The last time we heard anything substantive from General Motors about its plug-in hybrid program was last August, when it announced that the planned Saturn Vue PHEV would instead be re-badged as a Buick crossover. We all know how that worked out. GM backtracked after less than two weeks and canceled that vehicle. While we were at the Volt battery plant this morning, we ran into Brian Corbett who is the spokesman for all things hybrid at GM.
Corbett told us that GM was not yet ready to announce a production application for the two-mode PHEV system. However, he did tell us that one of the GM concepts to be shown next week would have the plug-in powertrain. He also told us that the system would end up one of GM's premium brands. This makes sense given the extra cost of the system. That means GM won't just be porting the system to the Chevy Equinox, the closest vehicle GM has left to the Vue. The most likely candidate would be the Cadillac concept which is a preview of the flagship XTS. It's also possible that it could go into another concept that we haven't heard about yet. We'll just have to wait a few more days to find out.
[Source: General Motors]
Corbett told us that GM was not yet ready to announce a production application for the two-mode PHEV system. However, he did tell us that one of the GM concepts to be shown next week would have the plug-in powertrain. He also told us that the system would end up one of GM's premium brands. This makes sense given the extra cost of the system. That means GM won't just be porting the system to the Chevy Equinox, the closest vehicle GM has left to the Vue. The most likely candidate would be the Cadillac concept which is a preview of the flagship XTS. It's also possible that it could go into another concept that we haven't heard about yet. We'll just have to wait a few more days to find out.
[Source: General Motors]
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