Plug-in Saturn To Be Released "In 2009-ish"

Anthony Fontanelle
September 18, 2007

Although the Chevy Volt and the Opel Flextreme are receiving so much attention, these plug-in hybrid vehicles will not be the first PHEV units to be released into the market by Detroit automaker General Motors. Instead, the first plug-in hybrid vehicle that will be made available to the general car buying public from the automaker is the Saturn Vue. Saturn's general manager Jill Lajdziak said that the vehicle can run for about ten miles on electricity power alone before switching on its "range extender" will be on the road "very quickly".

Lajdziak said that they are expecting to market the plug-in Saturn Vue "in 2009-ish". The announcement was made by the brand general manger at the ongoing Frankfurt Motor Show. The Saturn brand unveiled the production version of the Saturn Astra, a rebadged Opel Astra. The said nameplate will be the newest addition to Saturn's revitalized lineup and the latest installment of the twinning project that General Motors started with Opel and Saturn brands.

Major automakers like Nissan, Toyota, and of course General Motors are fighting to develop a practical plug-in gas-electric hybrid vehicle. Although Toyota has been testing a PHEV for weeks now, Saturn's projected time of release of a PHEV is the soonest. That would give General Motors the huge PR benefits that this expected coup will bring. After all, the first mass-produced PHEV will usher in a new era in the auto industry.

With Toyota on track to overtake General Motors to be the largest automaker next year, the Detroit automaker needs to affirm that it still has a fighting chance of regaining its title. The Detroit automaker had the reputation of having the edge when it comes to automotive technology breakthroughs. But with the arrival of the Toyota Prius, that title was essentially passed to the Japanese automaker. If General Motors can be the first automaker to have a practical plug-in hybrid vehicle mass produced, they will once again have that reputation which they may have lost in the past.

The plug-in version of the Vue will be the third hybrid variant of the SUV which has been recently redesigned with the help of Opel. The first hybrid variant of the Vue was the one which employs General Motors' "mild hybrid" system. The said system does not use electricity power alone and instead uses the electric motor for additional power when needed. The second variant is the Vue using the automaker's two-mode hybrid which can shut down its engine during low-power operation.

According to the automaker, although the Vue may seem like an SUV version of the Volt, it will use an entirely different technology. That means that the makers of Saturn car bras and other accessories for Saturn vehicles is receiving much support from its parent that General Motors is currently developing two plug-in hybrid technologies.

Aside from the Saturn Vue mild hybrid, which the brand is already selling, General Motors also offers its consumers other hybrid alternatives. Due this fall is the Chevy Tahoe Hybrid and the GMC Yukon Hybrid.

Source:  Amazines.com