[Purposes]Active grille shutter (AGS) technology is an important means to optimize vehicle's thermal management performance, wind resistance, and fuel consumption. However, the application of AGS in hybrid vehicles has not been clearly evaluated in all aspects, resulting in the original equipment manufacturers still having doubts about its application. [Methods]For the first time,a multi-directional research on the application of AGS in hybrid vehicles was conducted and an AGS drive control strategy for hybrid vehicles was proposed in this paper. Based on the selected hybrid model, UltraFluidX, Amesim, Star CCM+， and other scientific tools， were used to conduct simulation researches and fuel consumption tests were carried out. The effects of AGS's application on vehicle wind resistance, thermal management performance, and fuel consumption, were evaluated in various aspects. [Findings]When the hybrid vehicle was running at high speed, closing AGS could effectively reduce the wind resistance by about 7.85%. The main contribution was that the air could not enter the cabin, which reduced the cabin resistance. The application of AGS can meet the performance requirements of the thermal management system, optimize the circulation ratio in the air conditioner, and further improve the cooling performance of the thermal management system. The installation of an AGS sealing diversion device is a key measure to improve the heat return in the cabin and prevent the cold air from escaping, which can improve the efficiency of the grille air intake and the performance of the thermal management system. Employing AGS and the corresponding opening control strategy for hybrid vehicle, the fuel consumption of the hybrid model was reduced by 5.2%, which has a significant effect on energy consumption reduction.[Conclusions] The application of AGS in hybrid vehicles has great positive benefits on vehicle wind resistance, thermal management performance, and fuel consumption. Excellent AGS matching design and implementation of correlation control strategy are key measures to reduce the energy consumption of hybrid vehicles in the future.