle is rather perplexing. A hybrid electric car isn't the greatest with performance, butd is great with fuel efficiency. That is just the kind of thing that a family minivan could use. No one with a troop of screaming children, and a ton of groceries is going to want great acceleration, or sporty cornering. What they want on their trips to soccer practice and Wal-Mart's, is regular and dependable fuel efficiency, and just enough acceleration to get themselves out of a tough spot sometimes. It would look like the hybrid electric car manufacturers of the world picked the wrong body shape for their first venture with hybrid technology.

What the car manufacturers did instead was, they gave the minivan, just a repackaged SUV, a heavy eight cylinder engine, that burned a hole in your pocket every time you took it out, and wasn't great on performance either, because of its suspension and large shape. If they had put that kind of engine in a sedan, they would at least have put a lot of smiles on people's faces. A family with three kids, and grandma to tow around could hardly fit in a Prius, now could they? So they made a misstep with their first hybrid. How about the right choice the second time around? Actually there has been no second time around; no one ever thought to make a hybrid minivan. Actually, they did think of it, but only in Japan. It is called the Toyota Estima, and it regularly returns 65 mpg. They've had it in Japan for about 10 years now.

Of course it's not that no one noticed this; there was even an online petition demanding that Toyota bring it to the US. But so far, Toyota doesn't seem to feel there is much merit to this idea. But then, Toyota isn't the only company with hybrid technology on its hands; Honda has its Insight hybrid electric car model; why don't they do something about it? Honda even said once that the company was going to turn every one of its models hybrid. There was a TV interview a short time ago by a Honda executive, and his best take on the subject was that he had no comment. You would think that Honda was desperate for some kind of a leg up on the competition; next to the Prius, the Insight doesn't sell half as well. Perhaps they aren't as desperate after all.

But Chrysler, fresh after a bankruptcy restructuring, should have a bit invested in a hybrid minivan; they did create the very minivan concept after all. Chrysler actually is testing in concept, a bunch of plug-in hybrid electric minivans. But minivans are actually large and heavy, and not really the thing for the plug-in variety. A regular gasoline powered hybrid would be much better. But as usual, Chrysler has the wrong idea. GM seems to be the only one who's actually interested in the general idea. They are planning a hybrid SUV, and maybe they could port it over to the minivan. The hybrid electric car is all about fuel efficiency; put it where it will be the most use, consumers say. Maybe the powers that be are listening.