The Huge Hybrid – Few Takers for a New S.U.V. Twist – NYTimes.com
General Motors and Chrysler are betting that their 5,500-pound, eight-seat S.U.V.’s — long the scourge of environmentalists — can be reformed as hybrid models, albeit ones getting 20 miles to the gallon.
Consumers have been slow to embrace the first two models from G.M., which are relatively new to the market.
G.M. has sold about 1,100 of its Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon hybrids since their introduction in January, according to company sales briefings. That pace is well behind its goal of 12,000 sales a year, and a fraction of the more than 100,000 hybrids sold so far in the United States this year.
“To this point, the G.M. hybrids aren’t getting any traction at all,” said Mike Omotoso, a senior manager with the research firm J. D. Power & Associates.
Giving a four-wheel drive Tahoe a gas-electric hybrid engine raises fuel economy for city driving to 20 miles a gallon from 14.
Okay—am I the only one who thinks this is stupid? Can someone just give the Detroit automakers a kick in the head and a boot in the ass? It’s a hybrid and it gets 20 MPG instead of 14MPG. What a waste of $53,000!
Tags: enviroment, automakers, Detroit, hybrid, car, green, fake, economy, gas
Musings from Sumigirl 
June 5, 2008 at 10:42 am
Yup, I agree. Very silly!
Plus fuel prices over here are ridiculous – so noone can afford to drive their cars anyways! Particularly if they’ve just shelled out all their savings to buy the damned thing!