Saturn Corporation

Infobox Company
company_name = Saturn
company_slogan = Rethink.
company_
company_type = Subsidiary of GM
foundation = January 7, 1985
location_city = flagicon|Michigan Detroit, Michigan, USA
location_country = United States
key_people =
area_served =
products = Automobiles
parent = General Motors
homepage = [http://www.saturn.com www.saturn.com]
footnotes =

Saturn is a division of the General Motors Corporation and a brand of automobiles. It was established on January 7, 1985. As a wholly-owned subsidiary of GM, it manufactures automobiles in the United States. GM began manufacturing Saturn cars in 1990, largely in response to the success of Japanese & German small-car imports in the United States, such as the Nissan, Toyota, and Volkswagen. [http://auto.howstuffworks.com/saturn-cars.htm] Starting in the 21st century, Saturn is becoming the US brand for Opel vehicles, similar to Vauxhall Motors in the UK.

Slogans

* 1985
** "What Kind Of Car Is That? It's A Saturn!"
* 1989-1994:
** "A Different Kind of Car Company" (US)
** "We've reinvented the automobile." (Canada)
* 1994-2002: "A Different Kind of Company, A Different Kind of Car."
* 2002-2004: "It's Different in a Saturn"
* 2004-2006: "People First"
* 2006-2007: "Like Always. Like Never Before."
* 2007-present:
** Formerly "Rethink American.", later "Rethink." (US)
** "Like Always. Like Never Before.", later "Rethink." (Canada)
** "Passion for the Road." (Spanish-speaking US slogan)

Products

The company's products used a dedicated platform called the Z-body and a dedicated engine, the 1.9 L Saturn I4 engine, and a dedicated plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee. All of the original Saturns featured dent-resistant plastic body panels which were also touted as allowing the company to change the look of the vehicles readily. However, in practice, the company did not take advantage of this capability often.

Saturn S-Series cars were produced from 1991-2002. There were 3 Generations of S-Series Cars. First Generation S-Series cars were produced from 1991-1994. For the 1995 Model year, Saturn implemented a "First Generation" exterior, and "Second Generation" interior. The exterior of the 1995 model year looked the same as the first generation cars, but exhibited larger gauge faces on the instrument cluster, and a redesigned middle console. First Generation engines were rated at 85 Horsepower for the Single Overhead Cam Engines, while the Dual Overhead Cam Engines were rated at 124 Horsepower for the entire run of S-Series cars (1991-2002). In 1996, the Second Generation S-Series Sedan was introduced and remained virtually unchanged for the rest of the vehicle's production run. In 1997, the Second Generation of the Sport Coupe model was introduced with a more "Scooped" headlight front. The S-Series was produced in three variations: Coupe (SC), Sedan (SL), and Wagon (SW). The Wagon was introduced for the 1993 Model year and was produced until 2002.

The first real change came with the 2000 Saturn L-Series mid-size car. It shared the GM2900 platform with the Opel Vectra, along with its engine, and was built at a GM factory in Wilmington, Delaware. The Saturn Sky is now being produced in the Wilmington factory along with the essentially identical Opel GT and the closely-related Pontiac Solstice.

Today, the company shares GM's Delta, Epsilon, Lambda and Theta automobile platforms, along with the company's Ecotec - including the new 2.4L LE5 I4, Turbo 2.0L LNF I4, and DCVCP 1.8L I4 - with the V6's being the High Feature LY7 3.6L V6 and High Value LZ4 3.5L V6 engines. Saturn cars are built at GM plants throughout the world. The Saturn Vue used a Honda engine in the past, and the plastic body panels have been discontinued on most current vehicles.

In past years, Saturn sales have been declining, and the Ion production lines were halted for two weeks in 2003 to allow dealer inventory to reduce. The L-Series was canceled after production of the 2005 models, and the Ion was canceled after 2007.

The current Saturn models are as follows: Sky roadster, Aura sedan, Astra hatchback, Vue small crossover SUV and Outlook large crossover SUV built off of the GM Lambda platform (replacing the Relay minivan). GM decided that Saturn and Opel shares numerous models that differ only slightly. For example, the 2008 Saturn Vue is almost the same as the Opel Antara, the Saturn Sky is a copy of the Opel GT, while the Opel Astra has already brought over as the Saturn Astra to replace the current Ion as the entry-level car, and the Saturn Aura is similar to the Opel Vectra. The Saturn Astra is built in Antwerp, Belgium and imported to the United States as a Saturn.

The company offers two sub-lines of vehicles: "Red Line" Saturns are performance-oriented, while "Green Line" cars will be more environmentally friendly. The Vue and Ion Red Line models, launched in 2004, have been joined by Vue and AURA Green Lines for the 2007 model year and a Sky Red Line the same model year. Saturn's Green Line vehicles utilize mild hybrid technology.

References

External links

* [http://www.saturn.com/ Saturn official website]
* [http://www.imsaturn.com/ Saturn official social network]
* [http://www.saturncanada.com/ Saturn official Canadian website]
* [http://www.saturnfans.com/Cars/s-seriesmodelchanges.shtml Detailed year-to-year model changes]
*