GMI Exclusive: Saturn May Go To BPG, Why Aura ≠ Insignia

[Quickening]

What a mess.

[The Law]

Originally Posted by igotzzoom

Why is it that GM teases us with all these tasty treats overseas and then backpedals and say it's going to give us an out-dated, watered-down model for the U.S. market? The Insignia looks like a phenomenal car. It looks like a $50,000 luxury sedan! I guess I'll never understand GM management's logic.

In house management first, if they re-align the brands not many models will need to be cut, just old ones replaced with that brands product line.We could very well see this Saturn at dealerships 1-2 yrs. after Buick Invicta.Gm has got the model releases wrong for so long.Why should a Chevy model come out before a Saab or Buick?Normally new products arrive Up-Down, like "**** rolls down hill" not up!

[69Firebird400]

Originally Posted by igotzzoom

Why is it that GM teases us with all these tasty treats overseas and then backpedals and say it's going to give us an out-dated, watered-down model for the U.S. market? The Insignia looks like a phenomenal car. It looks like a $50,000 luxury sedan! I guess I'll never understand GM management's logic.

Actually, you may have identified GM's problem with selling the Insignia as-is in North America. It's probably too expensive to produce and sell with all of the nice stuff they get in Europe, because it sells for a hell of a lot more money there than Saturn could hope to sell it for here. The first thing I thought of when I saw "unique sheetmetal" and "unique interior" for the US was "they are de-contenting it."

And that's really a shame - when the Aura was first hyped/introduced, the word was that Saturn would become GM's Acura and the Aura would be its TL. Well, even the old TL has a lot more nice technology than the Aura does, but the Insignia appears to be much closer to the TL's m.o. than the current Aura is able to do.

[91Saturn]

What's with all these posts worrying about the demise of "no haggle" at Saturn? Are you guys in some sort of '90s time warp? "No haggle" has been unofficially dead for the last few years. Anyone who is paying sticker price for a Saturn these days is out of his mind.

[CrunkedRL]

Ridiculous I could see a stronger business case being presented for a Saab/Saturn dealership merger but this move would be nothing short of a hot damn mess!

[The Law]

Originally Posted by CrunkedRL

Ridiculous I could see a stronger business case being presented for a Saab/Saturn dealership merger but this move would be nothing short of a hot damn mess!

Yes, one need to go higher end I'd say Buick.Which would leave Saturn as olde Buick just Euro styling,Pontiac as Nissan-Mazda fighter,and GMC.

High, would have Buick at FWD Asian design,Saab as Euro, and Caddy RWD.

[The Law]

Originally Posted by CrunkedRL

Ridiculous I could see a stronger business case being presented for a Saab/Saturn dealership merger but this move would be nothing short of a hot damn mess!

Not nowadays,maybe before GM did Saturn=Opel!

[stevecmh]

i still think they should make the insigina.. its beautiful

[mgescuro]

The final nail in the coffin for the great Saturn experiment.
GM remains clueless.
Absolutely clueless.

Originally Posted by t-rex

Is it POSSIBLE for GM to go more than a week without announcing something completely stupid?????

No. Lutz is senile. Wagonner is on dope.

[doppleganger]

Each GM headline here lately is more depressing than the last. If this latest Saturn news is true, then GM is in a MUCH bigger tailspin than I could have imagined. Why exactly would merging Saturn with the PBG channel be a good idea? Here we go in yet ANOTHER direction. This idea creates more problems than I believe it would solve:

You instantly have insane levels of product overlap, and to reshuffle the various lineups and vehicle options would seemingly require more resources and investment to credibly differentiate the offerings. I'd hate it, but wouldn't it be easier just to shutter the Saturn brand all together?

Next, incorporation means you run the risk of further confusing the consumer because, depending on where in the GM pecking order Saturn finds itself post merger, this may be yet another shift in its targeted market and brand identity. This leads to the need for more marketing dollars which Saturn already seems starved of.

Lastly, it would make the decision makers at GM look totally inept. By that, I mean that here we go again with another master plan for the brand structure. We just had an article about how the BPG strategy was working, and now is the time to throw a wrench in that plan? It hasn't even fully played out yet. Then, such a big deal was made about the Saturn-Opel plan (same cars, different countries). Thus far, that plan has produced ONE car (Astra) and now you tell us our 'Insignia' is going to be a different car from its Euro counterpoint;why??

Sorry for the mini rant, but I'm just disgusted with this tripe coming down the presses from GM.!! I wanted to be able to buy an Aura like the one Europe has, but we're likely going to get the decontented shell of the Insignia. Once again, the home market gets the crumbs!! Same ****, different day!!

[steve333]

Oh man............Opel produces a hot car and then GM will change everything about it for Saturn!?

Just sell Opels here. Keep the same designs. Drop the Saturn name altogether.
OPEL OPEL Chant along with me...................

[steve333]

Originally Posted by CrunkedRL

Ridiculous I could see a stronger business case being presented for a Saab/Saturn dealership merger but this move would be nothing short of a hot damn mess!

Saab/Opel would make more sense.
Saturn is dead. Just kill it.

[RB35SLT]

Kinda off little off topic here...

How old is Saturn? What happened to Geo?

[doppleganger]

Funny, my boss was in my office today and he saw that picture of the two Insignias that's on the front page (its my current desktop background). He said, "Wow, what kind of car is that?" I told him and explained the whole Saturn/Opel thing, and said that we'd be getting it here in the States soon as a Saturn. He couldn't believe it was a Saturn and said that he thought it was some kind of BMW or something. "Really really nice" he said.

Sorry, but I think GM is making a mistake here. THIS car has got it right as is, and would seriously give Acura's new TL a run. It's like GM is its own worst enemy sometimes.

[GMfan1111]

agreed Saturn as it is right now is dead. the Astra (while light years better than the bland as dirt ION) was a half baked effort. GM could have had a hit on its hands with the Astra if they had put the right amount of time and effort into it. But instead GM dropped the ball and the car suffered as a result The fact that it has no AUX jack is unacceptable in a world dominated by Ipods and other MP3 devices