While any move to improve fuel efficiency in full-sized trucks is a move in the right direction, you have to wonder if GM's straining at gnats while swallowing camels with their latest move: XFE versions of Silverado, Sierra, Tahoe and Yukon. The press release brags the changes make them "the most aerodynamic full-size pickups in the industry." To accomplish this, they'll install a soft tonneau cover on the pickups and extend the front air dam, lower the suspension, revise the chassis tuning, use aluminum in the wheels and engine and install low rolling-resistance tires. And what's the gain for all these changes? One whole mile per gallon on both the city and highway ratings, which "reflect[s] GM's quick adaptation to an evolving market that remains a very important segment." They haven't said how much all these changes will cost, but just like with the hybrid versions. it's bound to take a while to offset the additional cost with fuel savings.
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“We fast-tracked the XFE models to get them into dealer showrooms as quickly as possible” = we had this upcoming 6-speed transmission, and a whole bunch of leftover Yukahoe Hybrid aero mods and lightweight aluminum parts because we’re not selling many of them.
Add some skinny tires, and *poof* “fast-tracked” XFE!
15 and 21? Well in that case, sign me up! It’s exactly what I was looking for to go get groceries. It’s too bad GM pays their engineers to play Solitaire all day. Imagine what would happen if the accountants would let the engineers do what they’re actually capable of, instead of constant band-aid fixes to their craptacular vehicles.
What about fitting 4wd models with Manual Hubs, that would get about the same gain.
wow, how impressive! *sarcasm*
wonder how they plan for people to purchase these, considering that for 2009, there will be NO factory supported programs on any light trucks for leases.
This isn’t a bad thing, really. One mile per gallon is reasonably significant on a vehicle with ratings this low, and it shows that there’s a lot of opportunity for low-cost, low-technology solutions.
Mind you, it also shows that we’ve spent the last fifteen years doing squat if the low-hanging fruit is this easy to pick.
If there’s a silver lining, it’s that lower ride height and low resistance tires will result in less rollovers. Well, look at that! Safety that doesn’t come at the expense of weight and mpg’s.
I really don’t see the problem. A 1 mpg improvement is between 5-7% in these gas hogs. I think they already got the best fuel economy in their class.
BTW, isn’t the Cobalt XFE stuff standard in the base car with the manual transmission? So they’re not charging extra for that; I don’t see why they would charge something ridiculous like $1,000 for it on the trucks.
15,000 miles @ 16 mpg combined and $4.00 per gallon would cost $3,750 in fuel. @17 mpg combined, it would be $3,529 in fuel (a savings of $221 annually).
The one funny thing about this is that it proves (as I suspected) that the two mode hybrid doesn’t really do anything for highway mileage – that completely comes from aerodynamics and tires. The two-mode system helps city mileage only, really.
People don’t equate fuel efficiency with trucks and SUVs, and for good reason: they are not, and will never be, fuel efficient. They are made for hauling and towing. GM needs to concentrate precious resources on increasing the fuel efficiency of their cars, not trucks. This is one more reason the transplants are eating GM’s lunch.
Although 1 MPG doesn’t sound like much, it makes a big difference when mileage is low to start with.
As a comparison of the segment, here are the V6 powered Honda’s fuel economy numbers.
Pilot – 17/23
Tahoe XFE – 15/21 (800 lbs heavier, 70 more HP)
Ridgeline – 15/20
Sierra XFE – 15/21 (500 lbs heavier, 65 more HP)
While all base models of GMT900’s should start with the XFE mods, GM is at least very competitive in this segment (it’s probably a good thing the Ridgeline and Pilot are so ugly and not great sellers for Honda).
I also predict that over the next few months there will be a lot more XFE models out of GM (marketing guys probably love this XFE thing).
Also, a year or so ago they started letting you buy the Denali package without 4WD.
That’s got to help…?
… and this will do WHAT to the load capacity and towing ability (not to mention off-roadability)?
WildBill, Do you think the typical GM SUV buyer cares? As it happens, the press release says they increased the tow rating to 7K lbs (up from 6K, I guess).
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Where’s the VCM engine? That would make a huge difference – likely bigger than all those other little changes. It’s one thing GM has that Toyota doesn’t… Exploit it!
extend the front air dam, lower the suspension
Is this just the XFE version?
“the most aerodynamic full-size pickups in the industry.”
Until the all new 2009 Ram comes out in a couple of months.
And what might Toyota and Ford have up their sleeves? They aren’t just going to do nothing and let GM brag about having the best mpg.
Okay, first off let me say that I’ve never complained about too much power in contemporary cars.
However, I’m not so sure about trucks’ need for 300+ hp these days. As a kid, my father’s ’72 Chevy pickup (350 V8) pulled a 5th wheel RV like it was nothing, with less than half the hp of some of the modern American V8s.
Cut the power, save gas, and still pull a house off its foundation!
