Chevy Malibu Hybrid

The only specific word out about the Malibu is that it will share the same hybrid system as the Saturn VUE Green Line and the Saturn Aura Green Line. The hybridized Malibu sedan, like the Saturns, is targeted for a 10–15% increase in fuel economy and will focus its hybrid benefits instead on maintaining power and handling--and keeping the price of the electric system, components, and instrumentation as low as possible. Built in Kansas City, the hybrid Malibu will have a four-cylinder, 2.4-liter engine with front-wheel drive and automatic transmission.

The first announcements about a hybrid version of the Malibu came well before the smash success of the Toyota Prius, and rollercoaster gas prices in 2005 and 2006. Back in those days, GM executives offered the idea of a future Malibu hybrid as evidence that they had a hybrid something-or-other in the works. GM's product guru Bob Lutz repeatedly argued that hybrid didn't make economic sense, especially in a sedan. The company emphasized that the real fuel savings would come from using hybrids on the largest gas-guzzling vehicles.

Plans for a Malibu hybrid survived that lukewarm period at GM, and have emerged into a new era of enthusiasm for all kinds of automobile alternatives. GM is apparently racing toward hybrids, fuel cells, flex-fuel, and battery electrics--all at the same time. (And while trying to figure out what to do with their full-size SUVs that are languishing on dealership lots.) From now until late 2007--when GM's two-mode full hybrids are introduced, the only thing tangible result reaching showroom floors will be the mild hybrid technology known as a "belt alternator starter." Critics say that the BAS is a nice improvement in conventional technology, but lowers the bar on what consumers should expect from a hybrid. In other words, it's such a mild flavor of hybrid that it's not really a hybrid in a way that counts: a big jump on fuel economy and cool high-tech instrumentation. Somewhere along the line, GM's marketing folks decided that the BAS fit best with the Saturn brand. The introduction of a Malibu hybrid, a vestige from the down-on-hybrids days, is shoe-horned between the release of the Saturn Green Line VUE and Aura, and the two-mode Yukon and Tahoe.

GM claims that the hybrid Malibu will be at least 10% more fuel-efficient than its purely gas-powered counterpart. That version is rated by the Environmental Protection Agency at 35 miles per gallon on the highway and 24 in the city. Using that math, the hybrid version of the Malibu will buy you another two to three miles per gallon. It's still early for pricing, but with those numbers, maybe Bob Lutz was right after all.