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Archive for January, 2010

Many Americans like myself, prefer a pickup truck to a car for driving and hauling purposes. With most Americans thinking fuel economy and using green thinking I thought for sure a hybrid pickup truck would be easy to find.

I found 2 models right away, both from GM and both full size. The Chevy Silverado and the GMC Sierra are large and dependable pickup trucks. The improved fuel mileage and reduced emissions is good but I prefer a truck that is a little smaller.

If you look to Japan for the answer you will get the same answer from Toyota. There are reports they too are planning on offering a hybrid model of their full size pickup. They even unveiled a concept version the FTX.  This is one great looking truck but the fuel mileage is still not there.  Honda is also tinkering with a hybrid version of their popular Ridgeline pickup. There has been no public announcement and no info can be found.

I did find if you leave the hatch open on the Toyota Prius it could haul small loads. So I continued my search. This eventually led me to pickup truck that was built in America and had fuel efficiency at 45 mpg.

Unfortunately it was 25 years old and the whole idea was abandoned in America soon after its creation. Do you remember the 1982 Volkswagen pickup? This pickup truck had reliability and was fuel-efficient. Remarkably this truck is still in production in South Africa. There are no plans to reintroduce it to the American market.

This means if you want a hybrid pickup you have only two choices. A good point about the two is that they are dependable, reliable and American.