Filed under: Sedans/Saloons, Euro, Saturn, Opel, Rumormill
Insignia will come to U.S. as a Saturn, with new sheetmetal, interior
Click above for a high-res gallery of the Opel Insignia.
Despite repeated rumblings from industry sources (including Lutz himself) that the Opel Insignia's transformation into a Saturn model was on hold, Bob Lutz now indicates that work is indeed proceeding on making that model ready for the American market. Changes are going to be made to both the interior and the exterior of the Insignia as it morphs into the Aura. Lutz also indicates that the two Epsilon II-based cars will share suspension bits and powertrains, though we are not sure just how many of the six available gas and diesel engines in the Euro-only Opel will make their way Stateside. Also debatable is the Insignia's Haldex all-wheel-drive system that will be offered across the pond. Whatever the case, we hope that the car doesn't see too many changes as it's an extremely attractive and compelling package as it currently sits. Bring it.
Gallery: British Motor Show: Opel Insignia
[Source: Autoweek]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
BlackEmblem 4:28PM (7/23/2008)
Yes.
Reply
rwcmick 5:35PM (7/23/2008)
I don't think anybody said that Insignia wasn't coming, it's just that the Aura will not be short-cycled as originally planned. Damon was on the same conf. call as I was with Lutz when he said that.
Giving the Aura a regular life span saves some cash. Buyer's clamoring for Epsilon II platform can buy a Buick Invicta (or whatever they are going to call it) or the forthcoming Saab 9-5.
rwcmick
all cars, all the time
xpolarx 4:28PM (7/23/2008)
Looks good. I still feel weird looking at a Saturn and saying, "Wow, that's a good looking car." But honestly, I don't think they have a bad looking one, at the moment.
Reply
Cary 9:41PM (7/23/2008)
If you like this, you'll love the Hyundai that copied this, and the Mercedes C-class tha Hyundai copied.
CarbonBlack 4:30PM (7/23/2008)
NO!!!
Don't mess with any part of this car, don't even change the badges!
Reply
styleguy 4:36PM (7/23/2008)
Agreed. I would want the name Opel over here any day versus Saturn. Then we'd get the Corsa, and...GM's best!
azzo45 4:37PM (7/23/2008)
Agreed... Why should GM waste $$$ on tooling for a dumb Saturn badge?
Saturn in its original concept ("cars for people who hate cars"...) was a failure. Now that they are playing games with badging... Saturn is "cool"???
People always say Americans are all about the label... well telling the neighbors you bought a German import ranks higher than buying a Saturn... right???
Declan Moran 4:51PM (7/23/2008)
Absolutely agreed, nothing nothing except the badges
GM dummies, even when they're right they're wrong, or doing it wrong, or getting it wrong, or calling it wrong
Torrent 4:55PM (7/23/2008)
They successfully made the Outlook and the Aura look very attractive. Let's give them a shot. Or give it to the CTS design crew and let them tweak it.
Vintage 5:03PM (7/23/2008)
Agreed. Looks good. Leave it alone. Call it a saturn, but don't touch ANYTHING. Then it might actually sell.
2007RC46SP2 6:16PM (7/23/2008)
looks good now. but wait till GM americanizes it and F**ks it up.
bound to happen
Gene 7:41PM (7/23/2008)
I agree, don't fix if not broken!
architekt 6:57PM (7/23/2008)
sorry to hear that it will have revised sheetmetal and revised interior. Just bring it the way it looks...! I can see tail lights with chrome trims,revised front end and ugly "americanized" interior. To be honest GM should replaced Saturn by Opel and market it as "german" brand and you will see they're going to sell more cars.
PJ 7:22PM (7/23/2008)
Thank you, CarbonBlack.
Didn't GM learn *anything* from the Saturn LS sedan and Epsilon I cars? When people first saw/sat in the '04 Malibu and '05 G6, knowing the platform's potential from the Euro-market Vectra, you could almost hear the air going out of the room.
Similarly, when Saturn was building up the release of the LS1/2 in the late '90s, GM mouthpieces earnestly promised that the US car would share "virtually no parts" on the surface with the Vectra.
Why? What the frack is going on at RenCen that they think this is what consumers want? It's not 1960. People WANT European cars now.
Jared 7:18PM (7/23/2008)
Just bring it as is. For goodness sake, the car is beautiful, GM is short of cash, and they want to spend engineering money changing it?
Fernando 5:54PM (7/24/2008)
I think that the "buy American" crowd is larger than the "I want a German import to impress my neighbors" crowd. That's why GM isn't importing Opels, they're rebadging them as Saturns, which, as everyone knows, is American.
azzo45 9:04PM (7/24/2008)
Fernando.... American made badges, used to brand an "American" car (Saturn) on a German made import (Opel) is still German.
So why spend tooling to change fascias & interior bits, etc to what many neighbors know as a boring grocery getter brand (Saturn).
If Saturn was so broke that GM had to import a platform from Europe, then they should have killed Saturn & focused on their remaining brands.
Dressing up a European model & calling it American is just typical GM (& dumb). When Ford starts to bring over their European models, they will still be FORDS * there will be no confusion (or snickering over badge engineering).
Paul C. 4:31PM (7/23/2008)
Why, oh why do they always insist on changing things or should I say screwing them up? When will GM learn?
Reply
Pacman 4:31PM (7/23/2008)
Dont bother bringing it if it is changed. It is not often that the changes are for the better. Why change the interior? Do they need to change it because it would command too high a price in current form? Please do not dumb it down.
Reply
ken_aisin 4:32PM (7/23/2008)
Seriously, why not just sell the them as is? What's wrong with the Opel badge? What's wrong with the interior and the sheet metal? Are they going to uglify it for the North American market?
The Astra with the Saturn badge just looks weird. I still prefer the original Opel badge.
Reply