Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid, GMC Yukon Hybrid seeing lackluster sales

[kenman923]

A Tahoe for over $50K not selling well? I wonder why.

[DuSpinnst]

Originally Posted by chakis24

has anyone seen it live either? i havent seen one on any lot. gmc or chevy.

Our dealers here in Metro Detroit have one for demos

[WishIhadatruck]

The astronomical prices that they have been asking for full size suv's may be a thing of the past. These might have sold better a year ago or two when the regular models were selling for sticker. Now that the regular models are selling at a discount the price difference is even greater.

[jbartley]

NO ADVERTISING!

nobody knows these things exist!

[plane]

I'm pretty sure it's the $15,000 premium GM is charging for the hybrid.

[BigEnos]

We bought a Tahoe in February, but unfortunately the Hybrids weren't quite out yet and we needed something. I love the one we bought, but a Hybrid Tahoe would be at the top of our list if we were buying now. My wife's commute is largely stop/go driving and it would be a big improvement, probably 3-4mpg on average. BTW I have managed to get over 19mpg on trips when I don't need to stop/go much, so the 20mpg EPA highway is no BS for the non-hybrid.

[john1701a]

Originally Posted by fan

What other hybrid except Prius sells in huge numbers?

Camry-Hybrid

March = 6,930 April = 6,678 Last Year = 54,492

What do you think May sales will reveal?

[ARCANGEL]

have to concur with some of these gentlemen cost is to high for such a little increase in gas millage! plus at 20MPG its still not great at $4 a gallon!!!

[steinravnik]

Originally Posted by Ming

The problem with these hybrids is that they are not really a solution for anyone -- except the white hairs at GM who want to keep milking the Big Truck and SUV cash cow.

1. If a rural family, one that depends on this type of vehicle, is in a financial crisis because of the cost of gasoline, among other things, why would they spend the extra thousands of dollars for a fancy hybrid SUV when they could just get a stripped down, commercial grade, white paint and gray fabric seats model instead?

2. Suburban families are hurting, too, and again, the sticker price of a big, already expensive large SUV, is daunting.

3. Status symbols for rich folks? Maybe.

4. As GMUSA noted, no real advertising budget I've noticed, either.

5. Rural and blue collar disdain towards Hybrids as fancy-shmancy cars of choice for Greenies, Hippies, and those California-types not real red-blooded Americans.

6. GM just doesn't have a good image of fuel economy because it has painted itself into that corner over the years as being known as the "truck and SUV company". Toyota, on the other hand, has a halo that extends over even its most thirsty vehicles.

End result? I see these vehicles as having a very limited audience as long as gas prices are high and fears for the economy remain. This hybrid technology will do the most good if it can be worked into the average Tahoe and Silverado - and sold in even the most basic of those two vehicles.

I have to agree. While the technology in these is neat, it's looking like these vehicles are giant wastes of precious resources, of which are running scarcer and scarcer these days at GM. Imagine if these resources had been put into a Prius competitor. GM couldn't have timed the launch of these worse if it tried.

[tripowergto]

Originally Posted by steinravnik

I have to agree. While the technology in these is neat, it's looking like these vehicles are giant wastes of precious resources, of which are running scarcer and scarcer these days at GM. Imagine if these resources had been put into a Prius competitor. GM couldn't have timed the launch of these worse if it tried.

The resources and technology won't be wasted as it's also going into the Silverado and Sierra trucks soon, likely at lesser costs to the consumer. Recession or not, working folks still need the usefulness of a full size truck for hauling materials.

[Michael_S]

I think GM executives made a critical mistake planning these hybrids. When the price of gas passed $3.50 per gallon, resale value on fullsize SUVs and pickups dropped rapidly.

Three years ago when people were recklessly cashing out home equity to buy large SUVs and used fullsize SUVs were still costly, the Two-Mode Hybrids were a potential hit.

