Get Your Ford Mariner Hybrid Online

Ford has started selling its second hybrid, the Mercury Mariner (which is a more luxurious cousin of the Ford Escape), on July 11th. It is available almost exclusively online at MarinerHybrid.com, but in very small quantities for the 2006 model year. To give some perspective, 2,000 Mariner hybrids will be made the first year while Toyota/Lexus sold 2,869 Highlander hybrids and 2,605 RX400h in the month of June alone (stats here). Production should grow to 4,000 annually. "The Mercury Mariner Hybrid [...] delivers [an] estimated fuel economy of 33 mpg/city and 29 mpg highway (some 7% less than the slightly lighter Escape). It also meets the stringent California Advanced Technology Partial Zero Emissions (AT-PZEV) Standard. The Mariner Hybrid can run in electric-only mode up to 25 miles per hour [vs. around 40 mph for the Prius]." Another thing worth noting: The Sierra Club will help Ford to promote the new hybrid.