2011 The Chevrolet Cruze is a nice car

Comparing the Chevy Cruze to hybrid cars without referencing city fuel economy simply makes no sense.A Cruze to better fuel economy. The Toyota Prius is rated at 48 mpg highway by the EPA, the Honda Insight 43 mpg. According to GM, the Chevy Cruze should achieve about 40 mpg highway, prompting CNN's Peter Valdes-Dapena yesterday to claim, "The automaker's new Chevrolet Cruze ECO will get very high gas --mileage without relying on any hybrid technology." And what about the Cruze's city fuel economy? That is largely the point of hybrid technology, right?

City fuel economy for the Prius is 51 mpg, and 40 mpg for the Insight. Yet, GM isn't even releasing its estimates for the Cruze's city fuel economy. I wonder why? Might it be that when overall fuel economy is compared, the Cruze simply won't compare to hybrid vehicles? Won't the Cruze be lucky to achieve even 30 mpg in the city?

The Cruze is a nice car, and it might be a great deal for highway commuters concerned with fuel economy, but if priced similarly to the Insight or the Prius, those concerned with fuel economy will do much better with a hybrid.