Cars! Cars! Cars!

Saturn Comparo

Jalopnik reports: Saturn Offers To Let You Take Out Aura With Accord, Camry In "Side-By-Side-By-Side Test Drive". Whoa! Saturn's whipped out the cojones and is telling its customers to directly compare the Aura with the big boys: Accord and Camry.

The Accord is a bit dated in its appearance while the Camry is pretty danged new so it would be fun to watch how customers reacted. And what they ended up buying. Think this will prove to be a smart move for Saturn?

For the record, we suggested GM do something like this about a year ago

If GM is looking to be different they need to confront the perception issue head-on. Here's what GM should do: Take an Accord, Camry, Impala, and G6 and strip absolutely every badge off of the cars. Then take regular consumers (not car nerds like you... NERD!) to see if they can tell the difference. If brand perception is an issue, remove the branding. We happen to think that there's a real difference between the Accord and Impala, but perhaps we're victims of brand perception.

GM could do this with all their car lines, not just the one we mentioned. It was just an example, you see. Car Nerd!

You can read the whole post here: Saturn Longs To Be Apple.

Sales! Sales! Sales!

Autoblog reports: By The Numbers: May 2007.

What kind of effed up month was May that GM sales are up and Honda's are down? In any event, way to go, Saturn! And good riddance, Jaguar! Another example that building cars people want is a good bidness. Does anyone ever say, "Man, I gotta get me a Jaguar?" Now, we're not claiming that people get all wet and juicy for a Saturn... or do they?

Cars! Cars! Cars! Parking Lot

Read these:

Kicking Tires reports: First Drive: 2007 Saturn Aura Green Line. Build quality is off a bit? Crap!

Autoblog reports: GM intros incentives for full-size trucks. Incentives on the new truck? Crap! Well, yay for us buyers.

Lajdziak: Jefferson The Vue!

As in, movin' on up! AutoWeek reports: Saturn's Sticker Shock. Yeah, the Saturn Vue is a bit more spendy now (it's a whopping $3295 over the previous base), but folks seem to have a better opinion of the thing. It's not yet for sale, so we're not sure how so many folks have fluffly bunny thoughts about it, but whatevs.

Before you get all WTF on the Vue, that extra bump in price comes with bigger engine, automatic transmission and is in line with the competition. So, Saturn is going lugnut to lugnut on price. Think the quality is there? The value?

We Want An Aura!

Say customers. We agree. Autoblog reports: Saturn kicking butt and taking conquests. We think the Aura has the chance to become the new American family sedan. Forget the Fusion, forget the Malibu (the next one, not the currently for sale weak ass one) and the Sebring, we're talking Aura Action All The Time.

... with a 20-percent bump in 1st quarter 2007 sales versus Q1 2006, and now people that previously didn't give Saturn a thought are buying into GM's newest lineup.

Now, we recently saw TV commercials that showed the Aura for no money down and with a cash back incentive -- a bad sign for a popular car.

What gives?

Anyway, once the Aura is refreshed (the base model should have a 6-speed automatic transmission at this point) and the hybridness is upped some (it's a very mild hybrid, but it's a start) we expect the Aura to do well (at least hit its sale target). You gonna buy an Aura?

2007 NY Auto Show: The Rise of GM

Like subsidiary Cadillac, we know we have a schizophrenic opinion of GM. Why? It all comes down to products. We don't care who is running the place and we can easily overlook the price. But the if the product is a cat turd...

Take for example, the Cadillac CTS. First one? Weak! Now? Friggin' awesome! Go, GM! Oh, look, a Chevy (retch) Monte Carlo. What a piece of shite! At least GM smartened up enough to kill that car.

Anyway, as we walked around the NY Auto Show, we noticed that GM was finally getting its act together -- in most divisions (Pontiac is still weak and Buick is just slightly better): Saturn, Chevy, Cadillac. What products specifically are we happy about?

Cadillac

CTS
GM has paid close, close attention to rivals and, to its credit, has learned something. Cadillac took a weak product and turned it into something that we nearly ready to recommend and, get this (sad or not), it isn't even out yet.

With beautiful styling, available all-wheel drive and plenty of power, the CTS is making this sentence seem like a friggin' ad for Cadillac! While prices haven't been announced yet, we're pretty sure the CTS will be competitive with Lexus. Now how to change the public's perception?

For the record, there are few interior styling cues we'd like to see changed: the instrument cluster is sorta plain... whoa! That's it? Nice work, Cadillac.

CTS! CTS! CTS! A Car Redesigned. Only Betterer: 2008 Cadillac CTS

Chevy

Malibu
Right, we know! The friggin' Malisnooze? Look, not everyone is made of money. Or comes from money. Or has so much money that they can sell money. So, affordable cars are a very important segment to many, many people. Enter the Malibu.

It looks to be like the Saturn Aura, but less fancy and more affordable. This car is very important to GM because it has the chance to win back the hearts of the folks it totally, totally screwed for the last 20 years. We'll admit to being a bit naive thinking GM has totally turned it around but when the design is worth looking at, the prices are fair and the warranty is longer, well, we're ready to give them a fair glance rather than be totally dismissive.

