The woes for the Saturn Astra continue as General Motors won’t be offering the 2009 model year car for sale in the United States. Other markets – such as Canada – will be getting the ’09 Astra, but GM has such a high volume of 2008 models in stock in the U.S. that there is little reason to import the new model.
However, GM has no plans to drop the Astra from the U.S. market as of yet. The 2010 Astra will make it to our shores, although that model isn’t expected to hit dealerships until late summer or early fall.
“We feel we have adequate stock of the 2008 Astra already,” Saturn spokesman Steve Janisse told Automotive News. “Since there were no major product changes for 2009, we’re content with what we have on the ground here.”
The Astra has faced slow sales since its launch in January 2008, with only about 12,000 units leaving dealers’ lots last year – well short of the hatch’s 25,000 unit sales target. Currently, GM has a 139-day supply of the Astra on hand.
Janisse, along with other GM execs, blames the Astra’s low sales figures on a poor exchange rate. The Astra is imported from Belgium, which has basically priced the Astra right out of the economy car segment.
