^^^^
Toyota bashing aside, I'd argue MANY (the majority?) folks who drive those guzzler trucks and SUVs have no valid reason (no actual need the vast majority of the time) to have them and are huge wasters of a non-renewable resource to begin with. 21 mpg combined is TERRIBLE if one only needs to drive themselves to and from work. Since you're the GM fanboy, where were GM's high mpg hybrids from 2001 to 2009? How about now? (See non-plugin hybrids under
March 2018 Sales Dashboard - HybridCars.com).
...
The 'you don't need a truck' argument applies to many things in your life. If you aren't making children, you don't 'need' sex. You don't need a >20" TV. You don't need a >1600 sqft house. Etc, Etc. You don't even 'need' a car in most urban regions. But you'd be surprised how many folk 'need' a truck format when it comes to cars. Modern trucks tend to be 5 seat sedans.
The distance you drive to work is pretty important when it comes to fuel consumption. Many of those with long commutes do not use a pickup as their sole vehicles. A Prius driver who lives 30 miles from work is not as green a F150 driver who works 10 miles away.
- GMs first hybrids were in the mid 2000's. By then the well was already poisoned. See FOH further down the essay.
- GM has always spent quite a bit on advanced powertrain research and more importantly, development. The first decade of the 21st century is no exception.
- Beginning in the mid 1990's GM focused on digital engine controls until they became the world's leader by a wide margin. This cleaned the air more than the Priuses did because it worked on all platforms, not just econoboxes. The bigger the vehicle the bigger the gains. In fact, it is the most stolen of all ICE technologies today. GM could detect differences in performance between cylinders and adjust accordingly to optimize emissions and mileage. Without individual O2 sensors or cylinder pressure sensors. Fkg magic, pure magic. Even knowing how GM could pull that off didn't help the competition, they couldn't make it work for over a decade, and still aren't fully caught up yet.
- They developed and released a high technology diesel towing driveline that can get over 20 mpg highway unladen, and 15 mpg towing a 6,000 lb car trailer, and 12 mpg towing a 14,000lb car trailer.
- They developed a 'plug and play' 4.5L V8 reverse induction, sans intake manifold, state-of-the art diesel that died due to a faked report by a CARB 'scientist' who was actually a fraud, and the financial downturn in 2009. That 4.5 was going to create full-sized cars, SUVs, and trucks with 30 mpg or higher with great towing ability.
- Finally they worked on the Voltec drivetrain and FCEV technology that was not released that decade. Some could argue the Voltec remains the world's most sophisticated green drivetrain since it's better behaved than most 'non-green' powertrains in real world driving, and does not suffer from Hybrid Disease. You put the spurs to it and it jumps. It does NOT reply with "Uh, what did you want me to do with that pedal pressure? Are you in a hurry, or can I kick back for awhile, since Grey's Anatomy is on."
GM still can't get people to buy hybrid pickups, but they have not given up since their first hybrid pickup in 2004. 2018's poor hybrid sales are no exception. While the 355HP V8 hybrid gets 24mpg highway / 18mpg city and has 383 ftlb of towing grunt, people won't buy it.
Fear Of Hybrids is a very real thing. Anybody who drove an early Insight or Prius were susceptible to catching this deadly syndrome: "WHAT A POS!!! Why Lord did you allow this to happen? Give us frogs from the sky or locusts, PLEASE!!" The term Hybrid became synonymous with lousy performance, tragic handling, and sky high pricing, not to mention the
irrational fear of having enough electricity on board to kill a family of four in a few seconds.
The Prius did more damage to the image of green technologies than Chernobyl. Green car == crappy car. It hurt electric cars as well, since Toyota's marketing seemed make folk think it was EV, either on accident (cough... bs... cough) or deliberate misdirection to portray an image that they were the leaders in EVs.
GM's Malibu hybrid is a great car. But
FOH will keep anyone but the most ardent eco-nazi from test driving one.
I will admit I was and am a SINNER!!! But I was SAVED Lordy, by of all things a stupid EV conversion called the CODA. I had FOH bad, and EVs were just more expensive hybrids in my eyes. But I was invited to melt the tires off one (literally) at a SCCA Solo2 competition. HEY!! That was fun. "Can I have some more, sir?" I'm used to over 400hp and would not consider anything with less power. When you can get >400HP x 175+ mph x 11.x second ETs for 29 mpg at 70 mph, why bother with crappy cars?
But that early EV effort changed my mind about the future of EV technology. I no longer have nightmares about being swallowed by a green slug.
