Any chance of this...

Seems an absolutely ideal marriage.

 

In Sept 08, Toyota sold ~900 Highlander Hybrids and ~744 Lexus Rx400h hybrids (the two mid-size CUV/SUV hybrids). Given the state of the auto industry, I'm sure Mazda/Ford would not want to invest tens or hundreds of millions of $ in developing another hybrid when the market would be just a few thousand units a year if they're lucky.

 

THe HH and RXh are both "upscale" products slanted toward the "boy-racer", 0-60, types with Dad's money to burn.

Idiots,... in other words.

The FWD/MMH/Tribute hybrid just simply are "yesterday" and have no general nor wide public appeal. On the other hand a CX-7 with a FEH/MMH hybrid "drop-in", minimal design effort, would have WIDE public appeal IMMHO.

 

A CX-7 comes with a 244hp engine. The FEH trio's engine is 153hp. What would be the mass appeal of killing the CX-7's performance for a hybrid engine? Most every other hybrid equals or betters its gas-powered counterpart in performance, a common selling point.

 

"....A CX-7 comes with a 244hp engine..."

Yes, it does, it comes with a 244hp GAS-GUZZLING engine.

The only time a turbocharged engine is reasonably efficient is at Wide Open Throttle and FULL boost. Less than 5%, maybe even less than 2% of the time for the majority of us.

The rest of the time it must run at a sub-standard compression ratio FULLY DERATED/DETUNED.