Affordability is the main feature of the vehicles in the Saturn car family produced by General Motors; the Saturn division includes family cars, SUVs, regular vehicles and minivans. The market advantage brought by a Saturn car is relevant in the fuel consume and the price accessibility when making the purchase. This production tendency got integrated by General Motors as a strategic move to gain market dominance over the fiercest competitor: Japanese car producers. Thus, General Motors came to sell affordable Saturn car models at the beginning of the 1990s; then, this new division attracted the public attention by the very customer friendly services.
The first Saturn car designs to hit the market were the S Series that included sedans, wagons and coupes. They distinguished themselves even within the wide General Motors range of products by the use of new special platforms and a design meant to resist to denting through improved durability systems. One single plant in Tennessee is in charge of the whole Saturn car production. Back in the 90s these cars were the most fuel-efficient of their time with a forty miles per gallon consume in the case of manual transmissions. Plus, from model to model, a Saturn car brought somewhere between 85 and 124 horsepower.
The beginning of the century didn’t bring any significant change in the Saturn car design; the interior was given more attention in terms of good looks, but the Saturn brand seems a bit neglected by the mother company. With lower sales getting the leaders’ attention, General Motors eventually decided to move in the direction of creating a new Saturn car division: the L Series. The concept relied on the use of the sedan to revive interest in the brand: thus the Vue and the Ion followed together with a green line application in the form of a hybrid car this time.
Significant improvement is visible in the Saturn cars of today and those to have started the Saturn history. If plastic panels had been such a success in the past, they are now history and replaced by the new steel body panels that are considered both safe and conventional. Moreover, any modern Saturn car could bear the the similarity with the European GM models like the Opel. Some car owners have complained about the loss of the originality and the trendy polishing of European cars, but speaking in overall terms, one cannot overlook or neglect the serious standard level increase made not only in design but in quality and refinement too.
