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."
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Now I’m confused. If a car uses electricity, will it, or will it not, give me leukemia?
Ford would be selling double the amount of Hybrid Escapes if they’d just get more on the lots. They simply can’t be found out there.
There’s an idea for an article…”the truth about the Ford Escape Hybrid”. Does anyone know what the truth really is on that and what is going on? Are they keeping production #’s down artificially in the hopes that their dealers can turn the prospective buyers onto a cheaper and higher-profit margin 4-cyl version? Are they making any money on them? Do they have enough batteries and other hybrid supplies to increase production? If Ford marketed this thing better I think it could be a huge hit. It is a good vehicle from what I understand and has surpassed some impressive durability tests–like the NYC taxi cab tests.
Once your eyes are calibrated, you can begin to see a fair number of Escape Hybrid’s.
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.
“Ford would be selling double the amount of Hybrid Escapes if they’d just get more on the lots. They simply can’t be found out there.”
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.
Do power station employees have higher rates of cancers? Do locomotive engineers have higher rates of cancers?
Every time I’ve checked in the last month, there have been none on any dealer lot in Maryland, Northern VA or in Washington, DC.
Perfect writer for GM management – misdirection and dishonesty.
Geez Frank!
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…
Who’s Eric Fedeva?
What’s irony?
The last I recall, the link between electromagnetic fields and cancer has been shown to be non-existent.
Hmmmmm…..
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?
AFAIK GM is the only company selling hybrid light trucks. Sorry, 400h and Highlander need not apply. Those aren’t light trucks.
pman-
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
Hmmm, I guess my CR-V isn’t a real truck despite the fact that it hauled 1500 lbs of tile inside the cargo area last week and 1500 lbs of flooring today on my utility trailer. Towed a Chrysler home a couple years ago. It did okay. Heck this “car” doesn’t even have “real” 4WD although at one point all four tires were spinning as I jockey’d the trailer around the steep backyard at lunchtime before dashing back to work.
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.
It’s not a real truck unless you have to get on a ladder to check the oil, it gets crappy gas mileage, and it has a cheesy big-testicle sounding engine name. You know: Hemi, i-Force, Triton, Endurance, Vortec.
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.
Lexus doesn’t build a truck.
Highlander? Not a truck.
No frame= not a truck.
Can’t tow= not a truck.
So the Land Cruiser based GX and LX are what exactly?
ChrisHaak: 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.
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…