For media only: Buick plug-in hybrid

The Saturn Vue plug-in hybrid lives

We've known for some time that GM was going to build a plug-in hybrid SUV. Originally, the Saturn Vue was going to be the platform for GM's dual mode plug-in hybrid powertrain, but then GM killed Saturn.

Thus, the new hybrid will based on the GMC Terrain and the Chevrolet Equinox platform and will mate a 3.6-liter V6 flex-fuel engine with a plug-in version of the dual mode hybrid powertrain. Also, it will use similar lithium technology as the Chevy Volt. Expect this new hybrid sometime in 2011.

Certainly, it is a good sign that GM continues to move forward with its hybrid vehicles, but it's hard to accept this new hybrid - or most of GM's hybrids - as anything other than PR fodder and/or a CAFE hedge when GM's product head, Bob Lutz, claims green cars are more about the media than reality.

Have GM's hybrids and plug-ins become a joke?

With Bob Lutz claiming that only 5 percent of the population will be interested in vehicles like the Volt, or this new Buick plug-in, how seriously can GM be taking this market? It seems quite clear, based on Lutz's statements, that GM's endeavors into the Volt and other plug-in vehicles are more about PR than reality.