Considering a gas/electric vehicle but don’t relish the thought of paying a premium of $3,000 to $5,000 and more for the high-mileage machine?

Stay tuned.

Along about the third quarter of next year you’ll be able to get another hybrid on the cheap, a 2007 model Saturn Vue sport-utility to carry people and goods – and a smaller premium than any of the hybrids offered today.

Of course, there’s a catch.

Saturn doesn’t say how small the premium or how high the mileage will be for this Vue.

Saturn calls its high-performance, V-6-powered Vue Red Line. So the high-mileage and low-emission 4-cylinder hybrid will be called, appropriately, Green Line.

While refusing to say how much more it will cost, Saturn promises that Green Line won’t carry a huge premium because it’s more of an associate than a full-fledged member of the hybrid fraternity.

Green Line will be powered by a 2.4-liter, 4-cylinder engine, teamed with nickel-metal-hydride battery power.

But the mileage savings won’t come from an electric motor relieving the gas engine of such chores as starting the vehicle and adding muscle when needed, like other hybrids.

Rather, at a stoplight, Green Line’s engine shuts off instead of sitting and idling away precious fuel. Tap the gas pedal and the gas engine springs to life again. It’s the same “mild” hybrid system now offered in full-size GM pickup trucks.

Saturn says the battery in Green Line will give the SUV a “little push at initial acceleration” but it’s not going to take on heavy chores or substitute for the gas engine. That means you aren’t going to make a 40 m.p.g. conservationist out of a 20 m.p.g. commuter.

But Saturn spokesman Mike Morrissey said it also means you won’t have to pay $3,000 to $5,000 more than the gas-only version. He refused to speculate on the price, other than “well below” $3,000 extra. Vue starts at about $18,000.

The hybrid system adds $1,500 to the price of the trucks, which start at $28,000 to $31,000 in two-wheel-drive or $32,000 to $35,000 four-wheel-drive for the full-size, extended-cab Chevrolet or GMC pickups.

“Some people just don’t want to pay more for a hybrid because the premium usually is more than the fuel savings you realize,” Morrissey said in an interview while in town to show off the Vue, sans Green Line, to the Midwest Automotive Media Association. “Fuel economy won’t be as great in Green Line as with a full hybrid, but the cost will be less, for a more economic return.”

Price and mileage rating are expected to be announced when Green Line bows on next year’s auto-show circuit at a site to be determined.

Vue is powered by a 3.5-liter V-6 rated at 20 m.p.g. city/28 m.p.g. highway, or a 2.2-liter 4-cylinder rated at 23 m.p.g. city/29 m.p.g. highway. It’s safe to assume the “mild” hybrid would add a couple m.p.g. to both figures.

The 2.4-liter 4-cylinder in the hybrid is the same offered in the Chevrolet Cobalt, Pontiac Solstice and, next year, the Saturn Sky. So any of those cars is a candidate for the technology, but Cobalt would seem the most likely.

Big mistake

Talk about miscalculations. Ford planned to produce 165,000 2005 Mustangs. It has boosted output to 192,000 as September sales, for example, rose 70 percent from a year earlier.

Ford also figured that 35 percent of sales would be the high-performance, but not high-mileage, V-8 GT and 65 percent the more fuel-efficient V-6. It’s just the opposite.

Mustang is Ford’s cash cow.

Now, to take the heat off the V-8, Ford is offering a $1,300 Pony package option on V-6 models for 2006. It gives the coupe the look of the V-8 GT, though not the zero-to-60-mph performance, to lure buyers. It’s too early to say how the V-6 is doing.

Write to Jim Mateja, Chicago Tribune, 616 Atrium Drive, Vernon Hills, IL 60061-1523, or send e-mail, including name and hometown, to jmatejatribune.com.