Maybe it's just me, but I'm a little confused on where Saturn is headed. Traditionally they just made inexpensive cars, but lately they've introduced an SUV, and now the Redline series. Also, there's a new post with a Saturn minivan. So now we have inexpensive cars, some performance cars, and minivan. My question is why? Isn't this traditionally Chevy's field? Why is GM taking this division in so many directions when the Cavalier sells alot better than any of Saturn's cars, and "Saturn performance" is largely a joke among the import crowd?

 

no pun intended but does anyone really care

 

I think they should make small affordable cars and SUVs. The performance stuff is cool, Saturn should be GMs "Youth brand" like Toyota is trying to do with Scion.

 

LMAO!

Thats exactly what I thought.

 

I've questioned Saturns true purpose since it 1st came into being. It's models are squarely where Chevrolet's lower end used to be, the so-called new way of doing business has never spilled over to the rest of GM as planned, and IMHO the money would have been better spent upgrading the J and A bodies.

Saturn had their own body, not shared with any other GM division, they had their own chassis components, they also had their own engine..... then GM left it adrift for over a decade.

Saturn is now sharing chassis and components with other GM divisions, as it should have in the 1st place, but I still think it's covering the same territory that Chevrolet does. That is being blurred by the fact that Saturn has adopted edgy (perhaps weird) styling, while Chevrolet is more mainstream. But there's no denying that the Ion Redline & the Colbalt SS will likely share buyers, as will the Vue & Equinox.

It's pretty easy to see where Saturn is going. The question is isn't Chevrolet there also.

 

Where was the pun?

 

1. The philosophy behind Sature was confused from day one. First, they nixed an early car that looked vaguely like an Isuzu I-Mark. Then they refocused the Saturn more closedly against the Accord-segment of the day.

By the time the finished car premiered, the Accord had moved up a class in size and power. The Saturn was still quite a bit bigger than the Civic an Corolla.

2. Before the L-series, Saturn was supposed to produce a midsized car with a 2.7 liter inline six. (I don't remember if it was supposed to be transvers or longitudinal, but it was definately FWD.) That idea was killed, leaving a void in the development program until the Opel-based solution appeared.

3. The 1996 update to the L-series was late and severely curtailed by GM. The redesign originally invisioned would have been more complete, and would have featured a 2.1 liter version of the Saturn 4-cylinder. There was some talk of balance shafts as I recollect.

In any case, the Saturn division today is different than the one Roger Smith envisioned. I'd say that Saturn has developed into an eccentric down-market division, the sort of brand where things are different just for the sake of being different. After the Ion, it's pretty apparent that "different" often means just-plain "worse" than the competition.

 

i'm guessing the fact that you own a Saturn has something to do with your confusion...

 

I just think the resources Saturn uses could be better used somewhere else. I think it's useless, and creating a performance line in Saturn is just stupid.

 

well, i for one like saturn engines.. not any problems from em, but yeah, they need some freakin direction!