Saturn's New Future: More Opel, More Like VW

[YSSMAN]

From the guys who brought you the excelent look into the future of Buick a few weeks back, here comes a preview (with a bit of artistic license) for the future of Saturn here in North America.

GMI's Revitalization in Action: The Dream Saturn Lineup Debuts!

A summary in photos:

2011 Saturn Signal (Opel Corsa)

(New base model for Saturn brand, likely competitor to Ford Fiesta and the like when it hits US shorts in the near-future- Ed.)

2011 Saturn Astra (Opel Astra)

(If the new car is the next-best-thing to the Golf, this should match the MKVI once again. Look for more standard power, better fuel economy, and a slightly higher price- Ed.)

2010 Saturn Sky (Opel GT)

(The current success of the Sky guarantees a successor, albeit a non-radical change. More power is the name of the game, with a wider assortment of engine options and trim levels- Ed.)

2012 Saturn VUE (Opel Antara)

(Expect more power, more fuel economy, and all together a better competitor to the upcoming VW Tiguan and the future CR-V and RAV4- Ed.)

2012 Saturn Aura (Opel Vectra) [May be pushed-up to 2010-Ed.]

(If the current Aura is a surprise, prepare to be shocked by the next Aura. A near-identical match to the European cousin, the Aura should receive like other Saturns, more power and more fuel economy- Ed.)

2012 Saturn Outlook

(Expect much the same with the Outlook, albeit with improvements everywhere, and the inclusion of a slightly de-tuned model so Saturn can distance itself a bit from the GMC Acadia and Buick Enclave- Ed.)

2011 Saturn Switch

(What do you think that is going up against? GM doesn't want the Ridgeline to sit alone, so here is the alternative- Ed.)

Thoughts?

 

[Danny]

Good Lord those are some ugly cars.

 

[Wolfe]

Good Lord those are some ugly cars.

I disagree. This artist did a great job, although the Signal/Corsa and Astra could use a second grille to fill the flat void on the front bumper.

Opel seems to really be on the ball with design anyway, so I can't wait to see what they come up with when these models actually appear.

 

[Hugo Boss]

Sorry guys, but if there's one car I don't want to be found dead in, it's an Opel. To me Opel died when they got taken over by GM. Although the build quality and the interior design are much better again than 5-20 years go, the exterior design is a complete mess imo. It's a good thing they focus on design too these days, but to me it's all a bit too much design. They add so many design elements to their cars, that the balance of the car is completely lost. Add the fact that I find those design elements too agressive as well and you'll come to the conclusion I don't like these cars at all.

 

[ExigeEvan]

Good Lord those are some ugly cars.

I concur. Who ever thought it was a good idea to turn Corsa's and Astra's into snow plows? Not even the local ricers have thought of that yet.

 

[Bram Turismo]

The first two cars look waaaay too similair and the Saturn Sky/Opel GT looks way too similair to a C6 Corvette. I've never liked luxury SUV's so that'll be a "No thanks". However, that Aura car looks pretty 👍 The only thing would be that where the turn signals are in the headlights, could be re-designed, the headlights look a bit too large. And what's up with the Opel-fog-light-style copies?

 

[TheCracker]

Sorry guys, but if there's one car I don't want to be found dead in, it's an Opel. To me Opel died when they got taken over by GM.

Why? - what great, memorable cars did they produce before GM took over in 1929?

 

[Hugo Boss]

Why? - what great, memorable cars did they produce before GM took over in 1929?

Sorry, my mistake. Should have been more accurate. Before the 90's, Opel was somewhat free to do what they liked. They were really succesful and making big money. Then the Americans came (don't know the exact year, could have been end of the 80's too) with the brilliant idea that Opel could make even more money if they saved on production, engineering and other costs. Only it wasn't that brilliant actually. These measures had a negative result on the build quality and the sales dropped. It might also be the cause of Opel being late with building an MPV and succesful SUV, but I'm not sure about that. Although Opel is almost back on his feet again, I don't like any of the cars they produced the last 20 years.

 

[Jim Prower]

and WHY chase the Ridgeline?

 

[YSSMAN]

Sorry, my mistake. Should have been more accurate. Before the 90's, Opel was somewhat free to do what they liked. They were really succesful and making big money. Then the Americans came (don't know the exact year, could have been end of the 80's too) with the brilliant idea that Opel could make even more money if they saved on production, engineering and other costs. Only it wasn't that brilliant actually. These measures had a negative result on the build quality and the sales dropped. It might also be the cause of Opel being late with building an MPV and succesful SUV, but I'm not sure about that. Although Opel is almost back on his feet again, I don't like any of the cars they produced the last 20 years.

