Detroit still doesn't get "it".

The Detroit automakers have had their bread and butter in trucks and SUVs for so long that they can't wrap their heads around the fact that people just don't want these things anymore.  Case-in-point, the brand spanking new 2009 Hybrid Escalade:

To play the numbers, this thing goes from 8MPG in the city to 12MPG.  While this is a 50% increase, those numbers are horribly abysmal given the economy and the price of gasoline.  To be fair, I am not taking in the whole picture.  If you can afford to drop $60K+ on an SUV, you are probably not worried if gas is $2 or $4 per gallon.

My brother is a mechanic and he recently left the dealership he was working for because he saw the writing on the wall.  They had close to 150 new vehicles on their lot, of which, ONLY 19 were NOT SUVs or trucks.  Just like everyone else, this dealership had banked in the truck and SUV market and now they can't move them.  Look at the incentives being offered on new trucks and SUVs, they can't even give these things away.

I feel bad for the US auto industry.  I am from the Detroit area and I have many friends in the auto industry and many of them have already or are in the process of losing their jobs.  When you look at the decisions being made by the executives in Detroit, it's easy to see why they are headed for failure.  GM has a TON of great models that they market and sell in Europe that would fit beautifully in to our evolving road habits.  Rather than bring those over here, they make a "hybrid" Escalade.

I got news for you GM, people interested in hybrids are not interested in Hybrid Escalades.