Saturn
offers Vue of GM's hybrid progress
Monday, April 08, 2008
Ready
to leave all other hybrid SUVs behind?
About a month before 2011, GM plans to roll out the first Chevy
Volt available for sale - an event guaranteed to
produce an unprecedented level of media buzz. This Volt
press circus, however, has over-shadowed what will be GM's
biggest hybrid launch thus far, the dual mode Saturn
Vue hybrid.
At a recent Volt
press event, I was able to ask Bob Kruse, Executive
Director of Vehicle Integration and GM Performance
Division, a few questions about the new Vue hybrid,
scheduled for launch later this year.
Compared to the dual mode hybrid technology in the current
Chevy
Tahoe hybrid, or the GMC
Yukon hybrid, the Saturn Vue hybrid will offer some
significant improvements that should provide more
efficient, smoother hybrid performance, according to
Kruse. For example, while acknowledging that numbers had
not been finalized, Kruse stated a "70 percent
improvement in city fuel economy" is possible for the
Vue hybrid.
Thus, the Saturn Vue hybrid should easily and quickly
become GM's best selling hybrid vehicle. Like the Toyota
Camry hybrid, the Vue hybrid should prove that hybrid
vehicles can sell well, even if they are not unique,
as long as they provide some bang for the buck.
If it lives up to the hype, the Vue hybrid should produce
a really big bang. In fact, the Vue might even be able to
steal a little Volt thunder. If the plug-in hybrid version
of the Vue is launched several months before the Volt - as
planned - many Volt fans might wonder, 'do I really need
to wait for the Volt?'
Ultimately, GM's hybrid circus isn't going to be a one
trick pony show.
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