Lets be honest here, simple economics states that having one company build a stupid amount of products that do essentially the same thing is less cost effective than building one, maybe two products that do the same thing. We (Americans) didn't do anything to 'screw-up' Opel, that was part of their own doing. For the last 10 or so years, our Opels have been heavily re-badged, with all-new exteriors and interiors. The only car that ever came close to looking like an Opel was the previous generation Chevrolet Malibu, and obviously the current Saturn Aura which gladly accepts that it is a direct-descendant of the Vectra.

...What it comes down to here is that GM is tapping a company for cars that are quite a lot better than the current crop of American and in many cases Japanese sedans/coupes/hatchbacks/etc, and GM finally realized that it was idiotic to let these products go to waste. By aligning Saturn with Opel/Vauxhall (and to a lesser extent Holden, w/o VE), they bring great cars to North America, wipe the smirk off of Toyota's face, position themselves similar to VW in the marketplace, and altogether do better for the company.

Quite frankly, I don't see the negative in that...

and WHY chase the Ridgeline?

A lot of people over at GMI are a bit concerned over that as well, but the RMI team felt that if the Outlook is supposed to be modeled after the Pilot, a Ridgeline-like model can't be far off. Their argument is that the Ridgeline is in a segment all of its own, and while GM has no problem doing the BOF Pickups (Silverado, Sierra), they may need to get into the UB class with rising fuel prices, demands for car-like drives, etc.

...The good news is that if GM does it, they'll do it right. A wide range of engine options, including a V8, not to mention a six-speed slushbox, and 'real' 4WD would all be available. That indeed is a few steps ahead of the Honda...

 

[TheCracker]

The only car that ever came close to looking like an Opel was the previous generation Chevrolet Malibu, and obviously the current Saturn Aura which gladly accepts that it is a direct-descendant of the Vectra.

Cadillac Catera?

 

[Jim Prower]

...The good news is that if GM does it, they'll do it right. A wide range of engine options, including a V8, not to mention a six-speed slushbox, and 'real' 4WD would all be available. That indeed is a few steps ahead of the Honda...

and, in the process, force Honda to build something streetable with more than six cylinders. brilliant!

What I hope is that the engine would be mounted front-to-back, and drive the rear wheels on a 2WD model. That would be a few steps ahead of the Honda.

 

[YSSMAN]

Cadillac Catera?

I always thought that looked more like the Monaro... But yes, it was an Opel to begin with... Good point.

 

[Omnis]

All of those cars look hot, except for the Switch. I really like the Vue and the other truck.

 

[m7ammed]

the first two are really nice , don't know about the rest I think they are ok

 

[Hugo Boss]

Lets be honest here, simple economics states that having one company build a stupid amount of products that do essentially the same thing is less cost effective than building one, maybe two products that do the same thing. We (Americans) didn't do anything to 'screw-up' Opel, that was part of their own doing. For the last 10 or so years, our Opels have been heavily re-badged, with all-new exteriors and interiors. The only car that ever came close to looking like an Opel was the previous generation Chevrolet Malibu, and obviously the current Saturn Aura which gladly accepts that it is a direct-descendant of the Vectra.

...What it comes down to here is that GM is tapping a company for cars that are quite a lot better than the current crop of American and in many cases Japanese sedans/coupes/hatchbacks/etc, and GM finally realized that it was idiotic to let these products go to waste. By aligning Saturn with Opel/Vauxhall (and to a lesser extent Holden, w/o VE), they bring great cars to North America, wipe the smirk off of Toyota's face, position themselves similar to VW in the marketplace, and altogether do better for the company.

Quite frankly, I don't see the negative in that...

I'm not talking about rebadging here. In order to save costs, rebadging is a good alternative if you want to be part of multiple segments on the market. Almost every manufacturer rebadges these days or develops cars together with other manufacturers. It's sad that the diversity decreases, but at least the manufacturers can survive.

(Sorry for going off topic one more time):

Where I'm talking about, is that American managers once decided that Opel needed to cut costs in the development and production deparment. This way Opel would have earned higher profits for GM. Only it worked solely on the short term. On the long term the quality of the products deteriorated and the amount iof sells and profits dropped. 'Coincidentally' I dislike all Opels from after that occurance.

