Electrification is one of the auto industry’s latest buzzwords, but years before it became a trend, General Motors announced plans to build one of the world’s first plug-in hybrids.

Set to become the “most fuel-efficient vehicle offered by a major automaker,” the Saturn Vue plug-in hybrid was introduced at the 2008 North American International Auto Show and was years ahead of its time. Even today, there’s only a handful of plug-in hybrid crossovers available in the United States and most come from premium automakers.

While Saturn never survived long enough to build the model, the company did release a handful of preliminary specifications. The crossover was slated to have a 3.6-liter V6 engine, a lithium-ion battery and two electric motors. This setup would have given the model an electric-only range in excess of 10 miles (16 km) and GM predicted the Vue PHEV would “potentially double the fuel efficiency of any current SUV.”

The 10+ mile (16 km) range isn’t very impressive by today’s standards; however the battery pack could be fully recharged in 4-5 hours with a traditional 110V outlet. The crossover was also designed to replenish the battery pack “utilizing the two-mode hybrid system’s electric motors and regenerative brake system.”

The model was slated to go into production in 2010, but fate intervened. In early 2009, GM announced the Saturn brand would be phased out and that appeared to mark the end of the road for the Vue plug-in hybrid.

Of course, the GM of yesteryear wasn’t above some shameless badge engineering and, much like the Oldsmobile Bravada, the Saturn Vue was given a new lease on life as a Buick. The announcement was made nearly six months after GM’s decision to drop Saturn and the Vue-ick, as it would become known, was slated to be launched in late 2010 with a 2.4-liter four-cylinder and a 3.0-liter V6 engine.

Shortly thereafter, a plug-in variant would arrive in 2011. The model’s powertrain would carry over from the Vue PHEV and GM noted the model had the potential to “achieve double the fuel economy of comparably-sized SUVs on short trips.”

Despite the company’s optimism, the reaction to the blatant badge engineering was brutal. Less than a month after the Vue-ick was announced, GM’s vice chairman of global product development, Tom Stephens, announced the model was being scrapped.

“We were all struck by the consistency of the criticism of the compact crossover”, Stephens said. “Fritz Henderson, Bob Lutz and I and the rest of the [executive] committee decided to take swift action to prevent a potential underperformer from reaching the marketplace.”

While that meant the end for the Vue-ick, GM hasn’t given up on plug-in hybrid technology. The company still hasn’t offered a plug-in hybrid crossover in the United States, but this will change soon as Cadillac is working on an XT4 plug-in hybrid.

Sometimes having the right idea isn’t enough; the timing plays an equally, if not more, important role, and the world at that time wasn’t ready for GM’s PHEV.