Quote:
Originally Posted by redpoint5
I have zero insight into the industry, simply my wild speculation. My hunch was that a hybrid truck made sense a decade ago, which is 2012. By then, Toyota was already working on their 4th gen Prius.
A mild hybrid doesn't really allow the engine to be downsized.
|
Truck marketing and truck buyers do not allow for engine downsizing.
There is a huge difference between what makes sense from an economical standpoint and what makes sense from a sales standpoint.
We are at a point today where hybrid technology is cheap enough it should logically be in every vehicle. However, for that to happen you have to:
A. Get buyers to want to buy a hybrid and stop believing the FUD about how complicated they are
B. Care about total costs instead of purchase price or monthly payments.
You also have to somehow get buyers away from the "bigger is better" mentality that goes through the entire US ethos. There is a running joke in the auto industry that Americans buy cars like they buy ground beef - by the pound. The lower the cost per pound the happier they are. They also aren't too choosing about the content - US buyers will almost always choose a larger car over a smaller but better equipped car just as most will take a larger cut of meat over a better but smaller cut of meat.