Green Car Congress

MAY 4, 2009

Monthly US sales of hybrids. Reported sales of hybrids in the US reported by Toyota, Honda, Ford, GM and Nissan dropped 45.5% year-on-year in April to 21,735, despite full month sales for the new Honda Insight and the Ford Fusion and Milan hybrids. Total LDV sales in the US were down 34.4%. of Camry sales.

Sale 186

Sale Hybrid LS 600H VUE 186

Green Car Congress

MARCH 5, 2009

Reported sales of hybrids. Reported sales of light-duty hybrids in the US dropped 29% by volume in February year-on-year to 16,020 units. New hybrid sales represented 2.3% New hybrid sales represented 2.3% of the new vehicle sales for the month. Sales of the non-hybrid Camry dropped 39.8% of all VUEs sold.

GS 450h 170

GS 450h VUE Sale Hybrid 170

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 4, 2009

Monthly reported sales of hybrids in the US. Reported sales of hybrids in the US in January dropped 32.2% Total light duty vehicle sales in the US dropped 37.1% Total light duty vehicle sales in the US dropped 37.1% Year-on-year sales of passenger cars dropped 36.3% Total Camry sales were down 34.2%

LS 600H 150

LS 600H GS 450h VUE Sale 150

Green Car Congress

APRIL 3, 2009

Reported US sales of hybrids. US sales of hybrids in March 2009 as reported by the automakers dropped 44% by volume year-on-year to 21,433 units; that performance was worse than the total light duty vehicle market, which posted a 36.8% Sales of the Toyota Prius were off 56.8% of all Camry sales. of all RX sales.

2009 170

2009 LS 600H GS 450h Sale 170

Green Car Congress

FEBRUARY 11, 2009

GM has simplified the two-mode hybrid system for application in front-wheel drive vehicles—the Saturn VUE being the first instance ( earlier post )—while retaining its functionality and capability, according to Mark Selogie, Senior Manager Power Electronics, GM Powertrain, speaking at the SAE Hybrid Symposium in San Diego (11-12 Feb).

VUE 150

VUE GM San Diego Hybrid 150

Green Car Congress

MAY 9, 2009

At the recent SAE 2009 World Congress in Detroit, General Motors engineers presented the first front-wheel-drive (FWD) iteration of their two-mode hybrid transaxle, termed the 2MT70 ( earlier post ), scheduled for its first application in the Saturn 2009 VUE 2-Mode Hybrid light sport-utility vehicle later this year ( earlier post ).

GM 257

GM Saturn Hybrid VUE 257

Plugs and Cars

SEPTEMBER 12, 2007

From the pricey ads in national magazines devoting serious space to the Volt to today's announcement about the plug-in hybrid Saturn Vue, GM is compelling me to take their expressed interest in plug-in cars seriously. As announced in Frankfort and reported in Detroit , GM hopes for a 2009 release of the first Saturn Vue plug-in hybrid SUV.

VUE 100

VUE Saturn Volt GM 100