Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid

AutoWeek said it earned “no green leaf cloisonné from the Tree Huggers Consortium,” and it certainly didn’t from this TreeHugger. They do make the fair point that the 10-12% fuel mileage improvement over the standard Silverado is great if you need a pickup for installing drywall (a Prius wouldn't be practical), but at over 5000 pounds, it’s more weight than you really need to haul a few sheets of gypsum board. It suffers from the same problem as its GM sister, the hydrogen Hummer: all that weight means extra consumption no matter what fuel you rely on.

Strangely enough, the Silverado isn’t heavy enough to qualify for...

...the tax write-off Thom pointed out in the Hummer comments, even though the Silverado looks like a more genuine business expense (who actually needs a Hummer for work?). But the tax break is on its way out of the law books, so Hummer dealers are going to have to find some new sales ploys. Some people need heavy trucks—and GM should be applauded for offering relatively greener alternatives—but everyone you see behind the wheel of a big beast like this? We don’t think so. $31,505 base price, available in California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Nevada, and Florida. ::AutoWeek [by KK]