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GM says Saturn Vue hybrid will save Canadians money

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Alex Law
The buyers of the more expensive models will still probably have to pay thousands extra for the privilege of owning a hybrid-powered vehicle even with the new $2,000 Ontario tax credit, but some of the lower cost units might actually save their owners money.

General Motors of Canada, for example, is predicting that the Saturn Vue Green Line hybrid going on sale this summer will offer all consumers the best chance of actually saving money of any hybrid on the market.

2007 Saturn VUE Green Line (Photo: General Motors)
That's actually always been the case, since GM intends to charge only about $2,600 more for the hybrid version of its excellent Saturn Vue sport-cute (for a sticker under $30,000), which makes it the country's least expensive hybrid. Doubling the tax credit in Ontario just shortens the time it will take consumers to recoup the extra cost.

For the five-seat Saturn, the key factor is what Tony Larocca of GM of Canada calls the "incremental cost of going from a similarly-equipped gas-only Vue to a hybrid Vue Green Line." Larocca describes GM's premium on the hybrid model as being "easily half the cost of most other hybrids," and he's right about that.

2007 Saturn VUE Green Line (Photo: General Motors)
Consumers buying the seven-seat Toyota Highlander, for example, have to pay $53,145 for the hybrid version, which is $6,415 more than virtually the same SUV with a regular gas engine. With the minor fuel economy gains hybrid owners can expect with that model, it will take more than five years of regular driving to recoup that cost.

On top of the Vue Green Line's more reasonable sticker price, Larocca also points to a real-world fuel economy gain of about 20 percent, as recorded by journalists and regular people in many on-road test sessions. This should be a big deal for consumers, since the biggest complaint with the existing hybrids (Toyota Prius, Honda Accord, etc) is that they do not live up to the posted government fuel economy levels.

With the Ontario tax credit looking after $2,000 of the Green Line's $2,600 premium, Larocca says, that leaves only $600 to recoup through improved fuel economy. Larocca figures it will take the average driver (i.e. those who drive 20,000 km a year) less than two years to earn back the cost of the hybrid, and that's with gas at 90 cents a litre. The higher the fuel cost, of course, the quicker the hybrid pays for itself, and hands up if you think fuel prices will be lower next year or the year after.

2007 Saturn VUE Green Line (Photo: General Motors)
Larocca comes to this conclusion by using the official Canadian fuel economy information that says a regular Vue would use 1,740 litres of fuel in a year if it earned precisely the mileage it gets on the government's tests, and then subtracting 20 percent to reflect the Vue Green Line's real world reduction.

This is not an exact science, to be sure, but it is actually more realistic than most of the calculations used to figure costs and so on. For the consumer, this means that it might take you a little more than two years to earn back the extra cost for a Vue Green Line, or maybe even less.
Alex Law
Alex Law
Automotive expert