A performance versus fuel efficiency 'switch' on Toyota hybrids

Hybrid fuel efficiency versus performance

A couple of days ago, as Phil Lebeau was doing a segment at the North American International Auto Show for CNBC, the fuel efficiency of hybrids came up. Mr. Lebeau noted that Toyota was investigating a 'switch' for its hybrid vehicles that would enable the driver to choose to be more fuel efficient, or to have more performance.

Currently, the Toyota Prius hybrid, the Highlander hybrid, and the Lexus RX400h hybrid have the ability to be more fuel efficient, but drivers would have to give up some horsepower for this better fuel efficiency.

In Toyota hybrids, the balance between horsepower versus fuel efficiency is largely controlled by software. Nonetheless, Mr. Lebeau noted that such a development might be pretty expensive. Today, Car and Driver mentioned this possibility, but added no further details.