This might hint of another version of the Redline QC -

http://www.saturnfans.com/forums/att...?postid=256564

This concept was shown at the dreamcruise




*****Additional pics updated on 9/22/03****


interior pics

http://www.saturnfans.com/photos/dat...Concept-07.jpg

http://www.saturnfans.com/photos/dat...Concept-04.jpg

profile

http://www.saturnfans.com/photos/dat...Concept-03.jpg

rear

http://www.saturnfans.com/photos/dat...Concept-02.jpg

http://www.saturnfans.com/photos/dat...Concept-06.jpg

front

http://www.saturnfans.com/photos/dat...Concept-05.jpg

http://www.saturnfans.com/photos/dat...Concept-01.jpg

engine

http://www.saturnfans.com/photos/dat...Concept-09.jpg

 

2 door Saturn Evo?

 

the big question is, will they actually race it for crediblity?

 

Just what i had in mind. There's some Evo in it, which in my opinion isn't good since i think the Evo's are hidious. That saturn looks even worse.

If they decided to race it, it'll need a bit more than 255hp. The Focus, WRX, Evo, etc.... rally cars are all making 300+ and are AWD. This Saturn would need both. Any word on whether this concept it FWD or AWD? Maybe they borrowed the AWD system from the Vue.

The 255hp and 6spd , the styling .

 

I don't see why Saturn needs a race program like this. Saturn, atleast in my experiance, has no even hint of racing in its line up. No one thinks as them as racing cars. Why would GM want to even move Saturn in that direction? I could see this type of car benefiting chevy or pontiac alot more than Saturn. Why not an AWD Cobalt SS with a turboed ecotec?

 

Actually there are grassroots Saturn race programs out there and in fact a Saturn SC2 just won a showroom stock SSC race.

check it out @ http://www.saturnfans.com/Cars/Motor...ictory03.shtml

quote: "Mike Kramer, of Franklin, Tennessee, piloted his Panasonic/Kumho/SPS/Carbotech Saturn SC2 to a flag-to-flag win in the Showroom Stock SSC class race at the Valvoline Runoffs at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. John Fernandez, of Rochester, MI and Tom Long, of Raleigh, NC rounded-out the top three."

 

well, if they want to directly compete against the Evo and WRX's, they need to be in some form of racing at least, factory or grassroots support (good to hear about the support in SCCA), else they'll never be taken as seriously.. especially if you style and call it as a rally car..



I dunno, actually for some reason, I can see GM taking Saturn in the rally direction better then Chevy or Pontiacc... Saturn is better/more favoriably known for compact 4 cylinder cars?

 

I surf jbody.org alot. It's pretty clear, atleast in the GM sport compact sector, that saturns are considered a far second from the cavy and sunfire. That's in the GM crowd, let alone what the import guys think. I really do think a rally program should come out of Pontiac or Chevrolet. I mean, do you think Europeans would recognize the Saturn name over that of Chevrolet? IN the world theater that rally is, you have to consider things like that.

 

If they're going to push their Red Line cars as performance this would be the way to get the image out there.

 

You're right about the Red Line cars, however Chevrolet and Pontiac especially seem to be lagging behind in race programs. Yes, there is NASCAR, but I don't think the whole "Win on Sunday, buy on Monday" concept really works with that anymore. The real attention goes to the drivers now. Chevrolet has ALMS, but thats not very widespread. With the younger crowd, the WRC ( i think thats the abbreviation?) is becoming alot more popular. Look at how popular the STI's and the Evo's are with younger people; there's more talk about them that about the 2005 Mustang. Chevrolet, without the Camaro, really is lacking an entry level performance car, therefore is loosing alot of its younger buyers. The question is for GM, do you want these potential buyers to go to Saturn, or the traditional flagship of Chevrolet. In any case, a rally bred car is needed in GM. The question is which branch gets it.

 

If you want Euro recognition, why not Saab? I doubt they (euro's) know about or care for a cavvy/sunfire. Are they (cav/sunfire) even sold in Europe?

GM would need something a bit more global. I think Saab would fit the bill nicely. There's a problem though. The only AWD Saab platform is the new Saab which is basically a rebadged WRX built by Subaru for Saab. The other Saabs are all Fwd.

Saab in my opinion is more respected than GM sport compacts which get little to no respect from most non-GM enthusiast. Maybe this a good enough reason to invest heavily in GM sport compacts while fixing the poor image people in general seem to have of them.

 

THat is why a bad *** Chevy/Pontiac/Saturn sport compact needs to be built. You don't gain respect by sitting on the sidelines.

 

J-bodies do not usually get the respect they deserve. Around here, the import guys mock the tuner j's. However, I believe that is coming around. When I went to the strip this summer at a drag fest, they handed up a NOPI magizine. Yes, its a rice boy magizine, but it was good reading while cooling down the car. They had a Ecotec Sunfire in there with a turbo. According to the magizine a similiar Cavalier run 12 PSI made a 12.96 1/4 mile weighing in at close to 3,000 lbs. The other mods included drag slicks and exhaust. Point being, a turbo version of the ecotec seems to be an effective platform. A rally based GM car could establish GM as contender with that new trend. I believe it should come in the form of something close to an AWD Cobalt SS however, not a Saturn redline. Why establish Saturn as a performance branch when Chevrolet itself is hurting. (all it has is the Corvette at the moment)

 

Chevy is the main and #1 division within GM. It should be treated like a number one and should have priority over most other GM brands (short of Cadillac).

If you look over at Ford, almost all of their “domestic/American” performance offerings have the oval badge and it is them that get priority. It helps that they don't have as many redundant brands. They don't have a separate truck division, a separate sport compact division, 2 semi-luxury divisions, etc... For instance Saturn..."Why?" is the question that comes to mind. Chevy is the mainstream brand, why not just improve and invest heavily their sport compacts? You wouldn't need a Saturn division than would you? No.

The thing standing in the way of the Cobalt SS and it being a serious contender is Saturn. When it comes to sport compacts, GM will probably be more willing to invest more heavily in Saturn. They will always have that priority imo. Ironically, their sales aren’t that impressive since I see far more cavvies.

I think the Cobalt should get the nod if GM gets really serious about Rally or other forms of sport-compact racing. Of course, that would probably call for a production AWD Turbo Cobalt SS (highly unlikely, but a good idea nonetheless).

 

I actually thnk thats a nice looking car. I think it would make a little bit of sense for Saturn to go the rally route seeing as how they are the most 'japanese-esque' division of GM.