So we can figure on $221 annual savings by gaining 1mpg as listed above – I bet the markup is at least $5k on the XFEs knowing GM.
They have lengthened the air dam and lowered the suspension on the GM trucks even more? Don’t bother taking this truck off the pavement or you will lose your ‘aero advantage’… literally.
I 2nd the motion for manual hubs. Trucks need to get back to the basics. We could surely see a full size truck that got 25mpg highway if we’d ditch some of the creature comforts that trucks never should have come with in the first place.
Good job GM. It looks like these XFEs are going to cannabilize the nonexistant sales of the Pr-mobile Tahoe/Yukon hybrids, since they get almost the same fuel economy and will probably cost at least $10,000 less. If I were buying one of GM’s SUVs (As if, I am not that stupid, my next car is going to be a used 1st gen Focus) I would much rather sacrifice a few MPGs to save about $15,000 and not get laughed at by all of the Prius drivers because of my foot tall “Hybrid” stickers.
I bet when they break out the September sales numbers, GM will have sold 524 Tahoe XFEs and 0 Tahoe Hybrids. You watch.
Quentin, good point on not taking it off the pavement. According to edmunds.com’s specs page, the ’08 Silverado LT1 2WD Crew cab has a ground clearance of 9 inches. The 2 door only has 7.7 inches! My 2WD Frontier crew cab, with no off-road package, has 10.1 inches of ground clearance. It’s nice not scraping the underside on those concrete curbs at the front of parking spaces, or bottoming out when entering/exiting shopping centers. My last vehicle, an ’05 Altima, would bottom out while crawling over speed bumps in the Wal Mart parking lot and when backing out of my driveway into the street.
Don’t bother taking this truck off the pavement or you will lose your ‘aero advantage’… literally.
I’ve taken my Saab 9-3 off pavement and not done any harm. I think people overestimate the need for ground clearance: unless you’re rock crawling or being aggressively careless, you shouldn’t often need more than a passenger car’s ground clearance.
Maybe I’m missing something (rear overhang?) but I really have trouble with this need for eight to ten inches of clearance.
psarhjinian and others – more clearance is not just for offroading. When you live in Canada (and northern states) where you get this stuff called snow, you don’t want to be the lowest vehicle in the neigbourhood when driving down the streets (think snowplow). Ground clearance and winter tires are more important than which wheels are driven (FWD, RWD, AWD) for getting through snow covered roads.
When TTAC first mentioned all the changes that went into the upcoming Yukon/Tahoe hybrids people mentioned that GM should do *exactly* what they’ve done here. I’m no GM fan, but this is a reasonable effort and it really does emphasize that the hybrids’ only real virtue is its’ city mileage improvement. Now adding cylinder deactivation would help improve things further.
The excuse that “it’s a truck so it doesn’t need/can’t get good mpg” argument rings pretty hollow. It’s never a bad idea to improve the overall efficiency, especially when the gains can be made in a relatively inexpensive way as shown here.
Now as for these improvements causing sales cannibalization of the hybrids, I’d say there’s very little if anything to cannibalize. These efforts will have a greater impact than all the hybrids GM has actually moved off the lot since inception.
I can’t vouch for the accuracy of these guys:
Minyanville.com
but they’re not being anywhere near as nice as Frank Williams.
And they also assert the hybrid pickups aren’t due out until “the first half of next year.”
If true, I’m stunned. This should not be a terribly difficult project. Isn’t the underpinnings of the pickups very similar to the SUV? Pickups have always struck me as a more rational purchase, less prone to tanking in tough times and more likely purchased by looking carefully at expenses. A hybrid pickup (especially if, outfitted like the original Silverado BAS whybrid with AC power – that was one clever option for it) has always struck me as having more potential for sales. Yet, after seeing the sales of two hybrid SUVs tank, GM brings out… another hybrid SUV.
Of course… maybe I’m wrong about that.
Naaah!
And what might Toyota and Ford have up their sleeves? They aren’t just going to do nothing and let GM brag about having the best mpg.
To me, this is how fuel economy should be sorted out. Competition. The free market. Not re-election focused government intervention.
And my ’97 S-10 gets 34mpg (actual, not what the EPA says). It takes a load of trash to the transfer station just fine, and it’s hauled plenty of horse poo over the years. Gotta love that 2.2L OHV and the 2WD with no A/C… PLUS, there’s tons of space to work on it under the hood.
BRING BACK THE S-10! Just make it out of galvenized metal (like a Porsche) so it doesn’t rust all to hell likeevery S-10 north of the Mason-Dixon line (try finding a new tailgate in the junkyard in New York… you can’t).
Notice Ford is keeping the Ranger in production after saying many times how it would die? Hmm, could be a clue for the GM boys…
I’d honestly like to see them take this concept a lot farther. Something like what
this guy did to his toyota
I don’t think anyone really knows the publics tolerance for such unusual looking vehicles, but one of the car makers needs to test the waters. There’s a lot of cheap hwy mpg’s to be had. Make it all bolt on dealer options. Full belly pan, low front air dam, wheel skirts, heck some cars you could add a full or partial boat tail to. Aero shells for trucks.
