Congrats GM and Cadillac! - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

Matt Herring · 10-09-2008, 12:38 PM

In the never-ending quest to be a living, breathing moron of a company GM is "proud" to introduce the 2009 Cadillac Escalade Hybrid!

How can GM toot it's horn about the impending roll-out of the Chevy Volt and then be "proud" to introduce an Escalade Hybrid? What's next the Hybrid Sherman Tank? This is like McDonald's offering fat-free cheese on a Big Mac!

What current Escalade owner or person thinking of purchasing an Escalade is fuel/environment conscious? Do they really care about improving their mpg from 12 to 20 mpg or do they feel "better" about themselves because they think they have an eco-friendly vehicle. For $75,000 you too can make yourself feel better about "helping" the U.S. become fuel independent.

The last time I checked there were exactly "zero" Escalade's in the ecomodder garage. Coincidence?

If the government is handing out tax credits for the purchase of PHEV's shouldn't they mandate minimum mpg's for vehicles or at least create minimum standards for hybrid vehicles?

Read more about the Escalade Hybrid at the following link...

The 2009 Cadillac Escalade Hybrid

Daox · 10-09-2008, 12:53 PM

Yeah, its very stupid. But GM has to feed their cash cow, the SUV.

some_other_dave · 10-09-2008, 01:30 PM

And hey, if they do get people to go from 12 MPG to 20 MPG, that ain't too bad! That's an improvement of 67%. I'd have to mod my CRX to get 50 MPG to get a similar level of improvement...

At least it's an option for people who "have to have" a monster SUV. Until we can convince them they don't need that much truck.

-soD

Matt Herring · 10-09-2008, 01:51 PM

Dave,

Good point on the 67% gain. Kind of like masking the awful taste of cough syrup with cherry flavor to make it more palatable for kids. I guess if you have to have an Escalade it should be a hybrid.

I was just hoping for more foreward thinking when the EV and PHEV technology finally became mainstream. It seems like such a waste for GM to spend millions of dollars and thousands of hours on making an Escalade hybrid when GM could spend their resources better by becoming a leader in the hybrid industry. GM is clearly behind in the non-hybrid market and with the introduction of the Volt they have a chance to be on the leading edge of the hybrid market.

My first thought when I saw the hybrid Escalade was Toyota must be laughing at them right now. Toyota has a hybrid SUV but not for $75,000 and not the size of a tank. I drive a 4runner so I realize I could be driving a more efficient vehicle too but I'm new to ecomodder and already had the 4runner when I jumped on board.

Eventually, most cars will probably be an EV or PHEV and I'm glad to see things progressing so it's not all bad. Just wish GM would put the horse before the cart and focus their hybrid technology on some of their more already-efficient, better-selling vehicles.

saunders1313 · 10-09-2008, 02:32 PM

20mpg city and 21mpg highway. Typical of a hybrid, but why don't they try that with some of their other vehicles and they might not be losing business to foreign manufacturers. It still amazes me that anyone thinks they need a huge vehicle like that because they have kids. If they have kids that size you have some major problems. My mom drove three kids around in a late 70's model VW, and not the bus. Oh how did we ever survive with such small leg room, no dvd players, and without being able to fit 12 other people in the vehicle with us. We used to fit two adults and 5 kids into a Chevy Celebrity. Car manufacturers in this country are not going to change what they do until it's too late for them. Toyota is out-selling them, Honda and Hyundai are close behind and they come out with a hybrid Escalade, are they serious. Look at the biggest vehicles that any of the Asian companies are selling here, they're still bigger than anything most people need, but they're half the size of an Escalade. GM should look more into 3 and 4 cylinder cars than 5.7L V8's. The way of the future in this country is starting to look like the rest of the world, small cars with few options.

Matt Herring · 10-09-2008, 03:05 PM

Saunders,

I was also stunned at a hybrid Escalade, hence, the reason for my post. Not to mention, the hybrid Escalade will be a limited production model so not only is GM using their hybrid technology for a small fraction of their customers they also are using the technology on a limited number of cars.

And...to top things off GM execs came up with the brilliant idea of marketing their new Escalade hybrid in China!!!! Sure, China is an untapped market (one of the last in the world) but marketing big, fat vehicles to an Asian market is a sure-sign GM is desperate. Why in the world would they choose the Escalade as the model to market to China? Read more about this here...

GM sending hybrid Escalade to China - AutoblogGreen

jamesqf · 10-09-2008, 03:40 PM

There are people who would buy one, and would think that they are doing a good thing. One of my prime examples of sheer blindness to the consequences of one's own actions involves an Escalade. This was in the early days of Iraq, and the Escalade was so new it still had temporary plates - but it sported a "No Blood for Oil" bumper sticker.

Matt Herring · 10-09-2008, 03:48 PM

Perhaps another example of sheer blindness in your story is the fact that someone put a bumper sticker on a $50,000 car.

mavinwy · 10-09-2008, 04:03 PM

We are still in a free market economy (for the most part) If someone is going to buy a luxury SUV anyway, I'd prefer that they purchased a Hybrid than not.

I have driven one of the Hybrid Yukons (same truck, smaller price tag) and got 20mpg. That was loaded with 7 people and gear. A perfectly acceptable use for a vehicle this size, and it was a lot better than the 15mpg that the previous one got.

People are going to buy them anyway...I'll applaud GM for at least offering a better alternative.

Jim

6spdxterra29732 · 10-09-2008, 06:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saunders1313

20mpg city and 21mpg highway. Typical of a hybrid, but why don't they try that with some of their other vehicles and they might not be losing business to foreign manufacturers. It still amazes me that anyone thinks they need a huge vehicle like that because they have kids. If they have kids that size you have some major problems. My mom drove three kids around in a late 70's model VW, and not the bus. Oh how did we ever survive with such small leg room, no dvd players, and without being able to fit 12 other people in the vehicle with us. We used to fit two adults and 5 kids into a Chevy Celebrity. Car manufacturers in this country are not going to change what they do until it's too late for them. Toyota is out-selling them, Honda and Hyundai are close behind and they come out with a hybrid Escalade, are they serious. Look at the biggest vehicles that any of the Asian companies are selling here, they're still bigger than anything most people need, but they're half the size of an Escalade. GM should look more into 3 and 4 cylinder cars than 5.7L V8's. The way of the future in this country is starting to look like the rest of the world, small cars with few options.

I routinely achieve 20-25 in my Xterra. Granted I have modified my driving, but seriously, I don't understand it. 75k because its a hybrid? I only paid 23k for mine and get the same mileage. Great point though, I do applaud the fact that they made a 67% improvement.