Saturn. Is there a car brand whose mission and purpose in life was initially so clear-cut and targeted, yet one whose mission and purpose went so far astray? Conceived as GM’s clean-sheet answer for consumers who were flocking in droves to subcompact and compact Japanese cars — cars near-universally regarded as superior — Saturn, in its early years, was massively successful. Branded as a “Different Type of Car Company”, Saturn was in many ways very different from other GM brands, gaining its own independent factory, line of cars, and dealership network, the latter implementing an innovative “no-haggle” pricing strategy.
Consumers loved it, often buying more than one car, and were genuinely passionate about their cars and the brand. Overall enthusiasm, morale, and loyalty was notably high among consumers and employees, and in its first decade, Saturn sold over 2 million of its initial S-Series line of compact cars. Saturn, however, could only get by on its plastic-bodied S-Series for so long.
By the turn of the new millennium, the novelty of Saturn in its early years had worn off. Despite two visual restylings, the basic S-Series and what it had to offer hadn’t changed much in the decade since it was introduced, and consumers were beginning to move on to cars that were larger and more expensive, or just simply different. Furthermore, in an era of cheap gas, SUV-mania, and ever-longer car loans, buyers weren’t flocking to affordable compacts as they had in the preceding two decades.
Saturn had to do something different once again, and that came in the form of the 2000-2005 L-Series, a highly unremarkable midsize sedan and wagon whose most notable quality just might be that it used the exact same alloy wheel design as the Saab 9-5 — an effort of corporate GM cost-saving, no doubt.
Sales and praise of the L-Series were nothing exceptional either, and this was much the same story for the oddball ION compact sedan and coupe that succeeded the S-Series. Saturn’s first SUV, the VUE, fared a bit better, though the Relay, Saturn’s first directly-rebadged vehicle and only minivan, one of four variants of the corporate GM U-body, was best left forgotten altogether. For all its promise of the 1990s, Saturn had quickly changed from an innovative builder of compact cars people were excited and passionate about to one of cheap, dull, and quite frankly, depressing vehicles.
Then, in an odd twist of fate, Saturn’s fortunes began changing for the better. While I won’t delve into how controversial GM’s decision to discontinue Oldsmobile — a brand with over 100 years of history and heritage — was, by the early-2000s General Motors simply had too many brands in its portfolio. One automaker cannot feasibly possess that amount of automobile brands and make cars that meaningfully differ enough from one another without directly competing with cars from corporate sibling brands and cannibalizing sales of each other. So, like it or not, Oldsmobile was the chosen one sent to the chopping block in 2004.
Although never explicitly stated, Saturn was more or less moved into the market position vacated by Olds, receiving an injection of new life and more appealing products in the process. The first of these new products was the Sky, a 2-seat roadster based on the Pontiac Solstice. Serving as Saturn’s halo car, the Sky shared its sheetmetal with the Opel GT, a trend that would soon continue with the second generation VUE and the Astra compact in 2008. Saturn’s first three-row crossover, the Outlook, also debuted as a 2007, but arguably the most important and promising addition to the Saturn lineup was the Aura — a vehicle that in many ways could have otherwise been the next generation of the Oldsmobile Intrigue.
Saturn’s first midsize sedan since the L-Series, the Aura (or AURA, as it was sometimes stylized in promotional literature) was the most serious attempt by any GM brand at creating a midsize sedan truly competitive with class benchmarks including the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry, as well as European competitors such as the VW Passat. Based on the longer version of the Opel-engineered Epsilon platform, indeed the Aura carried a more cultured European accent than any previous Saturn or its Pontiac G6 and Chevrolet Malibu platform mates, especially in its high-end XR trim with 18-inch 14-spoke wheels, tasteful chrome accents, and available two-tone “Morocco” saddle-colored leather that complemented the vehicle’s already attractive styling and aggressive stance.
Truthfully, the Aura’s heavily Opel-influenced styling was more Rüsselsheim am Main than Springhill or Detroit, with its wide stance, short overhangs, deeply-flared fenders for all four wheel arches, rising beltline and gracefully arching roofline, and jewel-like LED tail lamps. Topped off by its attractive sheetmetal all-around, the Aura’s exterior exuded a high degree of quality, solidity and sophistication that was sorely lacking plastic-bodied Saturns of the past, but also from so many other midsize sedans with their, thin hollow-looking body panels.
