9 Responses

1. What do you call…
   Ford Escape Hybrid
   Mercury Mariner Hybrid

2. Ok, that’s one U.S. manufacturer making one model (under two names) with the help of Japanese manufacturer Mazda. The rest of the U.S. manufacturers simpy don’t care because they’re making big bucks selling huge gas guzzlers to consumers who don’t care. They could build hybrids if they wanted to, but they don’t have the incentive.

3. the ones hsue points out are also the ones that came to my mind and that’s not too bad. there aren’t that many coming from Japan yet. There’s one toyota, one honda and maybe 2 from lexus. i can’t think of one from europe. so in comparison they US firms aren’t that far behind

   why aren’t they way ahead of the japanese? its got to be a lack of cash. the us automakers are not in financial positions to be making progressive moves right now. they’ve been taking a beating because they have higher operating costs than japanese competitors and have lots of retirements benefits getting cashed in by retiring baby boomers. so they can’t allocate as much money to R&D as japanese firms.

4. I’ll refer you to this thread which was just posted YESTERDAY

   http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AiN.k7tICfx1.OM11XOgjErsy6IX?qid=20060706110129AAW3tCL

5. American automakers can’t afford to invest products that don’t make money and are not sustainable in a rational economic context. They’re too busy paying for a couple million of the wealthiest retirees the country has ever known, not to mention fueling the healthcare inflation crisis while still sustaining something north of 5% of the US economy. The Japanese are not burdened by such problems and can afford to lose money on a product while a small number of customers are willing to spend more money for a technology that will not pay for itself in fuel savings over a reasonable time frame (unless gas goes to $5/gal, you drive a lot, or the feds kick in w/ even more subsidies).
   That having been said, hybrid technology is great and here to stay in one form or another, but in order to have any real impact it will have to be economically rational (meaning the price of the technology will have to decrease or the cost of gas will have to increase – both of which are likely). When it happens, everyone will be in the game. The Japanese know all this, but with money to burn they have very adeptly positioned themselves in the front of the market w/o concern for profit or rational economics. You can’t fault them for this – their investment paid off not in dollars and yen but rather in public perception of their companies. GM tried the same thing back when it had some money to play with (remember the electric car?) but it didn’t quite work out. You win some, you lose some…

6. Chevy Silverado hybrid and I believe Saturn Vue. What makes you think they aren’t?

7. Probably the same reason they are incapable of making QUALITY autos

8. yeah..there is like one from each Major brand ..but..when you have a SUV getting over 20 miles a gallon with out hybrid crap…and with like twice the horsepower of a hybrid (2007 Tahoe)….whats the point…and then e85..so yeah..id go with American mussel over just about any import

9. Because a bicycle is faster and cheaper