In an online blog, General Motors’ (GM) vice chairman Tom Stephens stated that the company will apply plug-in hybrid technology to one of its four core brands followings its’ restructuring.
The company will be divided into Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC and Buick following the decision to close Pontiac and sell Saturn. Currently Saturn sells two hybrid vehicles – the VUE and Aura with GM hybrid system – and was also scheduled to offer a two-mode hybrid Vue with a Vue plug-in two-mode hybrid version scheduled for 2011 to be used in a test fleet with the US Department of Energy.
Speaking in 2008, Stephens said the Vue two-mode hybrid would deliver around a 50 per cent increase in combined fuel economy compared to the non-hybrid Vue XR. The two-mode hybrid would also have featured a battery powered driving range at a low speed of around 10mph which could double fuel economy compared to the conventional vehicle on short trips.
However, with the wind down of Saturn as part of GM’s restructuring plans, Stephens has reiterated that plug-ins remain a “key element in GM’s reinvention”. He stated that plug-in hybrid technology would be applied to one of the four core brands and that he would enjoy reading speculation as to which one.
GM is planning initial delivery of plug-in hybrid vehicles for use in fleets to the DOE and EPRI in 2011.
