Mazda Gets What It Wants: 2008 Tribute Hybrid
Monday, January 8th, 2007
After years of jealousy watching the parent company Ford ride the wave and take control of the surging hybrid vehicle market with its Escape hybrid, Mazda finally gets what it wanted all along. It got a hybrid version of the mechanically identical Tribute. To be called the Tribute HEV, the environmentally friendly vehicle will make Mazda the last Japanese brand to offer a hybrid vehicle, when it’s launched sometime toward the middle of this year.
Like its Ford counterpart, the entire Tribute lineup undergoes a significant interior and exterior freshening for 2008. Underneath the HEV’s skin, not surprisingly, is the same 133-hp, 2.3-liter four-cylinder engine paired with a 70kW electric motor that pushes combined horsepower to a 155, with acceleration capable of almost matching that of the Tribute’s optional 200-hp V-6 while delivering 75 percent better fuel economy and cleaner emissions.
In the meantime, Mazda continues research on its hydrogen-powered RX-8 and hydrogen hybrid Mazda5 back in Japan, indicating that Mazda might not be as late to the hydrogen party as it was to the hybrid one.
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