The sales pitch at the dealership will probably center on saving gas money rather than saving the planet. With a big SUV, a 25 percent improvement in overall fuel economy actually saves much more gas per year than a 40 percent improvement in small car's fuel efficiency.
While GM hasn't released official figures yet, the closely related Tahoe Hybrid gets about the same fuel economy in city driving as a 4-cylinder Toyota Camry - 21 miles per gallon - with highway mileage of 22 mpg.
A standard Escalade with all-wheel drive gets 12 mpg city/18 mpg highway.
With GM's two-mode hybrid system combined with a V8 that shuts off four cylinders under light loads, the Escalade has the same towing capacity as the non-hybrid version.
