GM/DC To Jointly Develop Newfangled "Hybrid" Engine - Maybe Ready By 2007! [View All]

[hatrack]

Well I'll be hogtied & hornswoggled! What WILL they think of next?!?

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"The "two-mode" hybrid system, adapted from GM's transit bus hybrid on the market in some US cities today, uses smaller electric motors that work like a gear set to offer superior performance and fuel economy, Tom Stephens, group vice president of GM Powertrain, told reporters on a conference call. That allows the system to use a smaller conventional engine, making it more cost-effective than competitors hybrids. GM and DaimlerChrysler will spend "hundreds of millions of dollars" in development of the hybrid system, one reason they agreed to partner, Stephens said. The companies will sign a definitive agreement early next year, they said.

"We've both been looking for this kind of leapfrog technology that we think will be the one into the future," Eric Ridenour, executive vice president of product development with Chrysler, said on the conference call. GM will first use the system in late 2007 in its Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon full-size SUVs, Stephens said. Chrysler will follow "shortly after" with a hybrid version of its Dodge Durango full-size SUV among a range of hybrids, Ridenour said.

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Chrysler and Mercedes have not rolled out any hybrid vehicles yet. GM earlier this year began offering hybrid pickup trucks, but in very small volumes to some fleet customers, and the vehicles only get a 10 percent to 12 percent improvement in fuel economy. Some analysts do not consider the vehicles to be true hybrids. "There is no doubt that Toyota is about five years ahead of everybody else, so everybody else is late in the game," said Graeme Maxton, managing director of consultancy Autopolis.

Honda Motor Co. Ltd. began selling its third hybrid in the US last week and Toyota has said it will eventually offer hybrids across its entire vehicle lineup."

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