GM Goes Green

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(cwerdna @ Aug 1 2007, 05:55 AM) [snapback]488542[/snapback]</div>

I notice they didn't mention a price for the "two-mode" full hybrid system.

I'm still trying to figure out what GM thinks the potential market is. A Cadillac Escalade (5800 lbs, EPA 12 mpg city though most reviews seem to give it 9 city), with a two-mode hybrid system is like ... a bacon double cheeseburger with the option to pay extra for low-cal mayo. Hard for me to imagine that a lot of people who are OK with 9 mpg and would be willing to pay a premium to bump that up to 11 mpg. The only thing I can figure is that GM only has the option to add this to the most expensive products they offer, so the Escalade is it.

 

25% better. let's see ... 25% of 15mpg ... gee that ought to get their land boats up to about 18.8mpg. Oh joy, that ought to show those middle east oil barrons who's in charge.

 

Noticed that the cost for the mild BAS system was stated as $2k. Seems like Toyota is planning on having the full hybrid version only cost about $2K extra by 2009.

Assuming this happens (haven't heard any news beyond the slight reduction of the Prius base price), then after one model year, consumers will be paying the same premium for the GM mild hybrids and Toyota full hybrids. So double (or quadruple) the improvement for the same cost. This is assuming that Toyota does accomplish this, but I think their track record suggests they will.

 

Towards the end of the article, GM came clean and stated: "......emits warm air and water vapor." Probably does not matter much if they were talking about fuel cells or GM spokesmen.