SUT Alors!

Ladies, start your engines. The Denali XT is just the automobile that you’ve been waiting for. A hybrid concept vehicle, introduced at the 2008 Chicago Auto Show, it is coined as a sport-utility truck, or SUT.

According to GMC, its designer, “The engine is matched with GM's unique two-mode hybrid propulsion system, giving the powerful SUT exceptional fuel economy and uncompromising capability – including all-electric drive at low speeds. It is a power train combination that makes the Denali XT perfectly suited to a variety of active lifestyle activities, such as hauling skis and snowboards to the mountain or towing a sport jet boat to the lake.”

But let’s leave all that technical terminology to the guys. What it means to us is: a good-looking vehicle that can make us the envy of all our friends, better gas mileage (a 50-percent increase in combined fuel economy over comparable small pickup trucks when running on gasoline), a V8 engine with the capability of running on gasoline or E85 ethanol, seating for four with a 55 inch truck bed whose size can be increased with the removable midgate and fold-flat rear seats and a towing capacity up to 3500 pounds. It’s built on a Camaro Zeta platform, which translates into a smooth car-like ride and handling characteristics, a higher driving position with more legroom for rear seat passengers, topped off with a leather-trimmed interior. All we need to worry about is whether it will make it from concept to production.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1406608124

http://www.gmc.com/denali-xt/index.jsp

Photos courtesy of General Motors Corporation. © GM Corp.

Edited by Ellen Schofield