General Motors Corp - Business Notes - Brief Article
In an effort to revitalize the Saturn brand, General Motors looked in the direction of the continent of Europe. With the help of its Opel brand, General Motors has so far successfully reinvented Saturn. The Outlook and the Aura are just the early offering from Saturn with European influence. Come fall of this year, General Motors will introduce a rebadged Opel Astra as the Saturn Astra in the United States auto market.
The hatchback is designed with European styling cues. The trapezoidal headlight configuration and the wide open air intake grill accentuate the front end of the Astra. Sporting the Saturn emblem on its narrow grille accents the gentle slope of its hood. According to General Motors, the Astra will be available as a three-door hatchback, a five-door hatch and yet another three-door hatch but given the Sport Hatch classification.
According to General Motors, in order for the European Astra to be accepted in the United States, it has to be both attractive in appearance and very driver-friendly. The first criterion, of course, is to ensure that the Saturn Astra can attract the younger generation of car buyers. The second attribute is to makes sure that upon test driving the Astra, potential car buyers would have a hard time walking away from the car.
General Motors is reportedly trying to get its 2003 pricing agreements in place with suppliers this month, well before the usual winter-into-spring timetable it has used in the past.
According to the manufacturer of the Astra, these are built at General Motors’ assembly facility in Antwerp, Belgium. Both the three-door and the five-door hatch versions of the Astra share the same platform with a 102.9-inch wheelbase. Oddly though, the three-door hatch is longer than the five-door version by 1.5 inches. There is also a difference in ride height as the three-door hatchback is 0.6 inches lower than its sibling says General Motors.
Powering the Astra in Europe and possibly in its introduction in North America is a 1.8-liter Ecotec in-line four-cylinder engine. Fitted with Saturn head gaskets and other engine parts, it can produce as much as 140 horsepower. Torque output is rated at 129 lb-ft at 3,800 revs per minute.
Automotive News reported that GM’s head of purchasing, Bo Andersson, already talked with GM’s top twenty suppliers in Russelsheim, Germany, in September. GM reportedly is looking for an average four to six percent price cut from suppliers, which is not a big change from the deals reached for 2002. T