vue already has 4 cylinder BAS hybrid. Um, so if you want 4 cyl and cheap get that.
i could see the benefit to a cobalt or astra hybrid. but i don't think anyone will pay 2 mode prices for them. and again, BAS may be a better option there.
really if the camry and altima hybrids are out there, there's not much reason to go smaller. those two cars get tremendous mpg and at least then you can justify the purchase price vs. size of car you get. i know i could enjoy an altima hybrid.
maybe part of the reason the vue is so heavy is it was designed to accept all this hybrid paraphernalia. just as a side note. i was at the nissan dealer saturday and they had a buttload of cars in the showroom, many with their hoods open. If you want to see where the Asians love to trim things to the bone, take a look at stuff under the hood. brackets, mounts, fasteners, accessories. There's no forgiveness there. some of the stuff i saw were metal pieces so thin and not one iota bigger than it needed to be to assemble the car. efficient? well, until it breaks from stress or abuse or something. But the Vue you can at least tell has some heft in its parts in spots.
think of the vue as the hybrid crossover for the thrifty greenie that can't afford the rx lexus.
Vue 2 mode hybrid may simply be the test bed for the same parts in the lambda etc.