GM to offer hybrid power vehicles in next four years

The world's biggest automaker's plan includes hybrid models for cars, pickups and SUVs.

The Associated Press

DETROIT -- In one of the clearest signs yet that hybrid cars may be going mainstream, General Motors Corp. plans to offer a variety of the gas-and-electric powered vehicles over the next four years.

The plan by the world's biggest automaker, to be announced Monday, includes hybrid models for cars, pickups and sport-utility vehicles.

GM's new strategy sends a clear signal that auto executives are starting to consider energy-efficient hybrids as potentially viable offerings to the mainstream motoring public.

Hybrids draw power from two different energy sources, typically a gas or diesel engine combined with an electric motor. While environmentally friendly and fuel efficient, their high cost has prevented them from finding more than a niche market.

For now, the only versions available in the United States are small cars made by Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp.

Increasing fuel economy

GM will offer hybrid options on several vehicles, starting later this year with the GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado pickups for use in commercial fleets. The hybrid versions of the trucks will increase fuel economy by 10 to 12 percent, the company says.

Those same trucks will be available to retail consumers in 2004. If demand is high for all hybrid models, GM says it could produce a million or more a year by 2007. GM sold nearly 4.8 million vehicles in 2002.

"We're taking a very pragmatic approach, targeting a wide array of popular models with varying degrees of complexity to give consumers a variety of choice," said GM president and chief executive Rick Wagoner.

In 2005, GM will begin producing a hybrid Saturn VUE sport utility. It will also include a hybrid option on its forthcoming Chevy Equinox SUV in 2006 and its Chevy Malibu sedan in 2007.

Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group are also planning hybrid models.