Dropping Gas Prices = Trouble for Hybrids?Hyundai’s New Entourage

If you’ve heard recently, there was a drop in oil prices around the world, although this may seem good news, it sure isn’t looking as good for fuel-efficient vehicles such as hybrids. The recent oil drop have left American motorists be less concerned about saving the world and buying more fuel-efficient vehicles. Toyota even started to offer incentives and discounts on some electric-hybrid models including the Prius for the first time. Starting this month, Prius buyers in the United States can get 0% financing for two years or lease payments from $219 a month. Other manufacturers have also started to give discounts on its hybrid vehicles including the Honda Accord, the Ford Escape, and the Mercury Mariner Hybrid.

Hyundai’s New Entourage

MotorWeek, a popular automotive publication and television show, has just nominated the Hyundai Entourage as the ‘Best Minivan’ in the 2007 Editor’s Choice Awards. As a result, the Entourage’s cousin, the Kia Sedona, has also won the award. Both Hyundai and Kia vehicles have improved in quality and provides many features. Already winning NTHSA’s Top Safety Pick award, it’s no doubt the Entourage will continue to win many more.

The 25th annual MotorWeek Driver’s Choice Award winners were chosen by evaluations made by 15 judges, which were composed of writers, producers, and the crew members of MotorWeek. Over 150 cars and trucks were tested and judged.

Hibrid Technology Car

 

Hibrid Technology Car

The best way to save money on gas, as well as to save the environment is to drive a hybrid vehicle. Right now the best option we have for building a fuel efficient car is hybrid technology. This is especially important for people who drive large vehicles that use a lot of gas. If you drive a van then a hybrid could save you a lot of money on gas, not to mention significantly reduce your carbon footprint. So what are the options for buying a hybrid van?

The options when it comes to hybrid vans is that there aren’t any. There are currently no hybrid vans available on the market. One would have thought that vans would have been amongst the first vehicles to receive a hybrid engine since they tend to use the most fuel of any passenger vehicle. This is especially true of the minivan which is used almost exclusively by families. Minivans owners are the kind of people who are usually most sensitive to the price of fuel. It is strange that the manufacturers have not chosen to put a hybrid in a van.
The fact that there are no hybrid vans is made doubly strange by the fact that there are so many hybrid SUV’s. Vans and SUV’s normally have the same chassis and drive train it is usually just the body that is different. The fact that there are so many hybrid SUV’s available and no vans is hard to understand. If they are already building SUV’s with hybrid engines it is quite an easy matter for them to build vans with them as well.
Hybrid vans don’t appear to be too likely to appear on the market anytime soon as a van leasing option. The Toyota Estima is a hybrid van that the company has sold in Japan for a few years now. There is pressure on the company to make the van available in the United States but this seems unlikely to happen. There is a petition going around in an attempt to get Toyota to make the van available. In fact the opposite has happened and the van is no longer being sold in Japan. The reason for this isn’t clear but it isn’t a good sign for the hybrid van market. The only other hybrid van likely to come to market in the near future is a hybrid version of the Mercedes Sprinter. Mercedes are currently testing a hybrid version but when or if it comes to market remains to be seen.
The lack of a hybrid van on the market is hard to explain. There is clearly a demand for it as shown by the petition to have the Estima made available in the US. And it should be fairly easy for the manufacturers to build one since vans share much in common with SUV’s, of which there are many hybrids on the market. The only way a hybrid van is likely to come on the market is if it is made clear to the manufacturers that there is an overwhelming demand for them.