DETROIT — General Motors plans to invade Europe with the new Cadillac Escalade Hybrid in the first half of 2009, but its outlook for introducing hybrids on the continent is fuzzy beyond that.
While GM has been filling the U.S. market by launching a hybrid version of an existing model every few months, GM Europe executives remain much less aggressive in their overall plans for using hybrids to appeal to European consumers.
"Prius is doing very well in the U.S. market, for example," said Anthony Lo, executive director for design for GM Europe, in Russelsheim, Germany. "But a type of car like that is going to be less successful in Europe compared with other regions."
One reason for GM's variation in hybrid strategy between North America and Europe is that the fuel-efficiency advantages of hybrids are maximized in city driving rather than in the open country. And while it may not seem obvious for a continent where people generally live in closer quarters than in North America, according to GM Europe spokesman Andrew Marshall, Europeans tend to do less city driving than Americans do.
A second reason for the GM Europe view of hybrids is simply that European auto consumers already have collectively been in favor of the advantages of diesel power. They're very comfortable with diesel, which powers a majority of the European fleet. And they appreciate its fuel-economy advantages, especially because they are most efficient during open-road rather than city driving.
Yet a third reason that GM believes hybrids may never catch on in Europe is psychological. "Prius," Lo said, again by way of example, "makes a point of being eco-friendly, but in Europe, people don't actually want to show that or at least make a point of that.
"A specific body style for hybrid cars — or other future propulsion systems — isn't what customers are looking for. They want a decent car but don't want to [boast] that they're eco-friendly."
And while GM hasn't yet produced a vehicle, even in the United States, that is purely hybrid from the ground up, the North American version of the Escalade Hybrid does make a point of its status by bearing several mentions of the term "hybrid" on the outside of the vehicle.
Marshall said that GM already has learned the hard way about European reception of vehicles that are too purely "green." The Opel Astra Eco 4 was a three-door compact introduced in 2000 as the continent's first to sip less than 4 liters of fuel for every 100 kilometers.
"It was an overtly eco-friendly vehicle," Marshall said. "But no one seemed to want it."
What this means to you: Expect even the Cadillac Escalade Hybrid to soft-pedal its powertrain — at least in terms of exterior decaling and probably in the way it's marketed — when it debuts in Europe next year. — Dale Buss, Correspondent
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