2006 Saturn Sky Preview

To lovers of performance-oriented European cars, this will come as good news. After all, for GM to only produce

"Building on its accomplishments in customer sales and service satisfaction, Saturn is introducing a bold new product design to our vehicles," said Saturn GM Jill Lajdziak. (Photo: General Motors of Canada)

Opel/Vauxhall vehicles for European sale seems like a poor business model, considering that rivals such as Volkswagen can optimize economies of scale by building the same models for global consumption. For this reason European automakers such as Peugeot and Renault are planning to reenter the North American market.

But GM doesn't need to bring back its Opel nameplate, once sold here in limited quantities, and incur the expense needed to make the North American populace aware of the name once associated with the mini-Corvette styled GT, not when Saturn, already well respected for its top-tier sales process and extremely high customer retention, is desperately seeking passionately

The new Sky should do wonders for putting Saturn on the collective radar screens of young, or young at heart new car buyers. (Photo: General Motors of Canada)

designed products to compete head-on with Asian and European competitors.

"Building on its accomplishments in customer sales and service satisfaction, Saturn is introducing a bold new product design to our vehicles," commented Saturn General Manager Jill Lajdziak.

The new Sky may not be a big seller, being a niche vehicle and all, but it should do wonders for putting Saturn on the collective radar screens of those, like me, who would never have previously considered the brand.