vLane Blog

The Future of GM Part 3: 2011 Buick CUV

From Banovsky, Featured Contributor
Posted on July 7, 2009

Filed under GM, General Motors, Saturn, Lexus, Future, Green, Mileage, SUV, Feature, Concept, Crossover, Hybrid, SUV, Detroit, 2011, plug-in, Buick

In this five-part series (parts one one, two, and three), we'll take a look at some of the most exciting products that GM has in the pipeline.

It's not a commercial, either: with 60.8 per cent of the company now owned by the US taxpayers — and 11.7 per cent by Canadian taxpayers — it's a good time to look at how well our investments are holding up.

GM had — well, Saturn had — a wonderful vehicle slated for launch this year: The Vue plug-in hybrid SUV.

Well what's the problem? After selling the automaker Saturn to the Penske Group, GM announced that the upcoming Vue plug-in would be put on hold indefinitely…IE: forever.

Thing is, GM won't just waste the technology. And a few weeks ago, some reporters got a glimpse of a full-sized clay mockup of a future vehicle…

Click through for the photo, and more info!

Thanks to GMVolt.com's screen cap of a CBS interview with GM design chief Ed Welburn, we have this image of a medium-sized SUV that will certainly become a Buick.

So why should it get the Vue's plug-in hybrid system? Because GM wants Buick to go after Lexus — and the Lexus RX450h is, as of yet, the only car-based luxury crossover SUV on the market.

The catch? Well, for once, there is no catch. It just depends on Buick finishing development of this planned model, and getting it ready for launch by 2011.

Read More:

• Future of GM Part 1: 2010 Buick LaCrosse
• Future of GM Part 2: 2011 Chevrolet Cruze
• Future of GM Part 3: 2011 Chevrolet Spark

Banovsky is a featured contributor for vLane.