CHICAGO – Joel Maguire, General Motors’ global innovation manager for hybrid systems, says the automaker achieved a balance with GMC Denali XT concept – a flex-fuel powered, two Mode hybrid based on GM’s Zeta rear wheel drive platform that was developed at the company’s Holden division in Australia.
The Zeta platform is already used in for the Pontiac G8/Holden Commodore sedans and like its predecessors, there is a pickup truck based on this unibody platform. The car-based pickups come in two- and four-door forms and are commonly referred to in Australia as Utes. No American carmaker has built a vehicle of this type since the Chevrolet El Camino/GM Caballero was discontinued in 1987.
With new fuel economy regulations having been passed into law by the US Congress in December 2007, carmakers need to devise alternatives for customers who currently use pickup trucks for non-commercial use. At the same time the Denali concept was revealed, GMC also announced a two-mode hybrid variant of the full-size Sierra pickup. Many of the people who buy full-size trucks for personal use don’t need the full capabilities of such a truck.
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