I still don’t understand why they come up with completely new looking cars every couple years, what’s the point, that has to be costing alot

Saturn Poo

gumby – saturn is revamping their product line to a new direction. i would hope that once that transition is made, then the changes will be evolutionary. but for now, it has to be different.

*yawn*

i thought pontiac was supposed to be the ones that compete with BMW’s

Pontiac will EVENTUALLY bring sedans that compete with BMW.
But since BMW now builds CUV’s, and Opel competes directly with them in Europe, I guess the Vue/Antara benmarked the X3/5.
We’ll see if the GM man’s words are true.
I think that if it can offer BMW driving dynamics in a package that is a fraction of the cost, it will be a nice surprise.

pontiac will stick to the car line, the other divisions will take the suv market. expect BIG pontiac news in the next 6 months. im hearing the pontiac remake will be far more dramatic than the caddy remake. as always, we’ll see……

i was being sarcastic

I know. You drive an Audi, so you are probably not concerned if GM targets BMW.

haha its not that im not concerned, its that they cant do it with any other brand besides Caddy at this point. It reminds me of those comparisons from months back of those Chinese cars being equal to the A4 and 3-series for about 15k or whatever it was. The claims are too outlandish.. they should be comparing themselves to the RAV4, CR-V, and Escape, touting their offering as better than all those three, at an equivalent price point, rather than trying to pass it off as a budget bimmer.

True A4, but if you set your goals high you are bound to get a better effort from the designers than if you tell them to target the Jeep Liberty, for example.
What I enjoy about the automotive world is that you never know who will bring a new product that becomes a real competitor. Back in the 90’s everyone laughed at Lexus and Infiniti. And even though they are not German equivalents in terms of driving experience, many people are buying these instead of a MBenz/BMW/Audi.
I agree it will take GM a good 15-20 years to revamp themselves, but at least I am seeing some effort. I only wish Ford and DCX do the same.

And the comment about you owning an Audi, I was being sarcastic. Your comments are usually cool- although I would not call an Ion ugly- just odd and too geometric.

In support of Brendino–

Saturn is being converted to the banner under which GM manufactures and sells Opels in North America. To the extent that Opel competes with BMW in Germany, Saturn will compete with BMW here.

@murphy1–

Pontiac is one brand within the Buick-Pontiac-GMC group. The decision has already been made to sell the group’s minivans and SUVs under the GMC banner rather than as Pontiacs and Buicks. Crossovers are being handled differently. All-in-all, these are good moves.

A Saturn “easily comparable” to an X5 and better than an X3?! Looks like more than one division of GM is attempting to target BMW. Last time it was Pontiac that was going to be the Bimmer equivalent. Now the Vue is going toe to toe with the X5 and X3. Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought Saturn’s orignal target was Honda and Toyota. So I’ll make a slight adjustment to my last comment. Aim for BMW, land at Honda.

why not just kill the saturn name and revive Opel.. it may not seem so to other people, but every Opel version ive seen next to their Saturn counterparts look way better than the saturn version. The Antara looks way better than the Vue, and i honestly cant understand why they would mess with it as much as the spy shots showed. It ought to be here UNTOUCHED. The Sky is also a beautiful car, but for those of you who have seen the Opel GT version, i’m sure youd also agree that it has the advantage in terms of looks. Same goes for the Vectra/Aura. I’d feel much more comfortable purchasing the Opel name, despite their quality issues from the 80’s which forced them to leave the marketplace. Saturns commercials say it all… “thats a saturn?” Yes, it is, but thats exactly the problem, people already have the sour taste of the pre-opel models in their mouths, and it isnt going to leave most peoples minds until at least the next generation. Lets hope a company comes out with Opel conversion kits, which make them back into what they originally looked like, because at least in my eyes, they all seem a bit more sophisticated with the Opel finishings.

Opel has the cooler logo…

But man. You can’t improve the Sky’s exterior, that thing is GORGEOUS.

Ok – this car looks pretty good, but I don’t know what’s Lutz smoking comparing it to X5

Didn’t Lutz once say the Performance and Handeling of the Grand Prix was comparable to that of a 3 series?