Ride and handling also leaned more European, with a taut front strut and rear multilink suspension, thick front and rear stabilizer bars, and precisely-weighted steering. While not an all-out sports sedan, the Aura was praised for offering a firm yet comfortable ride, controlled road mannerisms, remarkably flat cornering, and overall enjoyable driving experience in a type of everyday athleticism associated with mainstream German cars.
Actual power numbers were nothing to balk at either, and the Aura was notable for eschewing the typical family sedan engine lineup of base 4-cylinder and optional V6, instead offering a pair of V6s at the time of its launch. Entry-level Aura XEs featured a 3.5-litre version of GM’s LZ4 OHV V6 producing 219 horsepower and 219 lb-ft torque and mated to a 4-speed automatic. The upscale Aura XR featured the 3.6-litre LY7 DOHC V6 producing an impressive 252 horsepower and 251 lb-ft torque, and mated to a new 6-speed automatic featuring manual shift mode controlled by then-novel for the class paddle shifters.
Late into its inaugural year, the Aura Green Line mild hybrid debuted, featuring the 2.4-liter LAT I4 (164 hp; 159 lb-ft) mated to a belt alternator starter and 4-speed auto, achieving EPA fuel economy ratings of 26/34/29. Beginning in 2008, a 2.4-liter LE5 I4 (169 hp; 160 lb-ft) mated to a 4-speed auto was added to the XE for buyers wanting better fuel economy but not the price premium of the Green Line. 2009 saw this engine gain a 6-speed automatic and availability extend to the top-line XR, and become the sole engine offering for the XE.
Performance aside, what was most impressive about the Aura was its ongoing sense of high quality and high value for the money. Undercutting comparable models from competitors by thousands, even the “base” XE model was noteworthy for its generous level of standard equipment that included 4-wheel disc antilock brakes, traction control, dual side front and side curtain airbags, tilt/telescoping steering wheel, power windows/locks/mirrors, remote keyless entry, air conditioning, and 17-inch steel wheels. Available XE options included 8-way power drivers seat, 6-way powered passengers seat, heated cloth front seats, moonroof, remote start, and 17-inch alloy wheels.
The upscale XR added standard features including Stabilitrak electronic stability control, automatic climate control, heated front seats, 8-way power driver’s seat, steering wheel audio controls, in-dash 6-disc CD changer, universal garage door opener, remote start engine, and 18-inch alloy wheels. Most XRs came equipped with optional leather, faux woodgrain trim, and moonroof, while notable Aura options for its class included power-adjustable pedals and a panoramic moonroof. Unlike most competitors, in-dash navigation was never offered.
Possessing all of these positive virtues, one might say that the Aura sounded too good to be true. Well, in at least one area it was.
Physically speaking, the Aura’s one major shortcoming lay in the execution of its interior. Now don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t that Aura’s interior was necessarily subpar for its class, as it was in fact better than a lot of competitors, chiefly other GMs. Furthermore, the Aura boasted an interior light years ahead of anything Saturn ever offered. Yet for a car exuding such a high quality and overall no-expense spared aura — for lack of a better term — the Aura’s interior didn’t live up to the high standards set by the rest of the car, with numerous areas of cost-cutting very evident.
While the Aura may have dazzled the press with its available two-tone Morocco brown leather, behind it lay an interior of questionable fit and finish, with lots of hard plastic surfaces all-over, substantial panel gaps, and flimsy-feeling switchgear and trim pieces. When compared to cars like the Accord, Camry, and Passat, the Aura’s interior simply didn’t measure up. To the typical midsize sedan buyer, however, this one major shortcoming was likely not a deal breaker as once again, the Aura had a great amount to offer for thousands less than these and other competitors.
Sales-wise, the Aura performed quite well in its short lifetime, selling a respectable 161,129 units in its barely three years on the market, even if a handful of them probably were to rental fleets, in typical GM fashion.
