LA Auto Show: Hybrid Systems Help Cut SUVs' Thirst

LA Auto Show: Hybrid Systems Help Cut SUVs' Thirst

If you’ve ever looked upon an XXL SUV and wondered what kind of person would drive such a gas hog in the face of An Inconvenient Truth, you’re not alone. General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz says many owners of the Cadillac of urban assault vehicles — the Escalade — are wondering the same thing.

“Many of them are in show business or sports and they are starting to get leery of their public image of driving around in a vehicle that manifestly consumes a lot of fuel,” he told Green Car Advisor on the first day of the LA Auto Show. GM’s response: The 2009 Cadillac Escalade Hybrid. Or as Lutz put it, “guilt-free Escalade driving.”

Never mind that the Escalade Hybrid might only get 19 miles per gallon. And never mind  that its price — at least $60,000, but otherwise unspecified — is a lot of money for a vehicle that’s unlikely to match any of the muy macho, mountain-conquering moves common to sport-ute commercials.

What really matters is that this Escalade model will bear “H Y B R I D” stickers across both sets of side doors and sport GM’s green “H” badges in multiple locations, which should make image-conscious celebrity owners feel better about themselves.

Cadillac isn't alone in worrying about image. Engineers at Chrysler, Dodge and Porsche also are working hard to boost the fuel economy of some of their petrol-slurping machines. The theory is that if you are going to add the expense of a hybrid system to a vehicle, might as well make it a pricey model whose buyers are less likely to balk at shelling out a few thousand dollars more to be able to fly the green flag.

And, the automakers argue, it's better to boost the mileage of the gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs that make up half your sales than to hybridize an already fuel-efficient economy car that accounts for a much smaller percentage of sales (this doesn't work for Honda, but does wonders for GM, Ford and Chrysler).

That theory got a boost Thursday when the Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid, a cousin of the Escalade Hybrid, was named "Green Car of the Year" by the Green Car Journal's panel of environmentalist and journalist judges. The Tahoe, with a 6.0-liter V8 and GM's two-mode hybrid system, delivers 21 mpg in the city -- the same city-cycle EPA rating as the four-cylinder Toyota Camry sedan.

Indeed, if there was a major green theme at this year's LA show, it’s that America’s love affair with SUVs remains strong, and the big trucks could be even more popular if they covered more ground on less gas.

In fairness to the Cadillac clan, 19 mpg is a whopping 58 percent increase in fuel efficiency over the 12 mpg that the current, gas-only Escalade gets. It’s a dramatic improvement for a vehicle that exceeds 5,500 pounds and is capable of pulling its own weight. It might even buy a few polar bears a little more time.

Not to be outdone, Chrysler debuted two hybrid SUVs on Wednesday – the 2009 Chrysler Aspen Hybrid and the '09 Dodge Durango Hybrid – both packing all-new 5.7-liter Hemi-Hybrid engines, Chrysler's version of the two-mode hybrid system it codeveloped with GM and BMW, and a cylinder deactivation system that alternates between V8 mode when more power is needed and four-cylinder mode when less juice will do.

Facing a siege of photographers, cameramen and writers and wedged between a gold Aspen hitched to a horse trailer and a candy-apple red Durango towing a motorboat, Frank Klegon, executive VP of product development for Chrysler, described the vehicles’ raison d'être:

“When you think of a hybrid vehicle, you probably think of a midsize sedan or a compact SUV. What probably doesn’t come to mind is a full-size vehicle that can actually allow your whole family or your friends and all their stuff to go wherever you want to go. You wouldn’t think you could have such a balance of fuel efficiency and capability, but wouldn’t it be nice? Well, we thought so, too.”

By fuel efficiency, Klegon said he expects the hybrid SUVs to best their gas-only siblings by 25 percent in all-around driving. Later on, he told Green Car Advisor that fuel economies of 18 or 19 miles per gallon around town and highway miles “probably in the low 20s” should be expected. He withheld comment concerning the vehicles’ prices, saying they had not be finalized.

Klegon described the trucks’ probable buyers this way: “You’re looking at people that have a sport-utility need first. They are looking at fuel economy, yet what they really desire is the capability of this. I think we’re entering a new market. We’ve heard a lot of people who have said, ‘What I want is a sport-utility but, gee, I can’t handle 12 miles per gallon.’ We’re giving them better mileage.”

Both the Aspen and Durango exude elegance and style, with chrome galore, wood-accented door panels, leather-trimmed bucket seats, an eight-way power driver seat with memory, a four-way power passenger seat, and heated front-row seats. Both vehicles can accommodate eight passengers.

Although it’s not scheduled to be available to consumers “before the end of the decade,” Porsche's Cayenne Hybrid attracted a lot of attention during the first day of the LA show, thanks in part to Wolfgang Dürheimer, executive VP of Research and Development at Porsche.

While stating that their work was far from over, Dürheimer outlined strides Porsche engineers have already made, reducing the hybrid’s fuel consumption by 30 percent while actually increasing its acceleration.

At the heart of Cayenne Hybrid’s leaner, meaner demeanor resides a “hybrid manager.” The device coordinates the car’s three main components – a combustion engine, an electric motor and a battery – while overseeing some 20,000 data parameters (a conventional engine might have 6,000).

The Cayenne Hybrid will feature a full-hybrid design, where the hybrid module (clutch and electric motor) is positioned between the combustion engine and the transmission, rather than having the hybrid drive train branching output along various lines and in various directions via a planetary gear set.

Other features unique to the Cayenne Hybrid include electrohydraulic steering – a first for a vehicle of its kind. It's an effort to ensure that the Cayenne Hybrid drives like a Porsche, with predictable and safe handling characteristics and superior agility.

Porsche plans to introduce similar hybrid technology in a version of its Panamera four-door Gran Turismo. The standard Panamera will debut in 2009, with a hybrid model to follow. 

Like Lutz and Klegon, Dürheimer said the technology that goes into a hybrid jacks up its price. In the Cayenne’s case, that would be several thousand dollars. “There will be a necessity for the customer to go the extra mile,” he said, while withholding the future vehicle’s price point.

A Porsche that gets 30 percent better fuel efficiency and better acceleration while losing nothing in agility? There shouldn't be a shortage of buyers willing to go the distance.

Scott Doggett, Contributor, and John O'Dell, Senior Editor

John O'Dell:  is an AutoObserver Senior Editor. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter.