The new 2007 Saturn VUE is now available in a relatively inexpensive hybrid model, and company officials say the addition to Saturn’s line-up may keep the Spring Hill plant in business.
Saturn’s Spring Hill plant formally launched the hybrid S-U-V (today/yesterday,) which makes it the first Tennessee auto plant to build a hybrid gas and electric vehicle.
Mike Herron is the chairman of United Auto Workers Local 18-53. He says the plant has intentionally become more flexible to meet General Motors’ global demands.
“The ability to adapt on the fly and build anything that the corporation asks us to build is a key competency of this membership, and this site has shown that time and time again. We’re shipping engines right now to five different countries, and it’s a story that’s not out there.”
Herron says THAT flexibility allowed Saturn to retool the Spring Hill plant to manufacture the hybrid without building a new facility. He says those savings trickle down to the consumer.
Herron cites the starting list price of 23-thousand dollars, which is 2-thousand dollars higher than the original VUE, as evidence. Because of the VUE’s price tag, Herron says the hybrid technology could create fuel cost savings that exceeds the added cost of the vehicle.
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