The ultimate crux in the Aura’s level of success, however, was the very fate of Saturn. In December 2008, during U.S. Congressional hearings as part of its plea for $12 Billion in federal loans and a further $6 Billion in line of credit, GM made clear its intent of ridding itself of the Saturn brand by any means. As a result, Saturn sales tanked. During the first quarter of 2009, Saturn sales plummeted 59 percent, aided by some 45 of Saturn’s 420 dealerships in the U.S. closing up shop. After the potential sale of Saturn to Penske Auto Group fell through, GM formally announced on September 3o, 2009 that it would be discontinuing the Saturn brand and closing all of its remaining dealers by October 31, 2010.
Saturn’s untimely demise, just as things were beginning to look as promising as ever since the brand’s initial debut, was unfortunate, especially for cars like the Aura. While the Aura’s strides were sadly in vain, there’s no denying the Aura was a car that challenged people’s conceptions of Saturn, and a car that proved GM could build an appealing and mostly impressive midsize sedan.
Berry Red 2007 AURA XE photographed in Bridgewater, Massachusetts – November 2019
Black Onyx 2007 AURA XE photographed in Denver, Colorado – September 2019
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I remember my uncle having a blue aura xr with the brown interior . It was a good looking car. My parents almost purchased one, instead settled on a used Cadillac Seville
The enthusiasm around the original Saturns was real. My BIL had/still has one in his driveway, in fact, I think he still has the one he bought new in 1995. He was a big fan of the brand, even went to the Homecomings, which was a huge PR coup for GM back in the day. But the brand got stale and wasn’t until Maximum Bob got into the mix that the lineup was refreshed.
I knew a few people that had the Auras and while they generally liked them, once they were ready for a new car, Saturn was no more. I never really noticed any assembly issues with the ones I encountered. Most recently I looked one over as a first car for a friend’s child, it was in great shape. (Coincidentally, it’s my friend’s mother in law who owned the car and barely put 5K miles on it per year.) Seemingly, most of these cars were owned by an older clientele and generally took good care of them. These were assembled in Kansas City along with the contemporary Malibus; one of GM’s best assembly plants.
I fell in love with the XR as my daughter bought one and I got to drive it fairly often. Hers had the pano sunroof, the good stereo, the Moroccan leather interior and a bunch of other amenities. With the LY7 3.6 V6 that thing was a rocket, no offense to other Oldsmobile fans such as myself.
As the car aged, it developed some issues, mostly with the power seats, which I also have on my Epsilon Pontiac G6, too. Once she moved out into exurbia and found that the snow plows didn’t come out that far, the XR was traded for a Chevy Equinox. Somehow, that sounds familiar…
Love the Aura, really a great looking car. Almost bought one for the wife as a commuter but in the end the head won out over the heart and we got a Camry instead. Whenever I drive that irredeemably boring car I find myself wishing we had bought the Saturn, but then I console myself with the Camry’s issue-free 120k miles so far…no way we would have gotten that out of a GM product…
Saturn was a great idea that was ruined by GM governance. As a separate company, devoid of the baggage of GM’s inability to appeal to the small car market, it was brilliant. Then, Roger Smith. The minute he drove the first Saturn off the assembly line, he doomed the company to failure. As a company set up to be NOT GM, telling the world that GM ran the company let everyone know that things really were not different after all.
It would have been interesting if Penske would have bought the company. I don’t recall if he was also going to buy the factories or not, but I hazily recall that not being the case. As the cars would have still be built by another company, I don’t know how it would have worked, long term. Penske had the dealerships, but not the manufacturing, so it would have been an uphill battle for new product. But if anyone might have made a go of it, I would bet on Penske being a contender.
As it ended, all Saturn ended up being is another failed GM experiment. From a separate small car company to a way for GM to sell Opels in America, it never got a chance to really discover what it could really be.
Saturn was Smith’s baby, so there was no way he was going to be absent from that ceremony.
You’re right that Smith’s presence ultimately doomed Saturn failure. Saturn was his pet project…and when he left, Saturn lost its main cheerleader and supporter in top GM management.
GM’s new management team saw a very expensive project associated with the outgoing leader (whose reputation was getting steadily worse – remember Roger & Me?) that was losing money.
Given those factors, it’s a miracle that Saturn lasted as long as it did.
