Chevrolet Trucks Blog

With the use of gasoline-electric hybrid versions of GM’s full-size SUVs, General Motors is said to be expecting 40 percent better fuel economy in city driving. Compare to GM’s counterparts who offer gasoline-only vehicles, the GM made Hybrid Chevrolet Tahoes and the GMC Yukons will consume only as much as a gallon in a 19-20 miles regular stop and go driving.

It can be noticed that other brands’ hybrid SUVs show bigger in-town gains. Averaging of a 50 percent to 80 percent better than similar gasoline models but although it does this, it sacrifices certain truck attributes: towing capacity or four-wheel-drive capabilities. The hybrid SUVs will make use a conventional four-wheel-drive system with low-range gears perfect for low-speed challenges like driving through sand and mud.

“There’s still an appetite for full-size SUVs, but gas prices have cooled things off,” says Mark Cieslak, chief engineer for GM’s full-size trucks. He adds that the rise in fuel prices added with social and political pressure for better mileage have “accelerated development” of technologies that involved saving on fuel.

The Tahoe and Yukon are both due in showrooms in the fall. They will be the first full-size gasoline-electric hybrid SUVs. The dual-mode hybrid system was developed with Chrysler Group and BMW—both planning to offer it in vehicles next year. As for GM, it will offer this feature next year on the Cadillac Escalade, then on the Chevy and GMC full-size pickups.

Come end of July in the Washington, D.C. area, GM officers will demonstrate pre-production versions of the vehicles.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 24th, 2007 at 1:45 am and is filed under Chevrolet news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.