A while ago, under little fanfare, GM announced that it was adding the Chevy Cobalt XFE to it’s product line up. XFE stands for “Xtra Fuel Economy,” and with the XFE’s highway rating of 36 a full 5 MPG better than the next-best Cobalt, it’s certainly not a misnomer. It’s been a while since car companies like Honda and GM went out of their way to build mpg models of their normal cars (remember the Metro XFi? Civic VX/HX?), but ever since GM went live with the XFE I was wondering if we’d see more models.
Traditional automotive speculation would suggest that companies like GM wouldn’t make high-mpg versions of existing cars that might compete with hybrid sales. For example, if the normal Cobalt gets 31 highway mpg, the XFE 36, and the hybrid 40, but the hybrid has a bigger price premium than the XFE, GM would be bound to lose some hybrid sales to the XFE. This idea is often cited when people wonder why European or Japanese product configurations never show up in the US. Who would buy a hybrid when they can get a cheaper car that gets similar mileage?
Either way, it seems GM is bucking the trend. They realize that not only do they need to change their ways, but they can’t rely on hybrids. Their hybrid truck sales have been slow (perhaps due to cost premiums), and people are demanding more change, more quickly. In response, GM has released XFE models of the Chevy Silverado, GMC Sierra, Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon. These models will be out in 2009, and even though they only bump mileage up an extra 1 mpg, they’re still a significant effort on GM’s part.
The bigger news here, I think, is that GM is working on better fuel economy across the board, but I know you’re going to want to trash these XFE models for only getting 1 mpg better than their normal counterparts. I won’t stop you, but do here me out. On these vehicles (with a original EPA ratings of 14/20 mpg), the 1 mpg increase means an almost 6% increase in fuel economy. And considering that these trucks use the most gas, that 6% increase will reduce a lot more gas usage than making the Prius 6% more efficient (though, obviously, driving a Prius an not an SUV would be even better).
Baby steps, right?
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