2006 Saturn ION Red Line

When GM created Saturn a decade and a half ago, its mission was to generate "conquest" sales to buyers who had no interest in other GM brands and would otherwise opt for imports. Its first cars were small and unexciting yet decently built, and they sold surprisingly well due mostly to a unique one-price-fits-all "no haggle, no hassle" buying experience, followed by a level of customer care unprecedented in the industry, let alone in the low-price segment.

Seeing Red

Saturn was a completely new company within the General Motors mother ship, with its own separate plant, processes, management & labor agreement and the mantra, "a different kind of car from a different kind of car company." And it consistently placed at or near the top in customer satisfaction surveys, along with Japanese luxury marques Lexus and Infiniti.


But proving too expensive to sustain its independent status, Saturn has been integrated into the GM divisional mainstream. As the parent company has invested energy and resources to turn around its other struggling brands, Saturn hasn't been blessed with the range, depth or excellence of product needed to hold its own with increasingly tough competition.


That is about to change. With the demise of Oldsmobile, Saturn's mission has drastically expanded: it must now begin to fill the substantial gap between GM's youthful Pontiac and mature Buick brands while continuing to attract and coddle import intenders. In 2002, the VUE small SUV joined the family while the all-new ION replaced the outdated S-Series small cars. Higher-performance Red Line versions of both arrived in 2004, followed by the (SUV-looking) Relay minivan for '05 and a sexy Sky two-seat roadster for '06. In the next two years, you'll see a midsize Aura sedan and an all-new crossover SUV, both beautifully designed inside and out.


When the original ION hit the streets, critics found it solid but quirky. Its exterior shape seemed chunky to most, while its interior was decidedly cheap. Its efficiency enhancing electric power steering felt too light and disconnected through its unusually small steering wheel, and its instruments were positioned in the center of the dash, requiring a glance to the right to read.