egmCarTech

Well it seems like the Chevrolet Volt won’t be GM’s first plug-in hybrid out on the market after all. According to Jill Lajdziak, brand general manager, the first GM plug-in hybrid will be a Saturn Vue SUV that can go 10 miles on electricity alone.

“In 2009-ish,” Lajdziak told The Detroit Free Press.

When the 2008 Saturn Vue becomes available in the second quarter of 2007, it will be offered with two hybrid options, both carrying Saturn’s Green Line badge. The Saturn Vue plug-in will become the third hybrid version of the SUV. It will use lithium-ion batteries combined with GM’s two-mode hybrid system with the ability to recharge from a 110-volt household current.

The new redesigned and re-engineered 2008 Saturn Vue will start at a base price of $21,395, $3,295 higher than the outgoing model. The 2008 Saturn Vue Green Line is expected to offer an EPA rating of 29 mpg in the city and about 40 mpg on the highway, a 45 percent increase over the gasoline powered Saturn Vue.

The two-mode system debuts later this fall in the Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon SUVs.

 

Source: The Detroit Free Press

[tags]Cars, Car, Auto, Automobile, Vehicles, Technology, Auto News, News, Automotive, Saturn, GM, Hybrids[/tags]

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