I, for one, am glad to see GM starting to get the picture that fuel economy can sell vehicles. That said, they should continue with these types of improvements every year. Because that’s what the market expects: continuous improvement. It’s not just a catchphrase, it really means something.
And yeah, they’re hybrid SUV’s look like $60k fartbombs right about now. I’m eager to hear how Lutz spins that one.
more clearance is not just for offroading. When you live in Canada (and northern states) where you get this stuff called snow, you don’t want to be the lowest vehicle in the neigbourhood when driving down the streets
I live in Canada and own both a 9-3 and a Honda Fit. I managed quite handily in Kawartha winters in both cars. I’ve also taken the Saab up well north of Timmins and, with studded tires (which are a right pain to install, BTW), have had pretty good luck on some minimally plowed logging roads, or unplowed ones with four inches or so of not-to-packed snow. The key was not being aggressively stupid.
Now, unplowed roads, especially with dense snow are indeed an issue (as are those lovely mountains of rock-hard packed snow that the plows leave in driveways or at the end of a lane), but there aren’t very many locations where a road will stay unplowed for that long, especially in cities or on most numbered rural roads and highways.
The point, though, is that if I can make it an entire winter in a passenger car with five or less inches of clearance, a truck with seven inches should have no issue whatsoever–yet people are complaining?
While I applaud the ‘conservation’ aspect of this idea, I’m sure that GM will advertise it like it’s the Second Coming, and it will ultimately irritate me, as many GM adverts do.
The hybrids also have the thinner, lighter seats and aluminum body panels.
Do these XFE trucks get the same parts?
Phred_da_Phrog:
“And my ‘97 S-10 gets 34mpg (actual, not what the EPA says).”
I had ’92 S-10 with the 2.7 V6 and 5 spd. I got 25/26 on the highway. Drove it 65 mph on the 70 mph interstate. Only added a few minutes to my commute. “PLUS, there’s tons of space to work on it under the hood.” Yea, even with the V6 it was easy maintenance.
“BRING BACK THE S-10! Just make it out of galvenized metal (like a Porsche) so it doesn’t rust all to hell likeevery S-10 north of the Mason-Dixon line” Mine had very little rust and was still going strong when I sold it with 229k miles on the odo.
Bought my first truck in 1972, a 1970 International Harvester 1/2 ton 2wd. V8, 3 speed
manual trans. No P/S or P/B. I haven’t owned a car
since then. 7 trucks in 36 yrs. Since then I have been involved in one accident. I was t-boned in a parking lot by a guy in a car. I live in Michigan,
and I have never been upside down or on my side.
Trucks handle like trucks, they get poor gas mileage. I accept this. I buy and drive what I like, not what someone else thinks I “need”. I don’t criticize cars, I just don’t like them. Each
vehicle has different attributes and shortcomings.
Drive what you like.
netrun: “And yeah, they’re hybrid SUV’s look like $60k fartbombs right about now. I’m eager to hear how Lutz spins that one.”
Lutz has, somehow, forgotten that they exist.
Someone who writes press releases at GM, however, is occasionally forced to acknowledge they exist. From GM’s August 1 Sales Report:
GM hybrid vehicles continue to gain in popularity in the marketplace with 228 hybrid Chevrolet Tahoe and 123 GMC Yukon 2-mode SUVs delivered. There were 349 Chevrolet Malibu, 29 Saturn Aura and 362 Vue hybrids sold in July. For the month, a total of 1,091 hybrid vehicles were delivered, with 5,467 hybrids sold so far this year.
Dude, that’s the third straight month of decline.
“We’re working hard to change perceptions and gain awareness of GM as the leader in advanced propulsion technology and fuel efficiency,” LaNeve added. “Customers can experience that each time they visit a dealer’s showroom to see the full lineup – including five hybrid models — that provide industry-leading value, great fuel economy and the best warranty coverage of any full-line automaker. We don’t just talk about technology, fuel efficiency and value – we have the cars and trucks available today to back it up.”
Not just one, two or even three hybrids that don’t sell but five, count ’em, five hybrid models that don’t sell! And, pretty soon, a sixth hybrid model that won’t sell!
Why don’t they just bag it?
They need to do things like this all the time to their models to keep them fresh and different. I’ll be looking for these on the street.
To me, this is how fuel economy should be sorted out. Competition. The free market. Not re-election focused government intervention.…
Any idea what the mileage of these vehicles would have been had there not been a minimum standard? I’d bet a lot worse than they are now. As for election year BS, neither candidate is really addressing what is needed: A moon-shot like dedication to reducing national energy use, a serious push to develop alternative sources and nuclear capacity, and a well planned method to increase domestic production of oil. By well planned, I mean a careful review of potential sources for production that are based on sound science, not on what is best for ExxonMobil.