Saturn Vue Green-line

         GM retreated from a plan to offer a full hybrid in the Saturn VUE SUV in 2005. Instead, they are now offering a mild hybrid VUE, dubbed the Green Line Hybrid which starts around $22,995, about $1500 more than the standard Vue.

     Consequently, GM is calling their Vue hybrid, the most economical hybrid vehicle in its class. Of course, the current mild hybrid is provides the least increase in fuel economy of any hybrid SUV.

The Green Line Vue hybrid system delivers power directly to the gasoline engine using a motor-generator that replaces the conventional alternator. 

Unlike full hybrids, the Vue hybrid will not be able to power itself with only electric power.

Still, the Vue mild hybrid averages around 30mpg, or about 4 mpg above the 26 it currently achieves on the highway.

Ultimately, the hybrid Vue is destined to become a full hybrid vehicle, using the dual mode hybrid powertrain that GM is near completing. At NAIAS it was announced that the Saturn Vue dual mode hybrid would be available in late 2008 as a 2009 model.

In addition, GM is also planning to develop the Vue hybrid into a plug-in hybrid as soon as the lithium-ion batteries needed to accomplish such a vehicle are available. Recently, GM awarded contracts to battery makers to begin development of such batteries and the automaker now has a lithium-powered Vue on the road today undergoing testing.

While many analysts once claimed that the Vue mild hybrid was only a publicity stunt for GM to use the upside of hybrids in a greenwashing attempt to give the appearance that GM cares about the environment and foreign oil dependency, the vehicle does offer a few advantages.

 For example, if you are a mostly highway driver, the Vue hybrid could be a good hybrid, especially if you need towing capabilities. Unlike hybrids from Ford and Toyota, GM's Vue hybrid will not lose any towing power.

However, now that the full dual mode version of the Vue has been confirmed, it's no longer possible to call the Vue hybrid a stunt, it is simply about choice. Conventional, mild or full. 

More interesting, that list of choices might soon expand to plug-in hybrids and there is a real chance that GM will be the first automaker to mass produce plug-in hybrid vehicles.

First Drive: 2007 Saturn Vue Green Line