GM HX3 Hybrid Van

[Piwoslaw]

GM HX3 hybrid van
Popular Science - GM HX3

Looks like GM had a hybrid years before Toyota's Prius...

[brucey]

Reading the rest of the magazine makes me sad.

Same "Tomorrow will be better" tech articles
Same "Almost ready for production" electric cars
Same Snake oil products at the back of the magazine.

The more things change the more they stay the same, indeed.

Interesting vehicle though. I like how they got a clean shape out of a minivan.

[bkruger]

The more secret prototypes of GM's I see, the worse I feel for its engineers. They produced some amazing designs and prototypes. They had all the technology and engineering know-how to be a world leader in many different markets, but the leadership has always held it back. It's a shame.

[MetroMPG]

Thanks for posting, Piwoslaw. Some excellent pictures in that link.

I like it a lot.

[MetroMPG]

Looking over the photos again, it seems smaller than the pics suggest. Maybe about the size of a Mazda 5?

The VW 1L car also tricks the eyes - it's much smaller in real life than it looks in photos. Something about aero styling?

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by bkruger

The more secret prototypes of GM's I see, the worse I feel for its engineers. They produced some amazing designs and prototypes. They had all the technology and engineering know-how to be a world leader in many different markets, but the leadership has always held it back. It's a shame.

GM and Ford have large European divisions that have been putting out quite efficient cars that the US doesn't get to see. GM and Opel/Vauxhall are supposedly the same company, but with totally different politics. I guess the European part had to go with efficiency to stay in the market, while in the US it was the Big 3 that kept the brakes on for years. Now they're so far behind that it's hard to catch up, let alone be ahead.

[NeilBlanchard]

Hi,

Thanks for posting! The Cd of 0.258 for this vehicle makes the Mercedes Boxfish's Cd of 0.19 look even more impressive!

[orange4boy]

Interesting find. Looks very similar to the Previa which Toyota made into a hybrid in Japan around 2000, called the Estima. North America got the V6 Sienna

Funny thing is that van would probably have a lower Cd in reverse.

This type of thing is so common in corporate culture. If you look like you are green that is all that matters. All image, no substance. GM to a T. Just like all those green ads for big oil companies. Very expensive manure... on recycled paper.

The quote at the end is prefect: "We could wait and wait and wait for the perfect batteries, but we are going ahead with what we have." Ron R Dabels: Market development manager.

They waited, they got the batteries and then they sold them to Chevron.

[Nevyn]

Looks like an EV-1 station wagon.

[Piwoslaw]

I just noticed that the HX3 resembles Citroen's ECO 2000, from 1981-84. But didn't all prototypes look like that in the '80's?