[Scotsman]

Heerrreee we gooooo...

Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Lutz: Most vehicles will be hybrid by 2020
David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau

NEW YORK -- General Motors vice chairman Bob Lutz said today that the automaker would have produce 80 percent of its vehicles as some type of hybrid by 2020 in order to meet new tougher fuel economy standards.

"Ultimately by 2020, we figure that 80 percent of vehicles are going to require some sort of level of hybridization," Lutz said in an interview today. "We cannot get to 35 miles per gallon with anything resembling the current product portfolio with conventional technology."

Automakers must average a combined 35 miles per gallon by 2020 for passenger cars and light trucks, a 40 percent increase. Lutz said in order to meet the first increases in the requirements, GM would build about one-third of its vehicles as hybrids by 2015 -- when new fuel economy standards "really start to bite."

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By the end of 2008, GM will have eight hybrids. That includes some "mild" cheaper hybrids that get a smaller fuel economy increase than so-called "full" hybrids like GM's line of full-size SUV dual-mode hybrid Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon. Those vehicles get a 25 percent increase in fuel economy from hybrid power plants. GM also plans to produce a plug-in Saturn Vue hybrid by the end of 2010 that will be able to go 10 miles on battery power alone.

Lutz said GM will be forced to add hybrid engines "to a lot of sport utilities and pick-up trucks."

Lutz has said earlier that building so many hybrids will add $6,000 to $7,000 to the cost of an average vehicle and that most -- if not all -- V-8 engines will disappear. The company is still not sure how to get the heaviest vehicles to improve as much as the government will require. "We don't know. We're open to ideas."

Congress passed the new fuel economy requirements in December. Next month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will announce its first four years of proposed fuel economy increases that will begin in 2011.

You can reach David Shepardson at (202) 662 - 8735 or dshepardson@detnews.com.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...74/1148/AUTO01

This is certainly "New" but I'd more than take this w/ a grain of salt and call B.S. I think this is just the automotive media lighting fires just for the sake of burning something and getting people to panic.