GM Cuts Saturn, Shrinks Hybrid Lineup
As part of its plan to once again become financially viable, the beleaugered automaker General Motors has been shedding some of its various brands in order to focus on their core vehicle lines. One consequence of this is that Saturn is being dropped, even though that particular brand accounted for 28% of GM’s hybrid vehicle sales in 2008.
Two of the most popular Saturn hybrid models, the Aura sedan and the Vue crossover have been very popular with the green car crowd, and the Vue Hybrid was actually set to get a more efficient hybrid drivetrain for the upcoming model year, as well as a plug-in hybrid model scheduled for release in 2010.
Perhaps most disturbing is that the GM line of hybrids will become almost exclusively trucks and SUVs after the Saturn line is disbanded at the end of 2009. Most of GM’s hybrids are trucks like the Chevrolet Silverado pickup, or SUVs like the GMC Yukon. After Saturn goes, the only sedan hybrid offered by GM will be the Chevy Malibu.
May 6th, 2009 at 10:40 pm
[...] a few days ago, we looked at GM’s decision to shed the Saturn brand and the effect that would have on the company’s hybrid lineup. At its most basic, the [...]