[nsap]

DETROIT -- General Motors is charging a $2,500 premium for its first production gasoline-electric hybrid powertrain.

GM began building the first of 500 hybrid pickups last week at its Fort Wayne, Ind., plant. The trucks are built on the standard GMT 800 platform and will be marketed as the Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid Truck and GMC Sierra Hybrid Truck.

The hybrid powertrain is available only in half-ton Crew Cab models, which have a base price of $25,585, including freight.

The hybrids will go to fleet and commercial customers in North America. GM engineers will track performance and reliability of the trucks until production begins this summer for consumer versions, said GM Powertrain spokesman Matt Kester.

The $2,500 that GM is charging for the hybrid powertrain is close to the price premium on Toyota Prius and Honda Civic hybrids.

The trucks are considered mild hybrids. Unlike the electric motor in a Toyota Prius, the motor in the GM trucks does not propel the vehicle on its own. Instead, the motor acts as a starter-generator. It gives a slight boost to the gasoline engine on hard acceleration and smoothes the gasoline engine's torque delivery to the automatic transmission, just like a Honda Civic hybrid.


From Auto News

 

[Ming]

Any idea what these look like inside?

The Prius got a boost from auto reviewers for all of the cool hybrid readouts. Will the GM hybrid be more or less "invisible" like a diesel engine upgrade? At the very least I'd expect more than a 5 year old digital fuel economy readout in an overhead console (from an Astro).

Personally I think the more of a big deal GM makes out of it, the better. And of course, the big demon of them all (according to Greenies), the Suburban, should get this as well.

 

[Tone]

One advantage I can see here is that truck applications supposedly have more rigorous reliability standards. At the very least, they would be tested under a wider range of conditions. So, if GM can produce a trouble-free mild hybrid truck, they should be good to go for applications in passenger cars.

 

[banzai79]

Yes, despite all the complaining here on this site, amongst other places, I think GM is fully on top of hybrid technology. Putting it in trucks first is a great idea, because the scales of production are so much larger GM can essentially 'beta test' it's systems in a much wider range of customer applications than most other car companies' hybrids.

 

[steveho]

I'm ready to buy one. The question I have: is it crew cab or ext cab? Everything I read before this post has been indicating that it was to be an ext. cab. This post says that it is to be crew cab.

I'm going to try to look into getting one via a fleet dealer.

Steve Hong

 

[91z4me]

Anyone else notice that this stuff should bolt right into Zeta car? Maybe that is why Saturn is scheduled for a Zeta around the end of the decade.