As a former Saturn owner, in the 1990s Saturn truly did feel like a different kind of company. Although they were technically under the GM corporate umprella, original S Series didn’t have anything in common with other GM cars. Then in the 2000s Saturn started to feel like just another GM brand, they lost what made them unique, and pretty much became irrelevant.
“original S Series didn’t have anything in common with other GM cars.”
As I recall, GM told Saturn engineers they could use anything in the GM parts bin or design something new. Only one GM part passed muster- the Delco radio.
Saturn (at least Saturn 1.0) kinda-sorta recreated the old autonomous division that used to populate the entirety of GM. It had its own plant, its own identity, its own powertrains, yet nobody saw that this was necessary because GM had taken all of these things away from what used to be five separate Saturns
But then the Borg swallowed Saturn too. Unfortunately, GM just wasn’t very good at running a big centralized multi-brand company the way Ford and Chrysler had done.
There’s a used car dealership on my way to work that happens to have 3 Saturns for sale, but only 2 have pictures. One is a 1996 SL2 (from the original S-Series if I’m correct) with a 5-speed stick-shift…
…and the other is a 2006 ION sedan with an MP3 player & satellite radio. Even the S-Series still looks modern & in fair condition after 20+ years. The Aura may have indeed been Saturn’s best-ever car–and was actually COMPETITIVE with the Camry & Accord for a change–but like with some other things GM has done (90s B-Bodies & upgrading the Astro’s wheels & brakes in ’03), the plug was pulled when it seemed like everything was finally perfect or turning around for the better. As in: THE BEST STUFF HAPPENED JUST BEFORE THE MODEL GOT DISCONTINUED.
That’s still a pretty good looking car. EDIT: I’m referring to the upper SL2.
Nice write up! These are attractive cars, and I’m really sold after reading this.
The travails of GM, Oldsmobile and Saturn really kicked the butt of one Omaha family.
Sam Reagan built a surprisingly small and intimate standalone Oldsmobile store when Oldsmobile was slightly resurgent with cars such as the Aurora and Intrigue. And GM pulled the plug on Oldsmobile.
After some wrangling, he landed Buick to fill the Oldsmobile store. With things going reasonably well, a new larger Buick GMC store was built in a new prominent auto row in West Omaha. The Omaha Saturn franchise changed hands to Reagan, and he put it in the former Oldsmobile turned Buick store, fulfilling the Oldsmobile to Saturn transition in Omaha.
The Saturn store received a complete remodel that was just finishing as the great recession was crushing everything, and Saturn’s fate was announced. The store closed, quite literally with paint drying. It sat abandoned for several years, and recovered as office space post recession.
Mostly due the recession, the Reagan’s were effectively over leveraged on the new Buick GMC store, and it collapsed not long after opening. It was vacant for a year or two, and a much larger auto family in Omaha bought it and turned it into a Ford store that has been going gangbusters since the recession ended.
Doing a bit of fact checking, I found this early article about Sam Reagan, when his first fateful moment with GM began unfolding.
https://www.autonews.com/article/20001218/ANA/12180722/dealer-built-strong-store-then-gm-pulled-plug
I wasn’t old enough to drive when Saturn landed on the market, but I still remember the ads and general feel-good warmth they projected. Seemed very effective, left a positive impression and the cars were just quirky enough to stand out yet still very respectable.
The “Welcome to the Next Generation of Saturn” advertisement you picked sums up the demise quite well. Look at that goofball cartoonish lineup and the bland, predictable marketing blather in the header. You’re going to “change the way I drive”, want me to “take a closer look” and “be inspired” with those three hobgoblins? Well, definitely not a “different kind of car company” anymore.
You asked for an equivalent brand that lost the plot. Scion.
The Aura and Malibu twin looked like a solid alternative to the Camcords of those years and received very good press, but perhaps the damage to the brand had already been done. Then GM went weirdo and put the next Malibu on the short wheelbase Epsilon II platform
I would have considered the Aura (XR) with big V6 back in the day if I had been in the new car market.
I do recall that Robert Fargo of TTAC fame gave the Aura a positive review, something he never did. (Kind of like a: “MIKEY LIKES IT!” sort of moment.)
