GM Exec Confirms 2014 Chevrolet Cruze Plug-In Hybrid Model

Good luck with 2-mode plugin hybrid. The no-plug version in the truck does not sell well. It needs to shift gears. I can't wait to learn more about the next gen FWD version that will be in the Cruze.

 

Ugh. I hate it when the facts are so wrong. The Vue 2-mode had nothing in common with the RWD Truck 2-mode. It was a completely different design. Does anyone really think a RWD truck 2-mode could be adapted for FWD operation in a vehicle a fraction of the size? Geeze . . .

 

I expect it'll be a cut-down Volt: similar drivetrain, reduced motor, reduced battery size, programming changed to go hybrid earlier.

 

The Vue Green Line 2 Mode is GM’s first application of two-mode technology on a front-wheel-drive vehicle. The two-mode system is currently on the V-8-equipped Chevrolet Tahoe 2 Mode and GMC Yukon 2 Mode full-size SUVs, and becomes available in 2008 on the Cadillac Escalade 2 Mode luxury SUV and Chevrolet Silverado 2 Mode full-size pickup.

Green Car Congress: GM to Introduce Saturn Vue Green Line 2 Mode Hybrid at Detroit Show; Production Begins This Year

 

It is basically a supercharged 4 speed step gear transmission. It'll be able to do EV in the City like PiP.

Source

 

Isn't the max speed for that system limited to 50 mph?

 

FTP speed reaches up to 57-58mph. Here is a full cycle. Average speed is 21 mph.

 

So all 2-modes are alike? Are all step gear automatic transmissions alike too? Of course not. Not a single part in the RWD 2-mode drive unit was carried over to the FWD 2-mode. Different architecture, different powerflow, different capability, different performance, different operating envelope, different by all measures other than its classification of being a 2-mode. The FWD was not adapted from anything. It was an all new design. Period.

 

Yet, it was abandoned. How come? What makes it a compelling as a plug-in but not as a hybrid only?
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Because it was planned for Saturn and Saturn went away. A variant was going to be used in the Cadillac SRX PHEV, but volume was so low it couldn't possibly justify the cost. So now the third variant is in the current Volt.

I would expect the next generation system will be both a hybrid and a plug-in. Difference will depend upon whether the driver wants significant EV operation or not. I'm not convinced my driving habits would warrant the high battery cost of a plug-in. I too had sticker shock when Prius PHEV pricing was announced.

 

Really? For years, the target has been a $3k to $5k premium with the hope it would be applied to a mid-grade package. Isn't that what we got?

True, the advanced package is pricey, but it's not a required to get the benefits the plug offers.
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Its probably from all the hype about the prius phv being so much cheaper than the volt

The numbers actually are 32,000-39,500 before tax credit IIRC or about 5K more than the hype. I got swept up in the hype on sites like Edmunds too, but realized later that it was all talk.. That is why people are disappointed. It is not as if numbers are out of line with the leaf or volt, but it does not blow them away as many, um maybe even you, seemed to be saying. The battery size is also smaller so the rebate is smaller. Some would like a prius II with a preheater as was originally speculated about, and not the current more well equipped and much more expensive model.

I find that the cruze plug in seems like a confused model. They can rework the motors and gearing on the volt and very the battery size, I don't think putting out so similar platform will help gm.

 

+1

I can see slipping a Cruze hybrid in for the Eco. Adding a plug will really start to blur the lines between the Volt and Cruze, which might make the Volt's price even less acceptable.

Unless their long term plan was to generate the buzz with the Volt, and once the Cruze line got established and expanded, let it fade away.

 

I don't think fueleconomy.gov intended to "hype" up PiP.

 

They did report edmund's hype, without qualification. I also repeated this journalistic hype as did you. I did qualify it with the source. It seemed toyota was unofficially putting out the word that the plug in prius would be muich much cheaper than the volt, and journalists ran with this. It would have been the easiest thing in the world for toyota corporate to ask fueleconomy.gov not to put out those rumor figures.

It is this hype that makes people disapointed with the pricing of the prius phv. Some people on this forum hold a grudge about such things