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Hybrid Gas Guzzlers?

July 2, 2008 at 2:37 pm · Filed under Hybrids, Rants, Weird World · Comments

Originally Posted by New York Times
A gas guzzler, as defined by the Energy Tax Act of 1978, is a vehicle that gets a combined city and highway fuel economy of 22.5 miles a gallon or less, as calculated by the Environmental Protection Agency. Sounds clear-cut. But as government regulations go, that’s never the case. Turns out, there are enough loopholes in the gas guzzler statute to drive a truck, a minivan, an S.U.V. and even a few hybrids right through it. {my emphasis added}
Source: Hybrid Tax Credits for S.U.V.’s? by Jerry Garrett, published online July 2, 2008, 3:44 pm.

How do *you* feel about some of the behemoth hybrids now being marketed, which do get better gas mileage than their non-hybrid brethren but still technically qualify as gas guzzlers? For example, both the 2008 GMC Yukon 1500 Hybrid 2WD and the 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid 2WD, per FuelEconomy.gov, get an average fuel economy of just 21 MPG (21 city/22 highway). They may be hybrids, of a sort, but they fit the technical definition of gas guzzler.

To add salt to the wound, the Yukon Hybrid & Tahoe Hybrid have full Federal Income Tax Credits still available, whereas the best-selling (and highest average MPG, other than the retired Honda Insight) Toyota Prius’ tax credits are drying up*, if they haven’t entirely already.

*The Federal Income Tax credit had a cap of 60,000 vehicles, which Honda & Toyota both surpassed a long time ago. You can still obtain a full income tax credit on Ford Escape Hybrid, Mercury Mariner Hybrid, etc.

From the same NYT article, “Aspen Hemi Hybrid and the Dodge Durango Hemi Hybrid”. Gah! Hybrid & Hemi shouldn’t be uttered in the same breath.



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