Saturn’s press conference isn’t scheduled until Monday morning, but General Motors might have released some big Saturn news a day early. It appears as though that GM has plans to bring the Opel Corsa stateside under the Saturn brand.
An Opel Corsa was shown at the GM Style event on Saturday night and graced a GM stage today at the opening of the Detroit Auto Show. While the fact that the Corsa was shown at the Detroit show might not sound like a big deal, the way it was shown was. The Corsa was the only representative of a foreign GM brand and was shown among production cars and concepts heading to production — hinting that the Corsa might soon moonlight under the Saturn brand.
The Corsa would seem to be a prefect fit for the Saturn brand — and GM as a whole in the face of stricter CAFE regulations — and would slot nicely below the Astra. The small hatchback market has proven to be a lucrative one — see BMW ’s MINI brand — but GM has yet to field an entrant into the segment.
Saturn officials stopped short of saying that the Corsa was U.S. bound, but gave plenty of hints that it could be. One official said that the Corsa could fill a niche “that Saturn would like to be a part of.”
When Leftlane questioned another Saturn representative about why the Corsa was at the show and if it might be a future Saturn model, all he could do was smile and say, “No comment.”
However, don’t look for Saturn to make any announcements in Detroit or even at the Chicago show. While it remains unclear if the Corsa has been given the green light at this point — although we believe it has — expect an announcement within the next year on the possible future Saturn model.