 

[Keef]

I think this is a pretty nice look into the future. I like the little slashes in the corner grills on the three sporty models, and the little foglight on the Aura and Vue. Hopefully they'd be able to tie the range styling together as well as these drawings.

What I don't like is that they kept the Outlook and came up with a truck variant. The truck is pointless I think. If the Outlook is selling well now then I suppose they've made a case for it, but I still think Saturn should be a more sporting brand and shouldn't be burdened with a big giant SUV. Chevy sells trucks pretty well so why not let them take on Honda's Ridgeline?

 

[YSSMAN]

The good news for you is that Lutz and Wagoner are no longer concerned only with profit margins, but with sustaining GM as a dominant player on the world market by creating fun-to-drive, high-quality products at an affordable price. Being number one was indeed an important thing, but lets be honest, you can't do so if nobody wants to buy your cars.

...Giving Americans the better cars we should have had is an important step, but personally speaking, I cant be certain of the quality of Opel/Vauxhall before 1997...

 

[Dave A]

Not to rub anything the wrong way, but all these cars are just average over here, the Vectra isn't the best saloon, the Corsa isn't the best city car, the Astra isn't the best hatch etc. Vauxhall don't really offer anythng exciting of their own, the VX220 was built by Lotus and the Monaro and R500 were built by Holden. What America is doing, is just taking the Vauxhall Vauxhalls and building them in America. They arn't bad cars, it just amuses me as to how these are going to be able to do so much for GM in the US sales wise. Most Vectra sales in the UK are probably fleet sales, Corsa's are usually bought by new drivers and Astra's arn't bad, they're an alternative to the better but more expensive Golf and Leon etc ut they can't out do the Focus for price or build. Overall there's nothing that great about them though.

 

[YSSMAN]

Most GM-educated people are well aware that the Opel/Vauxhall cars are indeed 'average' by every sense of the word, however, the European definition of average is generally better than that of American average. This is why the cars that don't change between the US and Europe (notably the Passat, Legacy, Accord/TSX, etc) are normally better than what would be their 'average' competition here in the US.

GM:

- Saturn Aura and Vectra are near-identical (Saturn gets a longer wheelbase, different interior).
- Pontiac G6: Based on Vectra, looks nice, interior isn't very nice.
- '08 Malibu: Next-best-thing to the Aura/Vectra, still based on the same platform, etc.
- The Astra will be the Astra for Saturn later this year. No plans for a Chevrolet version, as that will go Delta II.

Ford:

- Mondeo is vastly superior to the Fusion (aka Mazda 6) in looks, performance, and quality (presumably) as well.
- Focus would be great if we had the MKII. We certainly do not...

Chrysler:

- Caliber: Yeah, you know whats that like. (Read, crap)
- Avenger/Sebring: Same story as above.

...Just my opinion though...

 

[Dave A]

Fair enough, I guess that goes some way to explainng why some Americans don't like certain cars being called average too. We need a universal phrase aver-decent-age. Covers both markets .

 

[YSSMAN]

Yeah. I mean, it isn't as though our cars are that much worse compared to yours, but with a less competitive market, most automakers can be a bit more relaxed with their quality and performance at a given price. I mean, cars like the Fusion and the Malibu are certainly good and by some measurements great cars, but the Malibu mostly benefits from stealing extensively out of the Vectra parts bin (more so than ever before), and the Fusion wins on clever engineering and a bold presence.

With the Americans so focused on beating Toyota, it just seems like a no-brainier to take the cars from Europe that are comparable or better than the best Toyota has, and bring them to the United States. Its part of the reason why I'm so upset with the idiotic way Ford is handling the Focus and the Mondeo in regards to the US market, and generally am only semi-pleased with GM's actions thus far with the proliferation of the Epsilon II chassis, the different engines/transmissions, etc...

 

[FoolKiller]

I had a whole rant about American companies sharing/borrowing designs from Europe and then eventually ruining them, but I will let it rest. I like European designs on cars and this may make me look at Saturn differently. Although, I would prefer to just buy an Opel with an Opel badge or have Saturn create a new design on their own that caught my eye.

God forbid GM just have some innovative homegrown designs on their American brands.

 

[YSSMAN]

...The Outlook is working well. So too is the Sky. Remember that Opel took the GT design from US...

 

[Joey D]

If they make the Switch someone will need to be drug out in the street and shot. The things ugly and just plain impractical (I know it's just a rendering). However the rest are awesome! I really like the concept in the VUE, looks very good. I hope Saturn continues in the direction they are going, every model year they impress me a little more.