It's Official: Cost of Hybridization is Zero

It's Official: Cost of Hybridization is Zero

Unleaded gasoline: $2.67 per gallon. Extra cost to cut fuel consumption with hybrid technology: priceless.

For Ford Motor Co.'s Lincoln upscale division, however, the definition of "priceless" means "no cost." Lincoln announced today that the price of its 2011 MKZ Hybrid is the same as a standard MKZ with a conventional V6: $35,180.

Pricing the hybrid MKZ identically to the standard version is a significant and potentially game-changing ploy that may put Lincoln on the map with hybrid enthusiasts and surely will cause competing automakers' marketers to watch customer response. And Lincoln's gambit also will test - for good and bad - the limits of hybrid-technology upcharge.

Lincoln needs a jump-start and the pricing play for the MKZ Hybrid is certain to stimulate conversation and headlines. Critics will say the gambit points to the margins that must already be in place for Lincoln's version of the Ford Fusion, but the move still looks to be a major step in the democratization of hybrid technology - or at least a new strategy to kindle hybrid consideration, which typically reacts in direct proportion to gasoline prices, which have remained low through most of the recession.

At 41 miles per gallon in the city, Lincoln's calling the MKZ Hybrid the most fuel-efficient luxury sedan available. A full examination of Lincoln's unique gambit for the 2011 MKZ Hybrid is over at Edmunds Green Car Advisor.

Bill Visnic:  is an AutoObserver Senior Editor. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter