Every car manufacturer is looking for new technologies that will allow it to make fuel-efficient cars. Vehicles that will offer significant better mileage and lower polluting emissions. This is how hybrid cars were born. Fuel costs have risen significantly and cars consume a lot of fuel especially when driving around town. Large engines eat up significant amounts of gasoline or diesel fuel and using hybrid technologies is intended to improve the cars mileage and reduce its emissions. There are several small and medium sized hybrid cars (Honda and Toyota are offering their Prius and Civic sedan hybrid) on the market today. However, although you can buy a small hybrid car, until recently you were unable to buy a car hybrid SUV. Large 4x4 SUVs are heavier, need larger and more powerful engines to accelerate them to highway cruising speeds and people buying them were not particularly interested in fuel economy. However, the market has changed and while the demand for large SUVs is on the rise, so is the demand for more economical 4x4s.

Lexus was among the first carmakers that has produced a hybrid SUV. Their RX 450h has a gasoline engine moving one set of wheels and an electric engine that moves the other set of wheels. In this way Lexus has achieved a very efficient 4x4 transmission. When the car is moving at slow speeds (such as when driving around town), the hybrid SUV is using only its electric engine. This results in great economy as the car only uses its gasoline engine when required. When you accelerate or when you need both axles to function (such as in deep snow when you need full transmission), the car uses both engines. The car also gets a bump in horsepower compared to using only the gasoline engine as the electric engine gives instant power for long distances. When the batteries are depleted, the SUV will use its gasoline engine until the batteries are fully charged again. If you follow the manufacturers guides closely, you will obtain a significantly reduced fuel cost. A hybrid SUV may cost more than a normal one due to the technologies used, but the total pricing (including the fuel prices for the first five years of usage) is favorable.

Online websites present in detail car hybrid SUVs and the future of this technology. Web pages belonging to car manufacturers are full of quotes related to their current and future hybrid models, meaning that they are committed to bring you cars that are more advanced in the years to come. Car producers are currently looking for ways to improve the car's mileage using only the electric engine. Rental companies will especially benefit from the introduction of hybrid SUVs as they will be able to offer their clients large, luxury cars that consume very little. If you quote car market specialists, in several years all car manufacturers will have car hybrid SUVs in their product range.