Reporting without understanding technology

I don't think that the BBC reporting here is quite as accurate. Specially when they say:

General Motors will not have a proper hybrid in place until 2007, and its stop-gap version that merely allows the petrol engines on its Chevy Silverado pickups to shut down while waiting for the lights to turn green has been described as laughable by critics.

I believe that they are talking about displacement-on-demand and/or cylinder deactivation. It is a smart idea to run only half of the engine cylinders when idling, and it can save anywhere from 6 to 10% of fuel on large 8 or 12 cylinder trucks.

Of course, I am going to try to defend GM's position of going slow on hybrids.