Greenwashing:
Is the Saturn Vue dual mode hybrid small enough?
Monday, January 7, 2008
Smaller
than the Yukon, but small enough?
A few weeks ago I posted the article Greenwashing:
GM's dual mode hybrid vehicles based off an article by
LA Time's writer Dan Neil. Basically Dan wondered what was
bigger, GM's hybrid marketing budget or their hybrid
production budget.
To some extent, GM answered that question recently at the
GMnext event, "a global communications initiative
celebrating the start of our second century."
GM is going to launch, on average, a new hybrid every 3
months for the next 4 years. These hybrid
vehicles will be a combination of mild hybrids, dual
mode hybrids and E Flex drive hybrids. More important,
numerous executives participating at GMnext consistently
reiterated the importance of hybrid technology as a key
step towards GM's long term goal: the electrification of
the automobile.
Hybrids, electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles - the
automobiles of GM's future.
For GM critics, however, this future isn't yet fully
believable. For example, the inability to confirm a 2010
launch date for the Chevy
Volt is a major sticking point. Additionally, GM's
technology bucket is over-flowing. Will GM have the long
term capital to keep funding such a diverse array of
technologies - mild hybrids, dual mode hybrids, plug-in
dual mode hybrids, range-extended plug-in vehicles, full
electric vehicles, fuel cell vehicles?
More important, is GM's short term hybrid focus,
gas-guzzling hybrid SUVs, the right focus?
All of this ultimately makes critics wonder, is GM just
greenwashing?
I don't think so, but I do have some concerns.
At the GMnext event, it was confirmed that GM would
convert the Saturn Vue into a full dual mode hybrid, a
move already expected, and a move I fully endorse.
Unfortunately, the Saturn
Vue hybrid, almost certainly, will be the smallest
full hybrid vehicle from GM until the Chevy Volt.
Again, while I'm happy to welcome the Vue hybrid, hybrid
SUVs are still not big hybrid sellers, and some might
call GM's focus on expensive hybrid SUVs a delay tactic,
even a greenwashing effort.
Yes, GM's hybrid SUVs make the least fuel efficient,
gas-guzzling vehicles more fuel efficient - a noble
effort. Nonetheless, the Toyota
Prius and the Toyota
Camry hybrid are by far the best selling hybrid
vehicles. Yet, GM will not challenge these segment leaders
until the Volt?
And how many years will it be before a mass-produced Volt
will challenge the Prius? 2, 3 4? Maybe never?
Maybe the Vue hybrid will outsell the Ford
Escape hybrid and the Toyota
Highlander hybrid, but is that enough? Can GM really
sell itself as a green automaker until it challenges the
Prius?
Not unless the Vue comes with a plug-in option, which GM
has proposed, but such a vehicle still seems years from
reality.
Thus, the question remains: Are GM's hybrids just an
effort in greenwashing? I don't think so, but GM did take
a very conservative step into hybrids, into its green
vision.Therefore, the fruits of GM's labor are still a few
years into the future, and I think they visualize a great
future, hopefully, however, that vision will be fully
realized.
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