There's no doubt about which automaker leads the hybrid vehicle race. Toyota – and particularly the Japanese automaker's Prius hybrid – outsells all other manufacturers combined. In total, Automotive News calculates that Toyota sold 144,351 hybrid vehicles in the first nine months of 2009, which actually represents a 28-percent drop from the previous year.
So far this year, Honda has come in second with its new Insight, but that position is currently in jeopardy. The 26,016 hybrid vehicles sold by Ford in the first nine months of the year represents an impressive 73-percent gain from last year. Honda has sold 29,958 hybrids so far in '09, representing a much smaller eight-percent increase. In both July and September, Ford actually sold more hybrids than Honda.
In other words, Ford, led by its Escape Hybrid and new-for-2010 Fusion Hybrid, is gaining on Honda at a very rapid pace. Moving on down the line, General Motors slots in at number four with 12,556 total hybrid so far this year and Nissan's 7,713 units make it the number five hybrid seller in the U.S.
Two of Ford's vehicles are moving well enough that the automaker is adding production to its plants in Missouri and Michigan. Ford says its F-150 and Ford Escape are looking to earn their highest sales of the year in August, with the F-Series truck line looking good for its first year-on-year sales jump since October 2006 and the Escape knocking on the door of its own sales record. Of course, August sales number are expected to be wildly inflated by the success of the government's Cash for Clunkers program, so Ford is also taking into account the sales rates of these two vehicles before August and only boosting production by a smidge in response.
Thus, 2,800 workers at Ford's Dearborn Truck Plant will go back to full-time work at the end of September, which will raise production of F-150s by 10,000 units through the end of the year. A third shift added to the Kansas City plant in October will raise production of Ford Escapes and Mercury Mariners by 2,400 through year-end.
Ford CEO Alan Mulally has made the politically correct decision for his return trip to Washington DC this week and is skipping the company jet. In fact, he's skipping the airport altogether and hitting the road in an Escape Hybrid. It seems like it would have been better to grab one of the brand new Fusion Hybrids, but no one in Washington should be too upset at the choice of the Escape. The last one we tested for AutoblogGreen averaged 33 mpg. Perhaps he'll even take one of the prototype plug-in hybrid versions, although that wouldn't make much sense for the nine-hour drive. In our reader poll you actually opted for the Fusion by a wide margin, followed by the Fiesta and Mustang. The Escape came in at a respectable fourth.
The Blue Oval has gifted the U.S. Department of Energy a one-of-a-kind vehicle: a plug-in Escape Hybrid that can run on E85, has a 30-mile range on pure electric power at up to 40 mph, and gets 88 mpg in the city and 50 mpg on the highway. Yes, you read that correctly. But you might want to read it again.
The Escape uses a 4-cylinder engine assisted by a 10kW lithium-ion battery pack made by Johnson Controls/Saft. In pure electric mode, the battery pack runs until it is 70-percent depleted, and then the gasoline engine kicks in. The vehicle's emissions are estimated to be 60-percent less than that of a traditional gas vehicle, and that could climb all the way to 90-percent less if the car used cellulosic ethanol.
This is one of 20 vehicles that Ford is giving to government and research bodies in order to help push the growth and penetration of hybrid vehicles. Mark Fields, Ford's president of the Americas, said "There's no silver bullet solution, so we're pursuing multiple technology paths – recognizing that commercial viability is an essential component for success." And we say hear hear, well done, and it's about time...
As AutoblogGreen points out, Ford will soon be facing tough competition in the compact hybrid CUV segment with the introduction of the Saturn Vue two-mode hybrid. What better time, then, to update the Ford Escape Hybrid and Mercury Mariner Hybrid for 2009? The big news is the addition of a new 2.5L four-cylinder to replace the old 2.3L engine. Not only is the new engine larger, but it also adds variable valve timing on the intake to boost power by 17 up to 170 horsepower. The 2.5L also serves as the new base engine for the standard Escape and Mariner, but uses the Atkinson cycle in the hybrid models. Ford's hybrid CUVs also get a new six-speed automatic, aerodynamic upgrades and new 16-inch low-rolling resistance tires from Michelin. All of these improvements add up to a one mpg gain in fuel economy, plus more power and usability. Ford hasn't released official fuel economy numbers for the 2009 Escape Hybrid, but it should achieve around 33 mpg combined and likewise for the new Mercury Mariner Hybrid.
