VEHICLE CONTROL DEVICE

A control device of a vehicle includes a controller. The vehicle includes an engine having an exhaust system including a combustion chamber and a catalyst, a motor able to operate drive wheels of the vehicle, and a battery which supplies driving power to the motor when the motor operates the drive wheels (motor assist operation), and is charged when the motor generates power (regenerative operation). During deceleration, the controller performs one of a first control which increases an engine resistance for a higher deceleration than requested, and performs the motor assist operation according to the engine resistance increase, when a battery state of charge (SOC) is a first given value or above; and a second control which controls a combustion state of the engine to raise a catalyst temperature, and performs the regenerative operation, when the battery SOC is a second given value below the first given value.