Consumers vote with their wallets, and hybrid car demand is at an all-time high. With more than 50 choices for hybrid cars, trucks and SUVs on the market, the technology is no longer a novelty. Much to the chagrin of sports car enthusiasts, though, most of today’s hybrids are not exactly known to excite. An MPG-first philosophy has led to a crop of slow vehicles, often with unpredictable braking and an isolated driving experience. Enter the world’s luxury automakers, who are hard at work developing a new breed of hybrid sports cars designed to be as exciting as they are efficient.
Acura NSX (2015)
Acura’s upcoming hybrid sports car wears the badge of its most revered nameplate ever, the NSX. The original NSX thrived as one of the 1990s’ top purist sports cars, with Honda reliability sweetening the deal. The new NSX hybrid employs an electric motor to power each front wheel, with a V6 engine and third electric motor working in tandem to power the rear wheels. The setup allows for positive or negative torque to be applied to each front wheel, opening up a new range of possibilities in AWD performance.
The NSX will also likely double the fuel efficiency of other cars with this performance potential. Cars like the Nissan GT-R and Ferrari 458 Italia are not exactly known for fuel efficiency. The NSX should hit 30 combined mpg.
Lotus Evora 414E Hybrid (2013-2014)
Lotus cars stand out among the world’s many promising sports cars through their lofty performance achieved through low weight. The Elise, Exige and Evora are all world-class performance cars, even though they use modestly powered Toyota-sourced engines. The Evora makes a natural choice for a luxury sports car hybrid. A modified form of the Evora’s V6 engine has already performed admirably in Toyota and Lexus hybrid trucks. Currently undergoing durability testing, the Evora 414E is confirmed for a low-run production.
The Toyota V6 and Hybrid Synergy Drive system can achieve around 30 combined mpg in the big, heavy Lexus RX 450h, so Lotus should be able to coax fuel efficiency in the 40 mpg range in the featherweight Evora sports car, even though the drivetrain will be tuned more toward performance than the Lexus version.
BMW i8 (2014)
BMW took its new i8 plug-in hybrid electric supercar on a world auto show tour in 2011 and 2012, becoming the center of attention at every stop. The carbon fiber supercar, shown in both coupe and roadster concept versions, has an efficient turbocharged three-cylinder gasoline engine mounted in a parallel hybrid setup with a powerful electric motor. The hybrid sports car is capable of running on electric power alone for around 20 miles. When in gasoline-electric hybrid mode, 0 to 60 mph will come in well under 5 seconds.
Be easy on the accelerator and this technological marvel of a sports car can reportedly achieve around 60 mpg after its all-electric range is exhausted. Recharge time takes just 2 hours with a dedicated level-2 charging system.
