Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Chevy Tahoe Hybrid - you must be kidding

When I watch TV I try to watch it over the internet because you only get 30 second commercial breaks instead of 5 minute ones. (This is on CBS). The only gotcha about it is that sometimes it doesn't work reliably and you have to start it over a few times to get it going. As a result, I would up seeing a Chevy Tahoe commercial 3 times and the 3rd time through I actually paid attention to it a little.

It starts of on a mountain bike taking in some beautiful woods, no sound of a vehicle anywhere. It goes on to imply how green you'll be in a Tahoe Hybrid which has 50% less emmisions. Then comes the fine print which, since I'm only about three feet from the screen, is easy to read: Based on EPA estimate of 21 mpg. Oh and that's only for the 2 wheel drive version.

21 mpg!! Please. That's not exactly stellar results. That's less that most gas burning cars, trucks and many SUVs that are on the market today (Toyota Highlander Hybrid gets 40 mpg). While I think we should encourage Chevrolet to be designing alternative fuel vehicles, I do think they should rein in their marketing dept until they really have something to say. otherwise they just look even more pathetic.

And, of course, this vehicle is vaporware anyway - due this fall. Funny I thought it already was fall.

No comments: