New Buick SUV 2010 Compact Hybrid version

General Motors today released a teaser photo of an upcoming addition to its entry-luxury Buick line: a compact SUV that will go on sale late next year and include a gas-electric plug-in hybrid version in 2011.

This new Buick -- which GM has yet to name -- is intended to win over customers interested in the brand's full-size Enclave crossover SUV who don't need something that large. The Enclave has sold well to buyers much younger than the Buick norm, going head-to-head with premium family vehicles like the Acura MDX.

GM has said the new Buick SUV will come standard with a 2.4-liter 4-cylinder and offer a 3.0-liter V6 -- presumably the same engines found in the redesigned 2010 Chevrolet Equinox SUV. The 4-cylinder Equinox is rated for up to 32 miles per gallon on the highway.

But the bigger fuel economy news with this model is its plug-in hybrid version, which GM anticipates will be the first offered in any mass-produced SUV. A lithium-ion battery pack powering two electric motors will work with a 3.6-liter V6 gasoline engine to reduce the gas used to power the car in normal driving, and will also be able to fully power the vehicle at low speeds for up to ten miles, GM says. The battery can then be charged either by plugging into a household outlet or by the gasoline engine -- the former method would offer this Buick the highest gas mileage.

The teaser photo of the new Buick suggests it will be largely identical to the Saturn Vue (right) that was rolled out in 2008. The Vue has been praised for its comfort and refinement, but criticized for its low total interior volume and its high weight.

If this new vehicle is Vue-based, GM would be rescuing Saturn's best-seller as it abandons the brand, the second time Buick has picked up a new SUV model from an extinguished GM division. The Buick Rainier midsize SUV -- sold from 2004 to 2007 -- had originally been offered as the Oldsmobile Bravada before that brand's demise.

The move immediately follows a GM decision not to continue selling its well-reviewed but slow-selling Pontiac G8 sedan as a Chevrolet when Pontiac is phased out after this year, in an effort to avoid "re-badging" its products.

Source : Examiner