I never considered Saturn to be of Olds bloodlines, or any kind of real substitute for Oldsmobile. I always perceived Saturn as just another kind of Chevy. In some ways, it could be considered one of GM’s deadly sins, in that they created this brand with so much potential, some real good innovations, and building on some Japanese manufacturing techniques, only to let it languish.
Their brand names left something to be desired as well. Kind of spacey sounding, but not really, sometimes hard to read or pronounce, just kind of out there. In all its years on the market I only ever rode in one briefly, and thought it a decent enough car. That it survived instead of Olds, at the time, as was alluded to in the article, is shameful.
I have a 2006 ion 3 coupe although it has its problems now, at 173000 miles the 2.4 ecotec still runs strong
These (along with sibling Pontiac G6) were popular rentals back in the day, so as a result I had the opportunity to spend time with each.
The Aura and G6 were both perfectly fine cars, roomier than a lot of their classmates. Unfortunately, the market was chockablock full of perfectly fine cars (the usual CamCordIma), so buyers really had no reason to look for an alternative.
As someone who fully admits to often criticizing American cars over what I feel are inferior qualities compared to Asian and European vehicles within their class, I can agree that the related Aura, G6, and Malibu were all perfectly fine cars.
I had the opportunity to spend a few days this brand-new Pontiac G6 GT rental from Enterprise with my mom in July 2007 while attending the wedding of dear family friends in Virginia Beach.
I remember us both being pleasantly impressed with it – attractive styling, stylish interior, comfortable seats with premium non-fleet-grade cloth – but in the days when rental cars were typically miserable base model penalty boxes, our overall impressions were that the G6 GT was “very nice, for a rental”.
Saturn never should have been. FULL STOP.
The philosophies and features should’ve gone into a gradual reinvention of their applicable divisions, especially Chevrolet.
“But no one would’ve…”
But kindly note that Ford and ChryCo went thru reinventions of their own between between 1978 and 1990. The K-cars were dull but durable and a good value. The Fox and Panther platforms finally gave Ford something that wasn’t a bloated whale or a Pinto/Bobcat. And Taurus/Sable was a grand slam over the bleachers into the river.
While GM built mostly garbage, with just enough hits to keep from totally destroying five decades of good will.
I think there are people out there who WANT to like GM, but are afraid of another Lucy with the football moment to our Charlie Brown. And that’s a crying shame considering most of GM’s 2010s output has been quite good.
Saturn never should have been. FULL STOP.
The philosophies and features should’ve gone into a gradual reinvention of their applicable divisions, especially Chevrolet.
Yes.
The last time GM corporate decided to force something on Chevrolet that didn’t start there, it was the Vega. I can see a similar plan not getting much support, especially when that was only 15 years later.
I remember seeing these when they came out, finding them the most appealing GM cars I had seen in a long while. Then I rented one. It seemed like a typical GM product just like all the others. I remember the dome light cover that kept falling off.
GM in 2005 was like Chrysler in 1972, except that it lacked the good parts of Chrysler in 1972.
My take on Saturn is a bit like the Eagle brand…….both were established to offer something different; a more European/ foreign influenced division with better quality. Initially, both of those brands did that, but as the years went on, they struggled to differentiate themselves from the other domestic brands, and it was probably inevitable.
Part of this I attribute to the styling evolution in the early 90’s, which by 1993/ 1994 had gone mostly with the aero/ jellybean look which used to be moreso the domain of the foreign automakers. Of course, there was the Taurus and aero T-Bird and a few other domestic aero designed cars, but most styling up until 93-94 ish was still a bit more squared off. Saturn’s styling suddenly seemed mostly like everything else out there.
Up until then, domestics often paired up with the foreign manufacturers to provide something exotic. Think Mitsubishi’s involvement with Eagle/ Dodge/ Chrysler, and Mazda’s/ Yamaha’s involvement with Ford. As the 90’s went on, that was less and less and I guess the domestics learned more about overhead cam technology and things like that, as well as more modern, cutting edge styling (especially as the last of the brougham era got phased out in the late 80’s and the very last of it in the early 90’s).
