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Richard S. @ Mar 4th 2008 12:20PM
Saturn is a shocker. I guess the demise of the Ion cost Saturn some sales. But I would have thought that the new Astra would have picked up much of the slack, despite its higher price and especially since sales of small efficient cars are soaring. Is the Astra a dud or not enough inventory has arrived for sales to have an effect? Anyone knows how the Astra is faring? If it flops it would be a bad omen for bringing over the Corsa.
Mr. Oak @ Mar 4th 2008 12:37PM
Saturn has 2 basic problems.
1). Other than actual car enthuiasts, no one even knows that the Astra exists. I have actually never even seen one on the street. These cars will pick up in about a year when word finally gets out to the common folk.
Hell the ?? yr old Cobalt had its best year in '07
2). Lack of adequate number of Showrooms. I live is the largest car market in the US. North eastern US. (NY\NJ\CT). There are only 6 Saturn dealerships in this region. There are 25 GMC dealerships in the same area.
Judy Zik @ Mar 4th 2008 12:45PM
Way too telling. All the wannabe experts on this site going on about how everyone should bring over their euro models and they would be first in line. Well guess what GM did it and forget being first there isn't a line at all. Also interesting to note that the cars everyone around here dogs like the new Focus had big increases. Show's the gap between enthusiasts and the car buying public.
For contrast since Autoblog can't be bothered to write about them you can read the Canadian sales numbers here http://tinyurl.com/3bcm43
In a nutshell sales in Canada were up 14.3%!
GM up 14.5%
Cerbyler up 5.7%
Ford up 4.1%
Toyota up 26.2%!
Honda up 50%!
sk @ Mar 4th 2008 12:59PM
@Judy; Well Saturn does sell all of its imported Astra's. The problem is they can't get enough of them. In 07 they sold 3 times more Ions than they will import in Astra's during all of 08.
3cubed minus 3squared plus1 @ Mar 4th 2008 1:05PM
Mr. Oak is right.
Me and some friends went to see Vantage point and in the car chase Dennis Quaid drives a Chevy version of the same Astra car sold here. One of my friends said it'd be nice if they sold it here and when I told them they do he was stunned. Then I told told them it was sold as a Saturn and he started laughing. I guess not everyone wants a Saturn.
The good news here is that both Ford and Chevy outsold Toyota and that Saturn is the biggest loser.
brn @ Mar 4th 2008 3:09PM
Saturn shifted it's target audience and didn't bother to tell anyone. Go down to your local Saturn retailer (I did yesterday) and take a look around. Most Saturn buyers are looking for small, entry level, vehicles. They have only one, the Astra. No one knows the Astra exists.
If you're looking for a small economy car, Saturn's bread and butter, they don't have much to offer. You're better off at a Chevy dealer.
Bruno @ Mar 4th 2008 6:30PM
I suspect that the Saturn numbers are off because the economy is going south and people who are buying are walking in looking for deep discounts and rebates. Since Saturn doesn't "haggle" there may be a perception that they're not great bargains now. And from what I can see, their rebates are not spectacular compared to some of the overstocked cars of other brands out there.
Visited a Saturn dealer yesterday for the first time. I was appalled to see that this "straight up" brand had "sucker stickers" and dealer add-ons like pinstriping, undercoating, and paint protectant added that is of course, "non-negotiable". So some of these affordable cars may have $1,000 of worthless BS added on. That certainly doesn't help sales.