General Motors hand in hand with GMAC has announced that they have come to the end of the line of their used vehicle incentive program. As of November 3rd the program will be null and void.
Under the program, selected models of GM received 3.9% interest loan terms for up to 60 months. The 4.9% incentive for higher end vehicles such as the GMC Yukon, Yukon XL, Envoy, Chevrolet TrailBlazer, Tahoe and Suburban were also scrapped.
In 2012, the current GMT900 chassis for the full size SUV’s such as Tahoe, Suburban and Escalade, as well as the Silverado pickups will probably be retired.
According to sources at General Motors, the vehicles will be skimmed down to smaller size, by utilizing the Lambda platform. The Lambda platform is most widely known for it’s current production vehicles, which are the GMC Acadia, Buick Enclave, Saturn Outlook and Chevy Traverse.
Using the smaller platform, there will be significant weight saving, which will be coupled to better gas mileage. Judging by the current lineup of vehicles, I would suspect that the 5.3 or 6.0 liter version of the Lambda platform would make some serious jam in the power to weight ratio department. Placing the Silverado on the Lambda platform, might have some disadvantage when manufacturers become competitive on terms of towing capacity.
The towing capacity of the Lambda platform is a lot less then the GMT900 platform. I can’t even begin to wonder how they would accommodate for a Dually setup on the Lambda. But I guess time will tell.
Chrysler has announced that they will begin to offer the Durango and Aspen with a hybrid system that they have developed in co-operation with Mercedes and BMW. Essentially it’s the same type of system as the one in the Tahoe hybrid, but costing less.
Chrysler (Dodge) will be releasing their versions of the hybrid at more then $8,000 less then the Tahoe. At $45k they are still no bargain price point vehicles, however they will save you 25% in overall gas mileage and as much as 40% in city driving. This is especially important to Chrysler, as they have lost a large percentage of their large SUV sales in the past few months, since the price of gas has increased.
The Durango and Aspen, just like the Tahoe, can still function as a towing vehicle, since the electric motor is supplemented by the gasoline engine at higher speeds. Therefore the electric motor only engages at low speeds and city speeds, when there is no extended strain on the motor.
Important to note, that the Hybrid Aspen and Durango cost $3,500 or so more then their non-hybrid brothers. There is also a supplementary hybrid tax credit of $1,800, which can make the difference almost negligible.
