Houston Auto Show

April 3, 2004, 12:18AM

Auto show's hybrids bigger, better
By DAVID KAPLAN
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

2004 HOUSTON AUTO SHOW - Through April 11

Among the first to arrive at the 2004 Houston Auto Show, Robert Blake made a beeline for the FTX, a concept Toyota Tundra. Gazing at the bodacious blue truck was like staring into the future, he said. It is both sleek and a "big monster," he observed, as it turned on a revolving stage inside Reliant Center. No ordinary pickup, "you get V-8 power and it's a hybrid," he said. A hard-core truck lover, Blake has been giving more thought to gasoline-electric hybrids these days because of rising gas prices.

Yes, even in Texas, where trucks and SUVs reign supreme, more people are considering the hybrid, and not just because of the price at the pump.
It is also due to an emerging trend: The availability of bigger and more powerful hybrids. For example, at this year's auto show, which opened Friday, Lexus is previewing the RX 400h, billed as "the world's first luxury hybrid SUV." On sale later this year, it boasts more horsepower than a nonhybrid Lexus SUV. The Toyota Highlander SUV also will be out in hybrid form soon. A sport utility vehicle with impressive gas mileage may sound like a win-win for many consumers.

"The whole hybrid thing was a failure until manufacturers realized that nobody's going to buy a car only because it gets good gas mileage," said Brian Moody, road test editor at Edmunds.com, a Web site for car buyers and sellers. In the early days, Moody said, hybrids were fuel-efficient, nerdy little things. Now they're repackaging the gas-electric hybrid concept and beginning to make the vehicles as good as any other car -- just as spacious, comfortable, quiet and powerful.

Vince Salisbury, a spokesman for Lexus, noted that his company's research found that many of its upscale drivers aren't drawn to a hybrid SUV because it will save them money on gas: "It's more about convenience: They'll be making fewer stops." Lexus has not yet announced the price of its SUV hybrid or revealed its miles per gallon, but Salisbury said a driver can go 600 miles on a tank of gas.

Pete Cargill, an operations manager at a local petrochemical plant, was at the auto show to take a look at the Lexus RX 400h. He owns a Lexus 330 SUV and has been intrigued by the notion of a hybrid version. He's learned all he can on the Internet. It's not just saving money on gas that interests him. It's the lower fuel emissions. "Driving through Houston, you see air quality is a real problem," he said. "This is one way I can deal with it as an individual."

Wes Brown, a partner in Iceology, a consumer trend research firm, said that as the hybrid gains in popularity and "moves to high-volume products, it is incumbent upon manufacturers to educate consumers so they don't worry about the technology." Also, Brown said, the popularity of the new generation of more luxurious and powerful hybrids will likely depend on whether the price is right.