When GM Tried to Go Green… and Created a Total Disaster

In the late 2000s, Toyota’s Prius and Lexus RX400h redefined what a hybrid could be — efficient, desirable, and even a status symbol. Naturally, rivals rushed to cash in, but few missed the mark as spectacularly as General Motors. In 2008, GM launched its GMT900-based hybrids — the Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Tahoe, and GMC Yukon — pairing a “green” badge with a 6.0-litre V8 that barely managed 22mpg. Somehow crowned Green Car of the Year, these oversized gas-guzzlers became a symbol of GM’s poor timing and worse judgment, selling fewer than 15,000 units before quietly disappearing in 2013.