Saturn Sky

Pontiac Solstice Coupe - Click above for a high-res image gallery

One of the many unfortunate casualties of General Motors' financial apocalypse is the loss of the Kappa platform, the small, rear-wheel drive architecture underpinning the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky. With both of those brands being discontinued and no plans to migrate any models over to GM's surviving brands, the slow-selling roadsters will simply disappear within the next year.

The ruthless pruning continues, with GM Inside News reporting that the rear-wheel-drive Kappa II platform has gone to heaven before ever touching this mortal coil. Back in 2004, a vehicle line executive said "The Kappa architecture is a great platform for sporty, driver-oriented applications around the globe." Apparently, not one for which GM could make enough different models to actually earn some money.

Advanced Mechanical Products (AMP), the company with plans to convert hundreds of Saturn Sky roadsters from gas to electric power, appear to have a prototype doing some on-the-road testing. A video on YouTube shows a black "AMP" whizzing down the road and the cameraman announcing "...wards [sic] us is the AMP Saturn Sky. Totally electric. This is our fourth test drive." The car come

Thanks to a tip from a reader, we've been introduced to a new electric sports car maker based in Cincinnati, Ohio: Advanced Mechanical Products. AMP has taken a major shortcut to offering its first electric vehicle by starting with a gas-powered Saturn Sky as the base. Out goes the GM Ecotec four-banger, in goes an electric motor and lithium phosphate batteries. According to the manufacturer, the electric car will accelerate to sixty miles per hour in less than six seconds and have a top speed o

GM is working hard to ensure that its newest automotive division, Saturn, is considered cool, hip and edgy. In this day and age, that means the interwebs, specifically a blog and social networking site. According to a post by Saturn General Manager Jill Lajdziak on GM's FastLane blog, www.ImSaturn.com will feature news about Saturn along with photos and videos you haven't seen anywhere else. Like other social networking sites, you can join in on the fun by

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has received around 40 complaints from owners of the Pontiac Solstice GXP and Saturn Sky Redline regarding the vehicle's braking performance. According to the owners, too much pedal effort is required to slow the vehicle down when the engine is cold. This may correlate with a TSB issued by General Motors back in December that advised dealers to recalibrate the braking control computer on both models. The system uses the stability control

Click for high-res gallery of Super Sky shots from SEMA

When the Pontiac Solstice hit the market last year, there was enough electricity surrounding the new model in GM's "Excitement" division to power a small mid-western town. That buzz has apparently dropped off in quick order. Whereas before, dealers were tacking on huge markups, there are now reports of $1,000 being thrown on the hood of Pontiac's beautiful, bulbous roadster.

Click the image above for more high-res pics.

Sometimes news is just too good to keep to yourself. Just ask GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz. With his company supposedly claiming 13 spots on Edmund's Consumers' Most Wanted list, Lutz just had to brag a bit on the corporate blog before the winners were made public.

Click photo for gallery with 54 additional hi-res images

There are a handful of things that have kept the Solstice and Sky off our list of favorite sports cars. The Red Line and GXP versions went a long way towards addressing many of those concerns. There remain, however, some infuriating little details that seem to want to ruin the whole experience for you. Well, GM is listening to owners' complaints and is making small changes ro rectify the problems. Rather than wait until the new model year, the Saturn Sky and Pontiac Solstice are getting "continu

The Vauxhaull brand is Britain's own little version of Opel, the General Motors brand sold throughout the rest of Europe. While it may seem cool the Brits don't have to buy the same Opels as the rest of the old country, there are drawbacks. One big one is the announcement recently that Vauxhaull will not be getting a version of the Opel GT, which itself is a version of the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky sold here in the States. Apparently there's not a good business case for converting the car

Rumors of a V6-powered Corvette model have been floating around for years but weren't taken very seriously until Motor Trend decided to spend some ink on it a few issues ago and predict the six-cylinder model would revive the "Sting Ray" name. The model would basically be a Chevy-branded version of the Kappa roadster that GM has liberally passed out to such brands as Pontiac (Solstice), Saturn (Sky) and Opel (GT). Chevy's version would be different in that power would come from a V6 rather than

So you go down to your local Saturn dealer to at least attempt to buy their sexiest offering to date, the Sky. Under the much-marketed impression that Saturn offers no haggle, bottom-of-the-line pricing, you expect to walk in, look at the sticker and walk out with your new drop top for the price printed on the window.

The Saturn Sky is a great-looking, powerful, and immensely desirable American roadster. The Sky Red Line takes all of that goodness and infuses it with 260 horsepower and 260 lb-ft of torque via a 2.0L turbocharged Ecotec four. That's good for a 5.5-second 0-60 time and a 13.9-second quarter mile.