First advanced hybrid vehicles will be big

DETROIT — General Motors Corp. will focus its most advanced hybrid technology on its largest, least-fuel-efficient models first. It also has scrapped plans to place a full-hybrid engine in a future compact sport utility vehicle, the automaker said Thursday.

Tom Stephens, GM's group vice president for powertrains, said the company has opted to use its most fuel-efficient hybrid systems on high-volume vehicles that consume the most fuel — the Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon SUVs and Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups.

The decision comes nearly a year after GM announced plans to offer a variety of gas-and-electric-powered cars, pickups and sport utility vehicles in the next four years.

"When we looked at the business decision, that was the right business decision," Stephens told automotive journalists at a briefing. "When we looked at conserving fuel in the United States, that was the right decision for the environment."

The first of the automaker's advanced hybrids — those that can achieve a fuel-economy improvement of up to 35 percent, compared to one-third that amount with mild systems — is not scheduled to reach showrooms until 2007.

That means GM, the world's largest automaker, will be roughly three years behind its biggest rival, Ford Motor Co., in offering a full-hybrid vehicle in the United States. Ford plans to begin selling a hybrid version of its Escape SUV late next summer.

Toyota's Lexus luxury division also is expected to begin selling a hybrid SUV next year, analysts say.

Hybrids draw power from two different energy sources, typically a gas or diesel engine combined with an electric motor. For now, the only versions available in the United States are small cars made by Honda Motor Co. and Toyota.

"What it comes down to is if you want a real hybrid in the small SUV class, you're going to have to turn to Ford or Toyota," said David Friedman, research director for the clean vehicles program at the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington.

At the briefing, GM executives said they'd tweaked the automaker's hybrid strategy to include stronger hybrid engines than originally planned on the Tahoe and Yukon. Similar systems also will be used on the next-generation Silverado and Sierra pickups.

The big hybrid SUVs are expected to be available in 2007, the pickups in 2008. Stephens declined to discuss pricing, though hybrids for now cost more than conventional vehicles.