General Motors (GM) is set to launch a plug-in sport-utility vehicle (SUV) in 2011 notwithstanding having recently canceled its Saturn brand.

Saturn Vue Plug-in Hybrid

Tom Stephens, Vice Chairman of General Motors, said in an interview that that the company also could consider launching an all-electric small car for crowded cities. This plan will, according to Stephens, mark GM’s return to a technology that it had abandoned in 2003.

GM said that, aided by the US-government’s turnaround funding, the company will launch 14 new, fuel-saving hybrid models by 2012.  The focus is on the Volt, an electric-drive car that GM is aiming to present in late 2010. The Volt also has a small gas-engine for extended-range driving.

The Volt will have a 40-mile driving range on a single battery charge – a distance that the company claims to cover a round-trip for most urban commuters.  However, the consumer will have to pay over $30,000 for the Volt, even after a federal rebate.

In 2008, General Motors also announced its plans for a plug-in version of its Saturn Vue sport-utility vehicle which would carry a lithium-ion battery pack rechargeable at a standard outlet – thus lessening the need for using gas from its 3.6-liter engine.

The Saturn Vue plug-in SUV was being designed with the capability to be driven 10 miles on electric power only. However, the company’s plans to launch the rechargeable Saturn Vue plug-in SUV were complicated by a decision in 2009 to abandon the Saturn brand.

According to Tom Stephens, work on the plug-in technology behind the Saturn Vue SUV “remained on track” and the vehicle that would replace the cancelled Saturn will be an SUV from one of General Motors’ four remaining brands – Chevy, Cadillac, Buick and GMC.

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