THE HYBRID WORLD

• Future Hybrid cars
  The hybrid cars market is on upswing and is growing very rapidly. America spend on gasoline every minute is about $200,000. Not to say about dependence on foreign oil. Hybrid vehicles are beginning to enter the market, and represent the first step in reducing America's oil consumption. The upcomming hybrid cars for this year and future. 1. DaimlerChrysler is going to introduce diesel electric Dodge Ram pickup which would be giving boost to mileage by as much as 15% 2. There is no details for this vehicle but Mercury Mariner SUV is going to be launched in 2007 3. Saturn Vue SUV would give a boost to mileage by 15% and would be introduced in 2006. 4. The other vehicles released in 2007 would be GMC Yukon and Chevy Tahoe which could give upto 35% of mileage boost and Chevrolet Malibu as 15%. 5. 2008 Chevy Silverado would be giving 35% boost to mileage. 6. 2004 Honda Accord Hybrid likely to be realeased in december would give V6 performance. 7. Lexus RX 400h SUV would follow in early 2005 and would have double mileage as compared to RX 300.
• 2007 Nissan Altima hybrid car
  Sales of hybrid vehicles have increased substantially and in fact, it has doubled in the first five months of 2007 as compared to last year sales. Nissan announced that it is going to introduce its first gasoline hybrid passenger car which will start its manufacturing at Smyrna plant some time from next year.No, Nissan is not going to build its own hybrid system but will be licensing the hybrid system from Toyota Motor Co. Nissan promised a better fuel economy in its coming 2007 Nissan Altima hybrid car with a increased performance. This is going to be the third hybrid vehicle in US after Ford's Escape hybrid sport utility vehicle and Toyota's Camry Sedan, which is also going on production floor next year.Regular Altima has a base price of $24,530 and introduction of hybrid is most likely to add another $3000 to it. However there was no formal announcement about the pricing of 2007 Nissan Altima hybrid car. Nissan contract with Toyota restricts it with only 50,000 units per year.Nissan is entering into the market where the top spot is captured by Toyota Prius followed by Honda Civic. Lets see how it could penetrate the market currently captured by these two carmakers.