Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Update: It appears there's a PHEV minivan around the corner.

Source: Auto Blog

Well, now that I have been searching for information on hybrid minivans, there appears to be one coming up on the horizon, which Chrysler is saying is "Late 2015."

This is supposed to be the first hybrid minivan targeted for US release, which is still 14 years after Toyota released their first hybrid minivan in Japan. One surprise, however, is that this will be a PHEV (Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle) which should have an electric range of 74 miles before going into hybrid mode. For reference, the Chevy Volt has a 38 mile electric range before kicking over into hybrid mode.

Here's some reference shots of the current Chrysler Town and Country minivans which could look similar I would think (photo credit to www.autoblog.com):

2013 Non-Hybrid Exterior

2013 Non-Hybrid Interior

I was unable to find a proposed price of the vehicle, but Toyota sells their hybrid minivan for 3,918,437 Yen in Japan (About $34,190) for the base model. Also, Toyota's Plug-In Prius carries an additional $5,000 on it's price tag for it's plug-in feature, which would make it safe to assume that these could go for $40,000+. I hope I'm wrong.

Hopefully this will be a catalyst for other HEV/PHEV minivans in the US market. What would be the price point you would be willing to purchase a PHEV minivan? How about for a HEV minivan?

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