Saturn Flextreme Idea
That is an installment in a sequence of posts wanting again on present vehicles that we really feel deserved a little bit extra consideration than they bought. When you’ve got a suggestion for a Forgotten Idea subject, please shoot us a line or depart a remark beneath.
Saturn Flextreme
First Proven: 2008 Detroit Auto Present
Description: Plug-in hybrid compact automotive
Gross sales Pitch: “Flextreme reveals that unconventional pondering may end up in nice vehicles.”
Extra Forgotten Ideas
Saturn Flextreme
Particulars:
First seen on the 2008 Detroit Auto Present, the Saturn Flextreme Idea was a digital clone of the Opel Flextreme Idea which had been unveiled on the 2007 Frankfort Auto Present only some weeks earlier. The Flextreme idea was a 4-door compact automotive that includes a plug-in serial-hybrid drivetrain much like that launched within the Chevrolet Volt Idea launched on the Detroit Present a 12 months earlier.
In contrast to the Volt Idea, which featured a small gasoline engine, the Flextreme was powered by a tiny 1.3-liter diesel. When absolutely charged, the Flextreme was claimed to journey as much as 34 miles on electrical energy alone, after which the diesel engine took over. Saturn claimed a mixed electrical/diesel vary of 444 miles.
The Flextreme featured center-opening facet doorways which, when opened collectively, created a usefully massive passage to the automotive’s inside. As a substitute of a rear hatch, the Flextreme included a pair of gullwing-style doorways positioned on the automotive’s rear bodyside.
For city explorers, a pair of Segway Private Transporters had been saved underneath the automobile’s cargo space and may very well be accessed from exterior of the automotive. No phrase on if the Segway batteries had been charged whereas in storage underneath the automotive.
Forgotten Idea: Briggs & Stratton Hybrid
Saturn Flextreme
CG Says:
The Chevrolet Volt Idea was unveiled to a lot fanfare again in 2007, however the hoopla might have come largely from the motoring press, which appeared to know the E-Flex plug-in hybrid system higher than most of the people.
When the manufacturing Volt arrived for 2011, public response was lukewarm at greatest, as Basic Motors handled public and media skepticism, particularly that from Fox Information. For that reason, Volt variants just like the Opel and Saturn Flextreme by no means matured into full manufacturing fashions. Sadly, the E-Flex idea—which is differ very similar to Nissan’s e-Energy system—by no means noticed life past the Volt, except you depend the short-lived, and extraordinarily uncommon, Cadillac ELR.
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Saturn Flextreme
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Saturn Flextreme Idea Gallery
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