And about the time GM is really cranking out the hybrids some other big shift in auto technology will occur rendering every bit of the catching up they did obsolete.. About the time GM is really starting to see a profit somebody else will release a 500 mile, 10 min rechargeable EV with a 125 mph top speed and all the extras. Something really weird like the Eliccia. VBG!

…or gasoline will drop to something really cheap to what it was 6 months prior to that… Wait, wait – can’t have that – then GM might make money if they still had trucks to sell. No, this is a story of irony or doom and gloom. Can’t have GM coming out on top… Just kidding…

So the Land Cruiser based GX and LX are what exactly?

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.

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.

Nope it isn’t a “real” SUV despite the fact that it is doing something that looks like “real” work to me. And getting 20-25 mpg while doing it with a 2.0L five speed manual. My toy car is hauling materials home faster than I can install them.

I think we can throw the old measurements of a vehicle’s value out the window about now.

So are we saying that the little compact trucks (old S-10, Ranger, Nissan, Tacomas) are or aren’t real trucks. They were pretty restricted to what they could carry or tow too.

These “notatruck” arguements always seem to revolve around using carefully crafted criteria “proving” that the products you prefer are “real” and the ones you don’t are “fake”, regardless of actual capability and usage.

In other words, don’t waste your time.

I think it is related to the absurd attempts to “prove” the Prius is “bad” in what ever way is popular that week.

Bunter

Can’t tow = not a truck?

The no-frame, not-a-truck VW Toureg crossover tows 7700 lbs. That’s 1500 lbs MORE than a Tahoe hybrid.

So…. Tahoe hybrid = not a truck. Right?

Honda never said a mistruth?
How about Nissan?
Maybe Toyota?
Honest as the day is long?
I think not!

Lexus doesn’t build a truck.

Highlander? Not a truck.

No frame= not a truck.

Can’t tow= not a truck.

I don’t care who classifies it as one.

So fess up, what did GM do to you guys to have such a vendetta against them?

Maybe Exxon would be a better target! Or better yet GW and Cheney!

I do know that AE has a bone to pick with GM and some bad blood in the past. Some marketing connection I think?

Spill it already! Your biasing is really showing now.

Inquiring minds…

Buick61: there was two of them (well, one was a Mariner) on Ford dealer lot in ‘lil ol’ So. Barre VT last Sunday. Maybe there hiding them.

When I saw the 33k+ price tag, I kept walking.

But they all seem to be corporate fleet. A university police force, a telecom company, etc.

In the last month, I’ve only seen one consumer Escape Hybrid in the wild, and another one on a lot. The one on the lot is probably still languishing uselessly, since it was packed with useless and expensive options, pushing the price over $40k.

Ford doesn’t need to “market it better”: the car would sell itself just fine. They need to take the thing seriously and make more of them. An order of magnitude more.