With false starts in the Saturn Vue plug-in hybrid and a Buick plug-in crossover vehicle—the former doomed when GM scrapped the Saturn brand and the latter put on the shelf after negative customer feedback—GM is once again making plans for a plug-in hybrid in 2011, according to Bob Lutz, GM’s vice-chairman.  He said it will come from one of GM’s four core brands: Chevy, GMC, Cadillac, or Buick.  The new vehicle, representing GM’s renewed commitment to efficiency, fuel and otherwise, will employ technology used in the scrapped Saturn and Buick models.

Of much interest to forward-looking Kansas City Chevrolet Equinox dealers, Lutz has speculated this new plug-in could be an Equinox, although as of yet nothing has been released.  The GMC Terrain, a vehicle in the same class as the Equinox, as any Kansas City used car dealer would be able to tell you in terms of car buyer requests, is also a prime candidate.  I would prefer to see a plug-in version of the Equinox, personally, given its family friendliness and slightly sleeker design. Whichever it turns out to be, this plug-in will use a modified version of the GM Two-mode Hybrid system and will help boost fuel efficiency, especially during the first 25 miles of operation.  What this means for the consumer is lower maintenance costs and for those who are mainly doing local driving, little to no time spent waiting and filling up in gas station lines.

But while the hybrid and its plug-in technology is slightly more expensive than traditional models and has thus not taken off just yet—hybrids accounted for just 3% of US auto sales in ’09—still GM, in the wake of changes to company philosophy, is excited about the future, perhaps seeing the new technology, like the plug-ins, to be an added feature a consumer would pay extra for, similar to all-wheel drive or electronic stability control.

The plug-in will use different technology from the Chevy Volt, which requires moderate weather conditions and overall ideal driving circumstances for its optimal benefits.  The Chevy Volt and this new plug-in hybrid vehicle are just 2 of 14 hybrid and electric vehicles GM hopes to offer by 2012.  Until then, GM has said it plans to deliver 70 plug-in vehicles to the Energy Dept. for fleet testing in 2011, after which there is a decent chance these vehicles will be found in the lots of  dealers.Kansas City used Chevy