General Motors Could Have Been The King Of The Hybrids: COTD

General Motors is genuinely one of history’s greatest automakers. This is the company that brought us the Corvette, the Grand National, the EV1, the Volt, the Blackwings, and so much more. General Motors once dominated the bus, diesel engine, and diesel-electric locomotive space on top of making cars, too. But the General has also screwed up many times, and one of them was missing out on the hybrid rush.

Matt wrote a Morning Dump about how GM’s reluctance to embrace hybrids is helping Toyota grow. *Jason*:

GM wasn’t wrong to aggressively develop EVs. What they got wrong and continue to get wrong is not offering hybrids for their gas cars. GM did a full 2-motor hybrid Silverado / Tahoe 15 years ago. WHY don’t they have a hybrid Silverado and Tahoe today?

Ferdinand:

Plus, why did the Volt powertrain never make it beyond the Volt/ELR and Malibu (with slight changes)!

Yes, it still blows my mind that GM had so much hybrid innovation in its portfolio, and yet it was allowed to wither.

Matt then asked what car you would bring to the Galpin Car Show on Sunday. James McHenry had the most creative answer:

TBQ: Any car? Any any car? Even if I don’t own it?

Hang on, lemme go ask a guy named Bob down in St. Louis if I can borrow his ’74 Ford pickup for the weekend. He calls it “Bigfoot I.”

The Bishop made his own version of the new BMW 3 Series. 3WiperB:

Can we also complain about the lack of “normal” door handles?

I don’t hate manual transmissions:

You can try, but there’s really nothing to grab hold of there.

Jason wrote a Cold Start about old VAG gas caps. Cheap Bastard:

My Triumph’s was a glorious chrome knob, centered just behind the cockpit so you could spill maximum fuel on everything.

Twobox Designgineer:

How did this comment ever get past the porn filter?

Finally, Antti wrote about the new Volkswagen ID. Tiguan. Mike Smith – PLC devotee:

Wait… I’m confused. That looks like an attractive and competitive product that was designed with a strong focus on actual customer wants and needs. Surely that can’t be a VW product?
(This is my maximum-snark way of saying “wow, good job VW!” after decades of their products being the antithesis of everything I value in a new car. My apologies, I’m a little woozy…)

Library of Context:

I’ll believe these are ‘retro-look’ gauges when they replicate the dead pixels in the center display.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Top graphic image: GM