GM hybrid pickup bites the dust

[Sludgy]

http://autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070427/FREE/70426004/1024

[BeeUU]

I am surprised that it WAS for sale. I have seen it at the auto-show up on the stand, but did not realize it was FOR SALE. What a marketing blunder. I sure hope they make it well known that the new one is available.

I can understand why the now old version is not available on the new truck, particularly with the better one on the way only next year.

Maybe that is why the kept this hush-hush knowing that there was this gap in availability?

[Bill in Houston]

They probably never intended to sell many. In fact they were probably hoping for a failure. That way, they could tell the US govt "Look, this technology is unfeasible, noone will buy it, don't encourage it" etc.

[BeeUU]

They probably never intended to sell many. In fact they were probably hoping for a failure. That way, they could tell the US govt "Look, this technology is unfeasible, noone will buy it, don't encourage it" etc.

Maybe, they were jumping up and down screaming about how the new short version of the big SUV was able to get to 20 mpg, I would think that this truck would have even higher on that shout list as "Highest Full size truck MPG". I would think that is a marketers dream for the past few years.

Excuse me SVO but *shrug*

[SVOboy]

Then need to clear room to produce the Volt!!!

[Sludgy]

Then need to clear room to produce the Volt!!!

LOL If you think the Volt is going to make it into production your lifetime, I have some land in the Louisiana delta I'd like to sell. (It's land at low tide, anyway.)

[SVOboy]

I'll give you an ear of corn an acre! Plus two confederate notes.

[Peakster]

The $3,000 more expensive hybrid trucks only got 2 mpg better. What a pity.

I can see it in the year 2043: Up for auction is a 2004 silverado hybrid. 1 of 3,000 produced. A stunning example of GM's archaic attempt in freeing themselves from oil in the early 21st century. *photographs taken accompanied by ooohs and ahhhs* ;)

[Bill in Houston]

A stunning example of a company spending huge amounts of money to try to discredit an emerging technology, rather than adapting...

[omgwtfbyobbq]

It's not even 2mpg. It's a 1mpg difference combined. The manual transmission gets 2mpg combined better than the "hybrid".

[Brock]

And there are stock trucks that get better mileage without the "hybrid" parts and for a lot less $

[Randy]

It was a belt-alternator-starter. Would be nice as a standard add-on, but it's hardly 'hybrid'.

The inverter was kind of cool, but contractors didn't exactly scramble for them. Nice Honda 3kw generators are a lot less than $3000, they don't use gas like a V8, they aren't attached to a truck, and they probably already own a couple of them. The other big generator use is service trucks, but those are welder/generators. So basically it was a solution in search of a problem.

[caprice]

Yeah I don't even think the prius should be called a hybrid, unless it is plugged to recharge every night.

Since I engine off coast my ZX2, it is a hybrid, just like the silverado! :D I deserve an "alternative fuel" lisence plate! and tax credits! :rolleyes:

I also don't think propane should be considered "alternative fuel" or any fuel that is relied on oil. :thumbdown:

[basjoos]

Since I engine off coast my ZX2, it is a hybrid, just like the silverado! :D I deserve an "alternative fuel" lisence plate! and tax credits! :rolleyes:

Instead of driving gas-electric hybrids that store their energy temporarily in the form of battery chemistry, which is later retrieved to power the vehicle, we drive gas-gravity-kinetic energy hybrids that store their energy temporarily in the form of elevation and/or velocity which is later retrieved to power the vehicle while it is rolling with the engine off. I have had people ask me if my car was an electric car or a hybrid after they watched me drive down a street, turn into a parking lot, and pull into a parking slot with my engine shut down the whole time

[landspeed]

Basjoos - I was thinking about this today (gas/gravity/kinetic energy hybrid).

The advantage of using gravity + kinetic energy is that you 'store' 100% of the energy - the downside is that, the more (kinetic) energy you store, the faster it decays. I now try (if no-one is around, and I'm not in a rush), to switch off the engine while going uphill, so I go over the top of the hill at 15mph, giving me a lot more travel on the other side before the wind resistance starts really cutting in. My favourite hills are those where you can do 30mph down the other side without speeding up more than this