Check it out and let us know what you think: 2008 Chevy Malibu

Saturn

Aura
Specifically we're talking about the Green Line. Yeah, yeah, it's not a "real" hybrid. But it's a good-looking car and it's priced right. It's priced to the point where maybe folks who would never, ever consider a hybrid will do so now. We're already pretty pro-Aura (the center mounted passenger airbag warning light needs to be moved... AND FAST!), but the Green Line is the potential icing on the Alison.

And if Saturn sells enough of these, it will spur GM to take more notice and invest even more money into hybrids and that is good down the road. Our challenge to Saturn: make the 2009 Saturn Aura Green Line get 40 mpg on highway. The non-hybrid Civic can do so now.

Green Lineageness:

Any thoughts on GM? They turning it around?

Make sure to check out all our NY Auto Show coverage.

By the way, nice works on these sites, GM. The sites are simple and show off the product. Try to go to see the Volvo C30 (which we friggin' love) and get all vomity at the site. What a POS site. Let us see the fucking car! Sorry for the weak-ass snaps... GM is still working on getting really good snaps for us hacks.

Everybody's Talkin' 'bout The Aura

It's true! Everyone is talking about the Saturn Aura Green Line. Here's why. Jalopnik reports: One Hybrid Priced Below Them All: Saturn Aura Green Line Lowest-Priced Hybrid At $22,695. Whoa! Car of the year is now a (mild) hybrid, yet cheaper than the competition? That's some kind of good!

In fact, GM is so confident in its Aura Green Line, that it's going up against the big boys in the hybrid market: GM pits hybrid Aura vs. Toyota.

Even U.S. president George Bush is starting to take a bit of notice. The Detroit News reports: Bush 'reaching out' to Big Three.

What do we think? Like the Mustang was for Ford and Impala was for GM, the Saturn Aura Green Line has the very real potential to be the defining car of its time for GM. Pricing the Aura Green Line below the Prius and Camry Hybrid (and when comparing the Aura to Camry, we're talking well below) is great move that will surely get more folks into the showroom (especially as gas prices creep back up to $3/gallon). Do you think we'll see a new "King of the Hill" because of the Saturn Aura Green Line?

Helpfully, CNN reports on: Clearing up hybrid tax-credit confusion.

That's a snap of the 2007 Saturn Aura Green Line and its ugly wheels. GM really needs to redo its media site. That's the best picture of the thing? And why isn't Saturn's site updated with Green Line information? Do we have to kick everyone's ass?

Saturn: That's Right, We Rock!

Autoblog reports: By the Numbers: February 2007. Thanks to pure ass-kicking, we're having a hard time seeing Toyota passing GM in sales for 2007 and 2008. Unless we're missing something. For example, if GM picks up the "How to sell cars" handbook by Jaguar then, sure, we could see Toyota running GM over...

And look at what happens when you shitcan an entire line of crap cars and replace 'em with stuff people want? OK, it's just one car, but it's having a big ol' impact. Go Saturn!

Meanwhile, poor Jaguar. We're guessing Jaguar is closer to don-fer than not.

Why We're Tempted To Buy An Aura

Edmunds reports: Car Dealers' Biggest Lies. You see, it's enough work researching a car to make sure it's got all the features we like, that it's reliable enough, that it handles the way we like, and that it actually fits our life. But then to have to research prices and haggle with a dealer... Who has the energy?

When it comes time for us to pick up a new ride we have to admit that going into the Saturn dealer for an Aura is mighty tempting. Because of the ride, quality and features? No, we already like the Saturn against the competition. Our take is who wants to argue about every stinkin' price detail? We agree with writer Joanne when she says:

It also states that people actually like the bargaining process. Otherwise, author Tom Van Riper asserts, Saturn, with its fixed pricing and friendly dealerships, would have been a big success. I'm not sure I buy that logic. If fixed pricing were applied to a higher-end brand, I'm thinking it would be more successful.

Other companies can be like Saturn and control the entire shopping experience and make it far more pleasant if both parties (dealers & buyers) know that pricing isn't going to be an issue. Both parties can then focus on the product and the satisfaction of the customer.

That's a snap of the 2007 Saturn Aura. "That's a Saturn? Dayum!"

Spring Hill Saved?

Bloomberg reports: GM Plans $225 Million Renovation of Saturn Factory. Wow, we were totally wrong on this one when we said GM will close the plant. Check it the good news:

General Motors Corp. plans to spend $225 million to renovate its Saturn auto plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, for a new vehicle, idling production at the factory for several months next year.

So great for the workers down there (assuming GM keeps all or most of them).

The timing for starting the factory up again hasn't been decided, spokesman Tom Wickham said in an interview.

Well, that's sorta understandable. Redoing a whole factory surely has some wiggle room.

The investment depends on incentives from the state of Tennessee, Wickham said, declining to give details. GM hasn't decided what vehicle the plant will build after the paint-shop renovation or whether the model will be for Saturn, he said.

Oh. So the state has to pony up money and GM hasn't even decided what the hell the will go there? So what kind of announcement is this?