Paying Off? Saturn will be GM's hot brand this year, Lutz says

[mikeyb]

DETROIT -- [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]General [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Motors'[/FONT][/FONT] efforts to revitalize Saturn will pay off handsomely for the brand this year, a GM senior executive says.

While GM's [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Chevrolet[/FONT][/FONT] brand will still see the most growth in terms of unit sales, Saturn will experience the greatest "rapid overall percentage expansion" of GM's eight brands this year, Robert Lutz, GM's vice chairman for global product development, said in an interview with [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Automotive[/FONT][/FONT] News.

Lutz credited the expansion to the new Saturn lineup. [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Saturn [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]dealers[/FONT][/FONT] already are sold out of the new Sky roadster into next year, Lutz said. Dealers will get the Aura sedan, Outlook crossover, Vue Green line [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]hybrid[/FONT][/FONT] crossover and a Sky Red line high-performance roadster this year. Saturn will get a rebadged [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Opel[/FONT][/FONT] Astra sedan next year to replace the Ion.

"When you think of where Saturn was two years ago, compared to where they will be 18 months from now, it'll be unrecognizably different," Lutz said.

Lutz stopped short of predicting how much of a percentage sales increase Saturn might experience this year. Saturn sold 64,324 [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]light [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]vehicles[/FONT][/FONT] in the United States through April. That's up 1.2 percent from 63,581 in the year-ago period.

Lutz said GM is studying increasing production of the Sky and the [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Pontiac [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Solstice[/FONT][/FONT] roadster, which are built on the same rear-wheel-drive platform in Wilmington, Del. GM had aimed to build 20,000 Solstices and 10,000 Skys this year, but Lutz said the plant has the capacity to build more.

Globally, Lutz said, Chevrolet is on "an extremely fast growth curve." The brand sold more than 4 million vehicles worldwide last year, he said. In the United States last year, Chevrolet sold 2,651,124 cars and light trucks.

source:http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060522/FREE/60522002/1024/LATESTNEWS

 

[txrxs]

Why is the starting price of the Solstice 19K and the starting price of the Sky around 24K?

 

[Rio Racer]

This is what happens when GM stops making crappy plastic panel cars and starts rebadging german cars.

 

[p5power]

Why is the starting price of the Solstice 19K and the starting price of the Sky around 24K?

cuz it's cooler...

really, though, I know there are styling differences and whatnot between the two, but I'm not sure why there is such a price gap...but honestly, if I had to pick between the two, I wouldn't mind spending 5 grand more to get a sky. that thing is beautiful.

 

[Mallard]

cuz it's cooler...

really, though, I know there are styling differences and whatnot between the two, but I'm not sure why there is such a price gap...but honestly, if I had to pick between the two, I wouldn't mind spending 5 grand more to get a sky. that thing is beautiful.

The Sky somes with more standard equipment while the Solstice lets you get a more basic model.

 

[zerocover]

Has anyone ever driven an Opel Astra youd know its an american POS.

It shakes to pieces at autobond speeds, even at some 160 km/h its falling apart (and its underpowered). No matter what they do there still making a chevy and cheapness ozzes from it.

The solstic and sky are pretty cool at least to look at, but there just not right you need to sit in them everything is just wrong.

 

[dbzeag]

I don't know why the fascination of the Sky. I think the Solstice is some of the best design efforts to come forth from Detriot in years. The Sky seems too crude for the svelte lines the Solstice has. 24K for a standard Sky or 25K for a supercharger sexy rocket, hmmmmmm.

 

[noclue119]

cuz the Solstice looks like s***. Its like paying for a prostitute. Better looks = More money

 

[mikeyb]

I like both but for around 25K I would buy a Miata.