To suppress generation of vibrations and vibrating noises at the engine start, by starting the fuel supply to the engine and ignition to start after the engine speed has reached the idle speed with operation of an electric motor of a generator.
In driving an engine EG, a vehicle control device 101 first determines if the engine EG is off or not. When the engine stops, an accelerator opening α that is detected by an accelerator sensor 102 is compared with a threshold θ eon. If α>θ eon, an engine start control is initiated. Then a generator (i.e., a motor) speed Ng at which an engine speed shall reach a target speed (for example 1000 rpm) is computed, and the generator is operated to work as an electric motor based on the computed value Ng. In this case, an actual engine speed Ne is input and when the engine speed Ne exceeds a threshold (for instance, 900 rpm), fuel supply to the engine and ignition is started for starting the engine EG.
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