GM Promises Plug-In Hybrid By Early 2011

DETROIT — General Motors' new product development chief says it will have a plug-in hybrid sport utility vehicle ready for fleet testing in early 2011.

The SUV was supposed to be a Saturn Vue Green Line, but GM has announced it will sell or phase out Saturn by the end of this year.

Vice Chairman Tom Stephens says GM will still produce the vehicle under one of its four remaining core brands _ Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC. He would not identify the vehicle or say when the hybrid would be in showrooms.

A plug-in hybrid can be recharged with a home outlet and be powered by electricity or a conventional engine.

Stephens says the new SUV will get about double the city gas mileage of any other conventional SUV.

Comments

[Gyula Bognar]

GM wouldn't say when the vehicles will be in the showrooms. NEVER!!!!!!
GM (Government Motors) should first develop the regular cars, to be as good as Japanese cars and priced the same, before they are bragging about anything at all. They should shut up, get down and work their asses off, to learn how to make good cars.
Step 1, get rid of the UAW. Step 2, work at least 7 hours out of 8 and plan your next 7 hours in the remaining time. Step 3, get the same pay as similar workers in the USA. Step 4, make sure you do the job 100% right. Making cars for profit is not like passing a class in high school with a C, when all the other kids are getting As.

[stalingrd]

Double what an SUV gets now - is this new plug in hybrid going to get 16 miles to the gallon ?

[ondamony]

GM could have beaten everyone else to the market with the first fully electric car. But they killed it. Now they're talking about going backwards to a hybrid SUV?? How stupid can they be? I dont get it.

[SammyD]

That should be about the time electricity charges will be through the roof so who will want to plug their car in?

[KPinSEA]

Somebody with a garage roof and solar panels?

[Mit8503]

and I'm sure it will be on the Yukon or Tahoe instead of a lighter weight SUV that will actually benefit more form Hybrid... American automakers just don't get it! We need our automakers to not be in the midwest with midwestern mentalities.

[Abhas2002]

I'm guessing they are rolling it out in an SUV because the batteries take up a lot of space and SUVs have lots of it.

[Hnorc]

Again with the SUVs!

[stalingrd]

It's like an addict trying to kick, they just plain can't. Ego outweighs the brain every time. They're trying to make up for something with these gigantic cars. hmmm

[KPinSEA]

Eh, it's this kind of divisive nonsense that really makes the problem hard to solve. The mindset that your choice should not only be everyone's choice, but choices different from yours are inherently less moral or intelligent.

Quit pointing a finger, you could be doing something useful with that hand.

[davidwayneosedach]

How can they hope to beat the hybrids already on the market? Let alone compete?

[rkimball]

at first gmc promised plugin hybrids by 2009 then 2010 now it's 2011. in the meantime toyota should be out with it's fourth generation plug in hybrid.

[Lance Sloan]

There are so many things wrong with this...

Saturn is one of the better brands that GM owns. Their dealerships were billed as no-pressure when they opened. They make great cars. I think that should count for something.

But GM and the other auto companies should be ashamed that it will take them as long as it does to provide energy efficient cars. They should have been trying to do this many years ago instead of ensuring their close relationships with the oil companies would remain stable.

[dausone]

The real question is, hasn't GM learned anything? Coating a piece of sh*t with sugar still doesn't make it edible.

Lotus, now that is real innovation from the ground up.

[PengieP]

DO you need to ask if Gm has learned anything? It's very very clear they have not. As others have said here, by 2011, other car companies will have built and marketed vehicles we want to buy by then.

And of course, GM would choose to kill Saturn, who makes a decent vehicle and has lots of good will but keep Chevrolet which has become more or less the American Yugo.

[FZliveson]

Unless the electricity originates from nuclear, hydro-electric, geothermal or photo-cells it will be from coal or oil-buring sources. Every kilowatt of electricity has a fixed amount of carbon footprint to it. Just because you get the juice to run a car from a wall-socket does not mean it will not be from a source which pollutes the environment. People are so short-sighted sometimes. Wake up and ask questions.
Energy can neither be created, nor destroyed...only stored or transferred from one place to another.

[WalkingMouth]

Some energy companies, and by some, I mean mine, (Sacramento Municipal Utility District) has the option of paying $6 more a month on your utility bill to ensure all energy coming to your house/apartment is 100% from Green sources. Hopefully more will do this in the future.

Link: http://www.smud.org/en/community-environment/greenergy/Pages/index.aspx

[dausone]

Even if the electricity was being generated from 100% coal you would get less c02 per mile than a gas guzzler. Also, coal burning provides less than half of the electric energy that is being provided for the US and we can expect this number to decrease with the addition of renewable energies in the coming years.

[FZliveson]

No fight here...just trying to open the eyes of the idealists, who think that if it is electric it is non-polluting. Far from the truth.

[pammygamherst]

i live in va and american electric power is our provider and the majority of their energy comes from coal burning plants. they're the ones who like to blow the tops of mountains in west va. electric cars are a good idea but yet that will be more electricity used even though i guess it's better than gasoline.

but why a suv? i don't want a suv. i want something smaller that would get even better mileage. they'll never learn.

[futawf]

Don't blame GM, the company; they are simply a reflection of our country and culture.

OK; blame GM because they have made plenty of blunders;
but remember they represent the very way decisions are made in this country.

What other things are being overlooked for short-term gain?

[Greggo]

For the life of me I can't figure out why they'd want to keep GMC as a "core brand". This is so redundant. GMC and Chevrolet trucks/suv's roll down the same assembly line. Corporate management in the US is so Dilbert!

[judgejay]

Until we have a electric vechile with a 200+ mile range none of these will be of much use. Battery and fuel cell tech is where we need to focus. Of course there are dangers with make up of batteries too because they are very toxic. No easy solution to replacing fossil fuels.

[KillTheMessenger]

Why would batteries be very toxic? Please compare the toxicity of a Lithium battery (close to none) with that of gasoline which is a strong carcinogen and neurotoxin.

[LADawson]

Lithium batteries are actually considered to be 'safe' enough for ordinary landfills. They're not toxic like lead-acid batteries. Of course, recycling of these batteries is another where Japan and Europe is well ahead of the US... and probably something GM hasn't even considered yet.

[KPinSEA]

Honda has that today with the Clarity, all you need is a place to get your hydrogen.

[ADunafraid]

We do it is called the Tesla Motors Roadster currently its very expensive $100,000. But they are coming out with a Sedan in the near future that they forecast will be $45,000. Tesla motors is the company that our federal government should be subsidizing.

GM, Chrysler, and Ford missed the boat on hybrids and electric cars. They lied to us for 20 years about their R & D. Within a matter of a 6 years a company (Tesla) with little automobile developing experience created a viable electric car. All because they actually tried using improved 21st century battery technology (lithium).

[LADawson]

They're also hoping that sales of the sedan will allow them offer an even cheaper model in the future... but I'm not holding my breath. Until I start seeing Teslas on the road, they're just a pie in the sky technology show off.

[plantguy]

I'm sure that car will be affordable.

[KillTheMessenger]

Affordable maybe... but then it won't be profitable. If it will be profitable, it won't be affordable.

That's the GM Catch 22.