The hybrids are coming By Ann M. Job, Associated Press Tuesday, March 12, 2002 Get ready for the new wave. More vehicles powered by gasoline engines linked to electric motors will arrive quickly in the coming years. No fewer than seven gas-electric hybrid models are expected to be sold in the United States by 2004. Automotive market researcher J.D. Power and Associates of Agoura Hills, Calif., estimates U.S. hybrid sales could approach 500,000 by 2006. And in contrast to the Honda Insight two-seater and the Toyota Prius small sedan that were the first such vehicles on sale, the newest hybrids won't be oddly styled small cars. The first such mainstream vehicle to go hybrid comes this spring when the country's No. 1 selling compact car, the Honda Civic, adds a gas-electric hybrid model. Looking for all the world like a regular Civic sedan and rolling off the same assembly line as do other Civics, this new model offers something the others don't: an estimated 50 miles a gallon in fuel mileage. Yet officials at Honda are hopeful the car won't attract only fuel-conscious buyers. "My dream is that buyers never mention fuel economy," said Robert Bienenfeld, senior manager of automobile product planning and alternate fuel vehicle sales and marketing at American Honda Motor Co. Inc. "This is really just another powertrain option for people. You know, the technology truly is transparent because drivers don't have to learn how to drive this car." They don't have to plug it in, either, despite the electric motor that's in the car. It's recharged automatically as the Civic is driven. Civic is just the first to use a mainstream, existing vehicle body to house a hybrid powerplant. In 2003, consumers will find the first hybrid sport-utility vehicle in showrooms. The Ford Escape HEV, for hybrid electric vehicle, has a four-cylinder gas engine and an electric motor under the hood. DaimlerChrysler's Chrysler Group has had on the drawing board its own hybrid SUV slated for 2003. A hybrid Dodge Ram pickup also is under study, with production targeted for 2004. The Ram hybrid could use both gas and diesel engines mated to an electric motor. Meanwhile, General Motors Corp. plans to offer a hybrid version of its full-sized trucks, the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, in 2004. Other hybrid vehicles are slated too. And Toyota, whose Prius launched the gas-electric hybrid wave for consumers worldwide when it went on sale in Japan in 1997, is looking to add a gas-electric SUV to its U.S. lineup. Officials have said that over time, Toyota plans to offer hybrids in many, if not most, of its models. There is one catch, though. At least at the outset, these new, environmentally friendly models are likely to cost more than comparable vehicles with gasoline engines only. For example, Honda's Civic Hybrid is expected to be priced around $20,000. This compares with the $17,700 suggested retail price for a 2002 Civic LX sedan that has many of the Hybrid's standard interior features such as side air bags, cruise control, air conditioning, and AM/FM stereo with CD player. The reason for the higher prices? Automakers want to recoup the costs of developing the new technology. Hybrids aren't necessarily identical in their operation. But in simplistic terms, their systems are similar. An internal combustion engine provides the basic propulsion for the hybrid vehicles but is aided by an onboard electric motor. How and when the electric motor assists can differ, however. In Honda's front-wheel-drive Insight and Civic, for example, the electric motor provides the torque for the front wheels right at the start of acceleration from a standstill. As the car picks up speed, the internal combustion engine kicks in, and at top highway speeds, the gas engine alone provides the power.