hybrids offered several benefits to their invariably small, underfinanced manufacturers. Frequently lacking the funding to design a new car from the ground up, the classic hybrid evolutionary scheme centered around a chassis engineered by the hybrid manufacturer, bodywork executed by a famous designer or design house (usually, though not always, working out of Italy) and an American V8 engine sourced from Chrysler, Ford or one of the General Motors divisions. After investing everything they could muster into creating a competent chassis and body shell, hybrid makers were left with no choice other than to use an off-the-shelf engine from America, which, while cruder and less efficient than the leading European designs, were, nonetheless, inexpensive, well-made, well-respected and, perhaps most importantly, thoroughly proven.