Consumers in no rush to buy big, hybrid SUVs

[atlaw4u]

Car shoppers could shun pricey full-size Tahoe, Yukon.

Roland Jones - MSNBC - May 21, 2008

With the price of gasoline hitting daily records and the shaky economy hitting consumers in the pocketbook, a sport utility vehicle that seats eight and gets over 20 miles per gallon would seem to be a promising product.

But even with the price of gas nearing $4 a gallon, early indications suggest car buyers are not warming to the industry’s first full-size, hybrid gas-and-electric-powered SUVs.

When they were launched in the fall of 2007, the Chevy Tahoe Hybrid and the hybrid GMC Yukon seemed like good options for consumers who wanted to pack a big family into a SUV and still save on fuel.

The Tahoe, for example, promised up to 21 mpg in city driving and 22 on the highway — a 50 percent improvement over the conventional version. The two-mode hybrid was named the 2008 Green Car of the Year at last year’s Los Angeles auto show.

But although the Tahoe and Yukon hybrids are still new, early sales figures suggest Americans are not buying them in large numbers the same way they are stampeding toward smaller, fuel-sipping cars, according to Jesse Toprak, executive director of industry analysis for Edmunds.com, an automotive Web site.

The reasons include the cost of the vehicles, which both have a starting price above $50,000, putting them beyond the budget of most middle-class car buyers....[Read More]

[Shiba3420]

I'm glad to see this technology for those who need it, but most of those who truely are not people with 10 others in the car, but constuction workers who need to seat 2 to 5 people, and carry a ton of constuction equipment in the back.

A friend of mine loves the mileage I get in the HiHy, but he couldn't use he has a custom rack in the back of his truck with all the supplies he needs. Hundreads of pounds and every inch storing all the things he may need onsite. These guys needs a high mpg heavy vehicle, not soccer moms than need to seat 4 usually and 8 rarely, who could certainly get by with something much lighter.

The plus side, is that at least consumers finally are understanding the difference between want and need. On the down side, the very people I'm talking about needing better mileage in a heavy truck, are also people who take care of their vehicle and tend to drive them for more years than the rest of us. So even if the perfect vehicle were available today, I wouldn't expect brisk sales. These guys will upgrade at their pace.

[phoebeisis]

$55,000-wow, what a big surprise that folks aren't buying $55,000 20 mpg vehicles with $5 gas looming. Many-most- of the folks who bought big SUVs-Tahoe,Suburbans,Expeditions were middle class with incomes under $75000/yr. They probably paid about $35,000 for their vehicle.Now gasoline has quadrupled(last 8 years),and the Hybrid Tahoe is $55,000.This is Lexus/MB territory.Folks who can afford these vehicles really aren't hit by gasoline prices very much.

Shiba is right-the era of volume sales of 1/2 ton SUVs is gone.They will now be bought by companies/businesses government agencies-cops etc and such,and affluent folks who can afford them.They aren't middle class vehicles anymore-not with $4 and rising gas.

Big aside-I suspect that the Hybrid Tahoe can actually get 25 mpg highway.My old-200,000 mile 1998 2wd Suburban got 20.8 mpg on a 1500 mile trip to AZ.I had 42 psi tire pressure and 5w30 oil, but no hypermiling techniques other than doing 68-70 mph.I used the CC the entire time,and didn't even coast up hills-just CC at 68-70 mph.The mpg was a pleasant surprise(I expected 17-18).The current Suburbans are EPA rated at 3 mpg HY better,so they should get 24 mpg with the tallest rear end-3.42-and a bump in tire pressure to 42 psi.
Charlie

[Earthling]

The Tahoe/Yukon hybrid is just the latest brain-spasm from Luddite Lutz. He's the only person on the planet who could envision brisk sales of a $55K hybrid SUV that is still a gas-hog by any definition.

Gee, let's see, what are the monthly payments for a hybrid Tahoe, and what are my monthly fuel bills?

