2008 Detroit Auto Show: 2009 Saturn Vue Green Line Two-Mode Hybrid

"Saturn is a green brand for General Motors and we use the Green Line brand to promote that," Troy Clark, Saturn division president, told the sweaty crowd packed around GM's main stage at Cobo Hall. "I think 2008 will be the year when we double down and raise the bidding."

The 2009 Saturn Vue Green Line Two-Mode Hybrid constitutes the majority of the company's chips in this game of chance (that presumably involves only Toyota and Ford). It's a major enhancement upon the standard Vue Green Line Hybrid, which has a four-cylinder engine and a very small electric motor that provides minimal motive force. Instead, the two-mode starts out with a direct-injected version of GM's 3.6-liter V6 and combines that with a pair of 55-kilowatt electric motors housed in its automatic transmission (presumably some type of CVT).

"It will be the world's most fuel-efficient V6 SUV," said Tom Stephens, VP of GM's global powertrain division. "It will deliver 50 percent better combined fuel economy compared to the non-hybrid V6 Vue. We expect the Vue two-mode will have a 500-mile range on a single fueling."

Modifications on the two-mode Vue Green Line compared to the regular V6 model include lighter-weight alloy wheels, low-rolling-resistance tires and a 20mm drop in ride height -- likely a product of the suspension changes that are inevitable when a heavy battery pack is added.

Saturn's promised plug-in Vue Green Line of the future also made an appearance on stage, and said Stephens, "it could be in production as soon as 2010." Battery recharge time is a claimed 4-5 hours at the hypothetical owner's domicile, and the vehicle would have a 10-mile all-electric range -- 24 fewer than the Flextreme concept.

After the press conference, we confirmed with Stephens that the two-mode Vue (not the plug-in) will go into production in the fourth quarter of 2008. And, yes, Saturn does believe it will return higher fuel economy than either the Toyota Highlander Hybrid or the Lexus RX 400h. -- Erin Riches, Senior Editor