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Hybrid Vehicles Hybrid Vehicles - Archived Discussions Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid 
163 messages, Last post on Dec 04, 2008 at 4:53 AM
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Scortch, the market, the hundreds of millions of people in the world who might buy a new car of the 2008 model year, is fickle. The people who want to spend too much to get a full hybrid that delivers 50 mpg bought the Prius and never got their 50 mpg in regular use. They were consistently chagrined that the Corolla, not even pretending to be a hybrid, gets 40 mpg and establishes a darned solid baseline of comparison. Since the 2008 Malibu hybrid is a hybrid assist, doesn't do much, but does do something measurable, it needs to be a cheap option. It is . Back when the Prius was a new choice, I calculated that the payoff time for me was 10 years if the Prius delivered 50 mpg. At 45 or thereabouts mpg, the Prius battery pack can't last long enough for the Prius to ever break even in the Corolla comparison. The Malibu might not impress the eco-purists with it's technological whiz-banginess, but for the green eye shades crowd its a more realistic choice than a Prius. The Malibu hybrid assist actually can deliver tangible $ benefits if you keep it for a realistic number of years of $3 and $4 gasoline. As the market has developed, it's become obvious that other than a small part of the population which wants to pay too much for too little economic benefit, the market really wants cars that look good and go fast. The market is telling the manufacturers that some people will buy a hybrid if it looks better and goes faster than a Prius. For people who want a car that gets good gas mileage in 2008, there is the 40 mpg cheap Corolla or the even better choice of a 38 mpg cheaper Aveo. I have and remain convinced that GM, putting 2-stage hybrids in pickups and SUV's will sell better at 20 mpg than Toyota or Honda can at 45 mpg. The 20 mpg pickup is a 25% or 30% improvement. The 45 mpg subcompact is only an 12% improvement. |
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It's still a huge waste of R&D, time and our money. It doesn't produce enough measurable results to be worth everything that went into making it and buying it. GM probably got some huge credit for doing it and that's the only reason. It's a worthless piece of junk that's trying to capitalize on people that see hybrid and don't know that GM is ripping them off with something that isn't worth a crap. You can get more measurable results by just driving a little differently or buying better fuel. GM is just trying to play people for fools and some will play along with them and buy into it. It's a scam, just like E85 is.
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Replying to: scortch (Jan 13, 2008 7:36 pm) You can probably get more fuel savings just by walking to the store to get your groceries instead of driving. In addition you will get the health benefit. 
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Replying to: scortch (Jan 12, 2008 10:23 am) I went to the car show here in San Jose. Chevy probably spends more money promoting how "green" they are than they actually do on the technology. It's like Exon talking about how they "care" about alternative forms of energy. Mitt Romney says he's going to save Michigan? LOL 
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Replying to: aspesisteve (Jan 14, 2008 11:25 am) Btw, check the EPA ratings on the GM Tahoe/Yukon/Suburbans and then check the EPA rating on Toyota's new Sequoia and Land Cruiser. You might be surprised about which ones are more efficient. |
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Replying to: nedzel (Jan 18, 2008 10:53 am) GM's E85 doesn't count as being green. In fact, it's not green at all when you look at the whole picture of corn based ethanol. |
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Replying to: nedzel (Jan 18, 2008 10:53 am) but not everybody sells hybrid vehicles that are worth their weight. I'm not sure how you can fault Toyota for their effort in being 'green' - there isn't another car maker doing it better than them when it comes to selling hybrids. which brings me back to the Malibu Hybrid and any other hybrid or "green" product sold by GM - it's just spin with no substance.
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Replying to: aspesisteve (Jan 20, 2008 4:25 pm) I wonder if due to the new CAFE standards if GM is trying to put a little hybrid into everything they do? Even if each only increases mileage marginally, a small gain across the board is probably more beneficial to their bottom-line than having a bunch of gas guzzlers and one knock-out hybrid.
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Replying to: nosirrahg (Jan 20, 2008 8:39 pm) Thing is, if GM is going to spend all that R&D money on bringing a hybrid into existence for GM vehicles, why not do it right instead of the crap they came up with? If they really wanted to be green, it would be a lot better than the junk they have. It would be MUCH more beneficial to their bottom line if they did it right to begin with. The government should require hybrids to get xx more mileage than the equivalent gas only version of a vehicle, before they give any kind of credits or be recognized at all. Maybe we need a new category other than hybrid, since GM has proven that just because it is a hybrid, doesn't mean it's green or better. The Malibu hybrid should be getting 34 or so city mileage at least. Even the Prius is finding it hard to justify the cost of ownership in some cases. The Malibu hybrid would no near be able to justify it's cost of ownership. It puts more of a burden on the consumer instead of helping them. It's just like E85, just because it uses a different fuel, doesn't make it better. E85 as it is currently isn't that green at all once you look at the big picture of corn based ethanol. Trying to pull one over on the public and saying you are green doesn't make you green. |
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What amazes me is how dependable and trouble free the Toyota Hybrid system has been when you consider it's complexity. We have some friends with an older Prius with over 100 K miles and they havent had a single problem. CR predicts reliability above average...excellent. This applies to the Japanese made cars as well as the Ford Escape which uses the same system. Why cant GM come up with a similar system? The 2MPG increase is a joke. 
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