*Does not compute* *Stack overflow error* *Exceeds resources* *BSOD*

Harry

[Robert Lastick]

When it comes to loosing, Bobbie Klutz has no equal. Maybee he should get on the TV like the Exxon big wig did and tell us why a Hybrid Yukon is really in our best interest!

Maybee he should smarten up and let some of those high MPG cars he is making for Europe into the good old US of A.

Can't make him that smart. No way!

[Vooch]

People who are looking for new cars - no longer think 20 MPG is acceptable. 20 MPG used to be considered by the masses as 'decent MPG', no longer.

People have completely upped the ante on their expectations for MPG - I'd suspect that people now thinke that 25 - 30 MPG is 'decent'

GM simply missed the 'boat' - if only they put in a smaller engine & the hybrid drive train they could easily have reached the 25 MPG threshold

[rxhybrid]

I wonder if Lutz is trying to make GM fire him. Maybe he has a really great parachute and will get paid lots of money if they can him.

He just makes GM seem like it has no place in todays economy.

Ford seems to be trying. They will have 4 hybrids to sell, and they are selling cars with a bit better gas milage than GM. Also, their Focus is a really nice car. They need more nice small cars.

I really don't want the American automobile manufactures to close down. It will put a lot of good people out of jobs. I just hope GM wakes up and gets rid of Lutz other exec's who are stuck in the past.

Just my 2 cents.

[phoebeisis]

Vooch-judging from the 20.8 at 68-70 mph I get with the 2 generations old 5.7 Suburban,I would guess the current non hybrids could get 24 mpg with just a jump in tire pressure to 42-45 psi,syn oil,and keeping hy speed at 70 mpg or less.This speed and tire pressure aren't exactly a hardship-they are solftly suspended,so the bump in tire pressure doesn't hurt the ride.City mpg-well they have to P&G with the motor on.In the purest city with P&G and shutting off at redlights they-non hybrids-should get very close to 20 mpg.They-folks stuck with the biggest guzzlers,Tahoe,Suburban etc-could save about 35% on fuel with mild hypermiling techniques.If they live in the city/suburbs and drive 1200 miles month their fuel bill might be $400/mo.They could drop it to $300 easily. My guess is the note on a average 2005 Suburban(cost maybe $38,000) could easily be $600/mo for 5-6 years-car and fuel costing $12000/yr before insurance!!

Folks who bought the 1/2 ton SUVs are stuck-the resale is dropping much faster than they can build equity.They won't be positive on the note until the last 3 months!!They will have to hypermile to get by for the life of the loan.If they trade in to get a more FE vehicle-big mistake-they will be waaaaay in debt and will never dig themselves out.They are stuck!!More affluent folks($100,000 yr income) will just take the hit and go smaller and their vehicle will be wholesaled out for peanuts.No one wants a big SUV now.

GM probably planned the hybrid Tahoe with $2 gas in mind-another bad guess.However, they are sticking to the Volt,and all sins will be forgiven if they can sell it for $33,000 OTD including the $4000 TC I expect congress to pass.If they MSRP for $34,000 with TTL it will be about $37000 minus the $4000 TC-about $33,000 out of pocket for a 250 MPG vehicle-a winner!! They should be able to build a whole family of vehicles around it-even mid sized minivan/suv type vehicles in the 190" range for families/soccer moms ,road trips,home depot runs etc.
Charlie

[99HXCivic]

If I wanna go big I'd get a Honda Odyssey EX-L with a tow package. A good one can get 27 mpg hwy. Tow package can tow 4500 lbs.

[Vooch]

Phobe - agreed w/ a little tweaking this FSP could get 24 - 28 MPG.

and my sympathy goes out to anyone who is stuck in underwater lease for one of these and faces a $400 gas bill each month.

Your math is compellling - someone who get 20 MPG and hypermiles to 24 MPG by a few tweaks would save 20% on gas - say $100 per month.


That's a lot