Former GM vice chairman Bob Lutz recently said in an interview that the Chevrolet Volt should have been a truck and not a sedan.
The Chevrolet Volt was GM’s response to the Toyota Prius but Bob Lutz, who was the company’s vice president at that point, said that the car should have been actually a truck. He further justified by saying that small sedans are already some of the most economical cars out there and benefits of a hybridized model are minimal. According to him it would have been a lot better to implement hybrid technology in a truck which has low fuel efficiency and big CO2 emissions as the gains would have been a lot more significant.
Bob is now on the board of VIA Motors, a company which is specialized in creating hybrid electric trucks. One of their developments is the X-Truck which is essentially a 2013 Chevrolet Silverado that comes with a 5.3-liter V8 engine and a 24 kWh lithium-ion battery enabling the vehicle to return more than 100 mpg and do 35 miles (56 km) on electric power.
A production model from VIA Motors is expected in coming months with a hybrid setup encompassing a 4.3-liter V6 gasoline mill and an electric motor to generate a combined output of 402 hp (300 kW).
