Hybrids Are OK, as Long as GMC Makes Them
Apparently the GMC dealer unknown writer posting on the Commercial Auto Dealers web site had a change of heart about hybrids. After warning everyone about the dangers of driving a too-quiet, electromagnetic-field-generating deathtrap, now he wants everyone to know that "GMC is the leader in hybrid vehicles if you're looking for trucks or full-sized SUVs." He goes on to brag "during the first quarter of 2008, the automaker sold nearly 850 hybrid vehicles and about 80 percent of those were large trucks." I'm assuming by "the automaker" he means GM, not GMC division, as the only hybrids GMC sells are monstrous Yukons and pickups. So let's see… they sold a total of 850 hybrids in three months. That works out to an average of what, 293 hybrids per month, 234 of which were trucks? In the month of April, Toyota sold twenty-one thousand Priora. Not fair, you say? Ok, let's look just at trucks. Try 1,624 Lexus RX 400h's. Or 2,578 Highlander Hybrids. Ford even sold 1,682 Escape Hybrids. All in one month. If, as he claims (citing Eric Fedeva without identifying exactly who he is or why what he said is important), "GMC is going to be a serious contender in the hybrid market in the next few years," someone at GM better get serious and produce a full hybrid the average buyer can afford. Oh, and that won't bombard its hapless passengers with the "type of magnetic field [that] has been linked to leukemia in children."
More by Frank Williams
Comments
Join the conversation
The CR-V is a crossover, not a truck. The differentiator in most cases is its architecture - body on frame = truck, unibody = crossover. There are exceptions of course, such as the Jeep Grand Cherokee (unibody but probably not a crossover). Anyway, I don't see what's so important about some random two-bit blog's anonymous author's opinion. Clicking on the "about" link on commercialautodealers.com is telling: This is an example of a WordPress page, you could edit this to put information about yourself or your site so readers know where you are coming from. You can create as many pages like this one or sub-pages as you like and manage all of your content inside of WordPress. Frank, your suspicion of the author's identity is probably spot-on; clicking on a few of the blogroll links takes you to Lankford Buick GMC Pontiac's website. I agree that it's disingenuous to bash hybrids conceptually until the brand you're selling offers one, but I don't see it as a newsworthy item, IMO. By the way, Eric Fedeva is an analyst: Eric Fedeva, an analyst with automotive market researcher CSM Worldwide, expects GM to seriously increase its hybrid output, turning the automaker into a serious contender within the next few years. He expects it to produce 40,000 to 50,000 hybrids this year, more than doubling last year's production.
Hit a nerve did we?!! Maybe the towing requisite was a bit loosely defined since a Saab tows a tailer. Tahoe Hybrid tows 5000. And gets an aggregate 23 mpg. My mom' had an Olds 98 that towed 5000. Does that make it a truck? Coulda towed both a Lexus AND a CR-v on the same trailer! Still not a truck. Rationalize all you want. Trucks have a frame+ bed + RWD. Deal with it.