I don’t know if it was really Saturn’s fault in any one really deadly sin way other than just that the rest of the competition and designing caught up with them in a fully modern way. It would be a bit like an art deco house standing out by being built in an old neighborhood, and by the time all the other older surrounding houses are knocked down to build modern art deco homes, that first one doesn’t seem revolutionary or special in any particular way.
I remember seeing the Aura concept in Detroit the year it debuted. Not long after, I landed a rental job that developed into a 7 year career, so I had lots of time with these. They were a Big New Thing when they launched, but man have they aged poorly. Some of that might be their GM-ness, with its attendant low resale. Much more is probably their orphaned brand status, with its even bigger hit to resale. But most of all, along with the other Epsilon Big New Things (’08-12 Malibu and the G6), the interior coverings delaminate, the turn signal cams break incessantly, the rockers rust badly after about 8 years, the front suspensions self-destruct regularly, the bumper supports rust through, they have weak electrical systems, the exterior plastic trim is of very low quality (hazing and leaking light assemblies, peeling chrome), and the engines are largely junk (early High Feature 3.6s are notorious timing chain destroyers, and the 2.4s consume large amounts of oil). There isn’t one malignant trait such as with a Northstar car, there are about 30 under-engineered traits. I bought in when they were new, believed the hype, and still think some of them looked good in their day, but despite GM/Bob Lutz re-focusing on perceived quality, styling, and starting the turn the corner on dynamics, these proved to be no better-maybe worse-than their N-Body budget predecessors.
Most went to rental fleets, then BHPH lots, and are now gone. Pile em deep, sell em cheap, and let God clean up the mess.
I remember these Epsilons and the Vue/Captiva being vehicles many regular renters chose to avoid in 4 cylinder form due to their absolutely gutless nature (the Ecotec hates to rev and the 6T45 exists for the upshift). I tried not to drive them when I had the choice. The early 3.5s were pretty quick, and the 3.6 always impressed me with its polish, smoothness and expensive soundtrack. Shame about the lame engineering.
Not at all terrible looking, but maybe a bit heavy on the chrome accents, it doesn’t need all that makeup. I never drove one, but remember it at the auto show when new. By that time I think the writing was on the wall at Saturn, at least as far as California’s consumers were concerned, but I’m surprised to see how many were sold, that’s at least twice or perhaps three times what I would have figured. I don’t see any on the roads around here but there are always a few in the junkyard, if in smaller numbers than the L-series, I suppose the bigger wave will start soon.
Saturn was definitely Smith’s baby, and as I recall he reached the mandatory retirement age of 65 just a few hours after the Saturn plant opened. It seemed like about everyone at GM with the exception of Roger Smith disliked the Saturn brand from the start, and the minute Smith was gone, the knives came out for Saturn. GM spent billions on Saturn and I don’t think there was anyway it was ever going to turn a profit. I always thought the plastic panels were a mixed blessing, as the gaps between the panels was huge because of the expansion quality of the plastic, one of my co-workers once owned a Saturn, one day she came to work screaming about all the squeaks and rattles in it. (I don’t know the outcome of that issue, she left shortly afterwards.) The first version was in production for seven years, then it was replaced by the Saturn Ion, which I always though was a totally ugly vehicle. I recall reading in Bob’s Lutz’s first book that he stated it was designed to appeal to millennials who didn’t like cars. That begs the question, if Millennials disliked cars so much, then why try and design one for them?
I actually own a 2009 Saturn Aura that we bought one-year old at the local Honda dealership in 2010. It’s an XR with the Ecotec I-4. It was an ex-Hertz rental and since Saturn was on its way out, we picked it up for peanuts, trading in our 2004 Civic for it. 152k miles to date and almost no issues, just regular maintenance and a finicky power door lock that I gave up on and just pulled the fuse and now lock/unlock manually.
I was going to sell it since my wife and I now have a 2015 Toyota Highlander and my F-150 Crew Cab pulling family duty, but I quickly realized that it’s worth more as a second/spare car than what I would get for it on Craigslist. So I decided to put it to work, driving it for Uber/Lyft a few nights a week for beer money. Good times. It just keeps soldiering on.
GM is really hit or miss, but every once in awhile they have a winner. I think these swan song Auras were an example.