Are they nuts? What does a Lexus hybrid SUV go for? (450h?)

20 mpg? I guess if you can afford $70,000 for an SUV you can afford to fill the tank with gas no matter how much it costs per gallon.

(And I can't believe they didn't fire Rick Wagoner's a$$)

I read "GM" .... then I quit reading.

... Brad

One of the GM commercials running during the Olympics has the first part with people looking for better mpg vehicles. The second half has the "fuel efficient" Yukon and Tahoe advertised to fill this need. Now this overpriced Escalade.

Huh?

:eyebrows:I bet the waiting list will be astounding LOL

Only a few thousand less than my first house!

Almost a Prius more then my first house.

I do think this will sell. They might sell more of them then the low number of Tahoe hybrids. The amount of the hybrid premium will seem smaller on this expensive pig. GM has sold many Escalades north of $60,000 already. This will be the 'ultimate' SUV to some.

To me the ultimate SUV will be something Element or Escape sized that got 40mpg.

In GM's defense - not that they deserve it - incorporating hybrid technology initially on their premium priced vehicles may be a reasonable strategy for GM to develop the necessary technical knowledge on new hybrid powertrains - without losing money - prior to applying the new and 'advanced' hybrid technology on affordable high volume vehicles. By advanced, I'm implying 50mpg hybrid technology - not the hybrid technology currently used on the 32mpg hybrid Chevy Malibu. GM knows that they have to play catch up to Toyota (fast) with regards to advanced hybrid technology and given GM's dire financial condition, possibly using a Cadillac Escalade to help GM play catch up with Toyota may in fact be a well thought out strategy.

Then again, the Prius has been out for around 10 years and only a company managed by complete idiots (GM) would be incapable of manufacturing a 45+ mpg car comparable to the Prius.

Looks like GM is tied for last with every other car company.

FWIW the celebs will love this (Paris Hilton)

Yet all indications are that it is a reaction to being clobbered.

It hard to overlook basic facts.

Here's another article:
Cadillac has high hopes for Escalade Hybrid: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

i can think of about a billion better ways to spend $72k.

In my past life as an electric motor engineer I worked directly with a Tier 1 GM supplier (and former division of GM) on hybrid drive development for one of the small GM cars. With the exception of one lead engineer (that man was a genius) the entire project was a cluster and the people in charge were certified morons. The scope was a power assist and very low speed all electric operation but the types of motors being used and their configuration in relation to the rest of the vehicle and with their control system was absurd from any kind of engineering standpoint. They insisted on "reinventing the wheel" rather than using the "correct" types of technology. Oh, this was only a few years ago at the most.

...

Is it called the "Stop Gap Edition"?

I wonder when the first big recall on these will happen.

20mpg if you drive carefull. 19mpg and lower in real world :rofl:
leave it to Wagoner & (k)Lutz to think the land barge is what the average shloemoe is looking for when the unimportant need to impress is priority.

Hooe yah, we're sure ready to trade our AWD 30mpg Lexus hybrid SUV in for a land barge that'll cost a Benjamin to top it off. The question now it how long before it meets the same fate as the Hummer.
.

Or they could have accepted an offer from Toyota to share and license the HSD, but GM passed on it saying that their customers weren't interested.