hybrids and sportiness

When Toyota and Honda introduced the first hybrid cars, it was deemed boring with a capital "B". The cars were not fast, were not particularly fun to drive, too quiet and didn't look good at all. In fact the original hybrids looked ugly and designed too much around saving fuel and eco-ness.

Fast forward 12 years and now you can see a different breed of hybrids on the streets. The original hybrid still remains intact for Toyota and Honda for their Prius, Insight and other small capacity hybrids. Seeing that many consumers were looking for more exciting when driving a hybrid, Honda developed the CRZ which brought the Sports Hybrid concept to life. However, the CRZ is in reality a slightly spiced up version of a Honda Insight. It has a more sporty feel, more power than the Insight but is not particularly fast. It is not even in the warm hatch territory in terms of performance. In terms of looks wise, the CRZ did look a lot better than the traditional Insight or Prius.

Since the CRZ was not fast enough to many car enthusiasts, Japanese tuning companies such as HKS and Top Secret have developed the first Super charger and Turbo charger kits for a hybrid car. These power upgrades make significant improvements to performance. With the Top Secret turbo kit, the power jumps to 210hp! Very respectable number for a small hybrid. This also means that fuel economy benefits will be down the drain!

Companies such as BMW, Porsche and now Ferrari being late to the hybrid scene have come out with their own version of Sports Hybrids which combines the best of both worlds to improve performance, driving fun as well as promote better fuel efficiency. These systems incorporate the instant torque and extra power boost from the electric motor to boost performance and save fuel rather than just being an outright fuel saving system. Having a sports car does not mean that it has to miss out on the hybrid technology.

In the case of the Porsche hybrid system it significantly improves the fuel consumption. For the Cayenne hybrid the electric motors enable Porsche designers to use a smaller 3.0 litre engine with a supercharger and the electric motor to boost performance and fuel economy. Using a smaller 3.0 litre engine, it is already consuming less fuel than the basic 3.6 litre model. The hybrid model's performance is also better than the 3.6 litre model. For such a car, the hybrid concept makes a lot of sense.

Porsche's next hybrid super car, the 918 is touted to be a real monster with over 550hp and 800Nm. This new model is due for release in 2013 and promises to be a spectacular car with awesome performance.
Now, who says you cannot have fun with a hybrid?