Opel does not compare with bmw here in europe. opel lags behind volkswagen actually. Opel has made some great cars lately, like the new astra and corsa. Now all they have to do is continue like this. Opel wont be sold in the usa because it would cost too much money to advertise a new brand and kill of the old one.

i’m sure X5 owners will be rushing in crowds to thier local saturn dealers…

So has anyone heard what kind of gas mileage this car is supposed to get? It certainly looks good; I especially like the interior. If it gets mid- to high twenties on the road, that’d be great.

Glad to hear that but can it match Toyota let alone BMW in terms of build quality & reliability.

When a company comapres itself to something out of it’s league, it is just trying to up-market the car. Do you think anybody looking at a BMW 760i cross shops it with the Hyundai Azera simply because Hyundia says they have the same interior space? It’s marketing folks…

Second of all, they are most likely just comparing to the concept of the X5 (more sport than utility). SO they don’t expect them to be cross shopped, just getting the word out of what the focus of their new Vue will be.

uahhh i just saw the new gen-II X5 driving past the local dealer and its definatly no Saturn… its gorgeous, and BMW surely did an even better job restyling the X5 than they did the 3er

even if it drives like a bmw An BMW buyer will never buy one becasuse it does not have the prestige of that of a benz or a bmw or audi. I really dont think it will just because of cost alone. If you look at how much money it cost in just the metals and craftmanship that goes into building a bmw theres no way you could do it for cheeper it they could they would. Theres not that much mark up in a bmw not as much as youd think. I dont think saturn will have a aluminum suspension or a magnisame motor. Or 16gage still or the safty that bmw has. so how could it drive the same??

sorry steel. not stil

Yeah, I’m sure BMW is SoOoO scared of Saturn, they’re creaming in their pants right now.

If this Opel is suppose to compete with a BMW, why does the interior look like ****? I know the answer though, it’s because its GM of course.

I like it, and it is made in Korea. I think BMW should be worried about this, it’s awesome.

I agree with deantj. This is a worthlessp product that will do nothing to upset BMW, much less Toyota.

Not very exciting for an “all new” version of the VUE. As for the BMW references, I think that’s just talk to get people all riled up & talking about the product, good or bad. If people are discussing the new VUE, then there’s a chance the word will get out to more people than usual. Not the best plan, but I suppose anything is possible, right? Yeah…and pigs fly–I know.

megator… i disagree, i think it would cost GM MORE money to breathe life into the previously god-awful saturn brand, as well as the costs for converting Opels to Saturns, rather than bring the exact same car over the exact same way, with no additional conversion costs for GM, as well as a more aggressive and sophisticated image at an equal price point. I bet they could make good commercials for it to, jazz it up by showing some signification of europe giving the keys to the US, and saying something like Opels Here.. people would look at it as a european brand, which is surely more reputable in most, if not all americans eyes, and it would probably bash Scion in the 18-25 crowd segment they laughably aim at, when cars like the Astra finally get here. Even if they did spend more with marketing, im sure theyd make it up by selling boatloads more cars. Saturns doing a great job… but Opels would pull it off way better.

I hate to state the obvious but Opel doesn’t compete with BMW except in Bob Lutz’s fantasies.
Opel/Vauxhall’s direct competition is VW or Ford rather than Audi or Volvo.
btw – what is Saab supposed to be for? Wouldn’t Saab be the obvious BMW competitor in GMs lineup if they hadn’t screwed it up?

Richard: agreed. GM is finally moving its ass and doing something good for themselves, for once.

well the marketing they have here in europe sucks ass. they have the new astra twintop(nice car i bet it would outsell the toyota solara in the usa) riding on a wave showing of its folding hardtop. That makes the car rediculus and detracts from it. Gm get ur marketing department to make serious comercials, not junk for 3 year olds.

Isn’t the Ion a 3-series competitor? And the Aura is a Jag XJ competitor? I mean, I know the current Vue was built to go after the Porsche Cayenne so why are they aiming so low with the new one? Why not build the ultimate Lamborghini LM002 competitor with the next Vue? I mean if you really want to make a statement, Tell everyone the next Vue is comparable to an F-16…

Uh-huh.

In Germany, Opel competes with VW, not with BMW. That’s all I’ll say.

aiming a little high with a