Today, why pay $53,000 for a 2008 Tahoe Hybrid when you can pay less than $40,000 for a fully loaded low mileage 2007 Cadillac Escalade? Even at $6 per gallon, you can burn a lot of gas in the Escalade before the Tahoe Hybrid saves you money.

chakis24,
While the Tahoe Hybrid has a much faster payback period than a Prius or Civic Hybrid versus a normal vehicle in its class, there's a crucial difference between the Tahoe Hybrid and the Prius and Civic Hybrid. The difference is $30,000 and at least fifteen real world miles per gallon. And the resale value of highly fuel efficient vehicles is up, so skipping that Prius for a used Cobalt is dramatically less financially attractive than skipping that Tahoe Hybrid for a used Yukon (or whatever).

[fan]

Originally Posted by john1701a

Camry-Hybrid

March = 6,930 April = 6,678 Last Year = 54,492

What do you think May sales will reveal?

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2008...ed-us-sal.html

The Lexus Rx 400h sold 1,570 units in March, up 7% from the prior year, representing 20.3% of all Rx models sold. The GS 450h sold 65 units, down 64% from March 2007, representing 3.9% of all GS models sold. The top-end LS 600h sold 113 units, representing 5.3% of all LS models sold.

Honda saw sales of the Civic Hybrid climb 34% in March from the year before to 3,769 units, representing 11.5% of all Civic sales. The Accord Hybrid posted 53 units, down 86% from March 2007, representing 0.1% of all Accord models sold.

Hybrid sales as a percentage of total OEM sales. Click to enlarge.
Combined sales of the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner hybrids dropped 20% in the month to 2,008 units, representing 9.0% of all Escape and Mariner models sold

Toyota has a huge 'hybrid brand' cachet compared to other competitors, even compared to Honda. And look at the 2000 Escape hybrids sold each month. It's not like Ford or Honda are doing something wrong with their hybrids. Simply Toyota made a great move by introducing Prius and the rest of the automakers have to catch up.

It's not a bad move in offering hybrid versions of their full-size SUVs and trucks.
GMT900 is still by far GM's best selling platform so enhancing the best-in-class image is by no means a bad move. Are the Aura Hybrid(smaller, cheaper) sales any better?
Also GM has to sell them in LTZ version because of their cost. Likely the hybrid setup costs more than the 4000$ difference between the LTZ and the hybrid. The margin of the LTZ also helps making up for the cost of the hybrid powetrain. Till GM ramps up production of hybrid powetrains and eventually gets economies of scale (Chrysler, BMW, picl-up trucks), they'll keep the price up. So for now it's more of an image getter.

Also, current spike in gas prices got customers freaked-out about SUVs. If in the next 6 months the price of gas doesn't go up or goes up very slow, the freakiness will ease a little and GM would sell some numbers. What other platform gets GM 1 mil. units a year? They'd have to sell 2.5 mil Aveos a year to get the same profit. So, the cash cow is still there, but it's not what it used to be - doesn't meen you can kill it or neglect it.

[john1701a]

Originally Posted by john1701a

.
Camry-Hybrid

March = 6,930 April = 6,678 Last Year = 54,492

May = 5,999

[01pewterz28]

Like someone pointed out we are in a down market if te economy was in good shape and we have $4 a gal gas people would still buy trucks and SUV's GM will always have a market for the two (not just as big as it used to be). My wife and I own a 2006 SIlverado 1500 CC VMax I get on average 18.1mpg I fill up every 2-2.5 weeks I drive 40 miles R/T for work. I need the truck to haul my enclosed 24x8.5 car hauler for my show car. My wife drives a 2007 Suburban again she is getting on average 17.8 mpg and I am happy with this result for a large SUV. We have two kids and packing all 4 of us into a Chevy Impala or Malibu will not happen for a road trip we need the room and we will buy the New Suburban when they make it.

[bigtime]

Is anyone really surpirsed sales are lackluster? If you drive 15,000 a year your only saving 149 gallons of fuel. At $5 a gallon thats only $745 over a a year. Add in the hybrid cost and you got to keep these things awhile to get a pay back.

If you really need a big, dinosaur like SUV then just get one of the ones on dealer lots. There knocking thousands off the price. The hybrid just doesn't have the return on investment. Nobody is impressed.

This was done for marketing. This was like putting a fat chick in a mini skirt. Not sexy. Still fat. An SUV is what it is, a fat big that sucks down gas and is good for one thing and one thing only. GM should have given us a solid no-cost diesel option. At least it would last longer and be easier to fix in 15 years.