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Automotive News & Views Saturn gets Opel Astra
154 messages, Last post on Feb 21, 2008 at 2:23 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Just as a side note .. if you look at the European prices, most of them include hefty taxes.. as a result the price comparison is skewed.. For example VW GTI sells for some 20k pounds in britain.. and it costs some 23k dollars in the US .. the price difference is not thatm uch, becuse the US sticker is before taxes, while the UK one is after - ad of course the EU taxes are quite a bit higher than taxes in the US ... Saturn miaght just pull off a nice trick on Ford, which has been resisting the introduction of the Europen Focus because it would be too expensive... I am a Ford guy and former Focus owner and am very dissapointed that they dropped the ball on that one - now I drive the closest thing I could buy to the 2nd gen Focus - Mazda3.. BTW I heard somewhere that the Cobalt was on a better platform than the Astra anyone knows more.. something that GM had a new platform, but Opel decided to use the old - cheaper one, while GM NA went with the new one for the Cobalt and the G5 Igor
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Replying to: igor2 (May 08, 2006 1:30 pm) The Cobalt and current Ion are on the Delta platform. It is a pretty nice platform. Some criticize that it does not have a fully independent rear suspension, however. I remember initially the Delta was going to be used in Europe, but Opel decided not to. I thought Opel ultimately went with a variation of a new Fiat platform however. I understand the Astra gets fairly good reviews for ride and handling in Europe, however. The next Cobalt, Astra and Ion/Astra (whatever Saturn calls it) will share a common platform. |
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Replying to: igor2 (May 08, 2006 1:30 pm) Igor |
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Replying to: logic1 (May 08, 2006 2:09 pm)  
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Replying to: chrisducati (May 09, 2006 5:49 am) I drove two base model Cobalt rentals. Ride and handling was decent for what I assume these things cost. Very quiet cars as well. I believe you are right on about the weight difference between it and the Astra. I would like to get my hands on a 2.4 SS Cobalt with the upgraded suspension. That would be the real test. The SS Supercharged would be a hoot as well. But I could never see driving a FWD car with a goofy whale tail spoiler. Wonder how much a body shop would charge to remove it? GM NA assumes only kids want the Supercharged version. They figure older people will buy a luxury sport car over an economy sport. Opel understands that adults will by a fun less expensive car if they do not look like fools driving it. Hope Saturn does work out things with Opel where the sportier Astras are brought over as well as the base.
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Replying to: logic1 (May 09, 2006 6:39 am) Bah, just tell the dealer that swapping the trunk lid is a condition of the sale. GM NA assumes only kids want the Supercharged version. They figure older people will buy a luxury sport car over an economy sport. That's pretty much true, for the dwindling number of people who would consider buying a GM car.
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Replying to: chrisducati (May 09, 2006 5:49 am) Why import only 40,000 of them? Doesn't the Ion, unloved as it is, sell more than 40,000 per year?
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Replying to: corvette (May 09, 2006 11:14 am) |
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Replying to: corvette (May 09, 2006 11:14 am) Capacity at the plant in the Netherlands probably has a lot to do with the number to be imported. In Europe it can be difficult to hire temporary workers, as the law slants in favor of making them full time. GM would not want to be forced to keep extra staff on (or pay to send them away) after establishing Astra building capacity in North America. |
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