Opel Antara will be next Saturn Vue

Opel Antara will be next Saturn Vue

By Jason Stein and Dave Guilford
Automotive News Europe / September 12, 2005

FRANKFURT -- The Opel Antara GTC mid-sized SUV unveiled by General Motors on
Monday at the Frankfurt auto show is more than just a concept.

It is the next Saturn Vue.

At a media sneak preview, GM said the Antara will go into production in the
fourth quarter next year, and that it represents Saturn's future design
direction.

The Antara concept "will be identical to the future Saturn Vue," GM Vice
Chairman Robert Lutz said. "They can build it in a U.S. plant, and it will
be identical."

General Motors Europe designed the Antara with U.S. production in mind, both
in terms of U.S. regulations and plant assembly, Lutz said.

The next Vue, which is built in Spring Hill, Tenn., is "a few years away,"
he said.

A GM spokesperson said the Opel version will be manufactured in Korea.

General Motors European Design Director Bryan Nesbitt on Monday introduces
the Opel Antara GTC concept at the Frankfurt International Motor Show.

Lutz said GM's plan is to rebadge the Antara and unveil it as the next Vue
at the New York auto show.

GM has said Saturn will benefit from Opel's design capabilities.

Insiders have said the next-generation 2007 Saturn Ion also will share the
same design language as the next Opel Astra.

Saturn, in general, will have the same vehicles as Opel and Vauxhall.

"The difference between Opel and Vauxhall in Europe and Saturn in the U.S.
was a difference that wasn't producing any benefits for us," Lutz said.

Saturn has been "a brand in search of a design identity," he said.

Lutz said some of the shared vehicles will be designed in the United States.

 

I thought VUE production was moving to Ontario, Michigan, or Mexico
(depending on which rumor you believe)?



is "a few years away,"

I thought the 2007 ION and beyond would esentially be a Cobalt since it
would be made in the same Ohio plant as the Cobalt.


also will share the

When Saturn's are no lnger made in Springhill they won't have any identity
at all.

ron

 

The current ION is already based on the same platform as the Chev Cobalt
(and Pontiac Pursuit in Canada...)

 

Opels version of the Vue will be made in Korea or Saturns new rebadged
version will be made in Korea as well? That statement wasnt at all
clear. If Saturns Vue Chassis are going to be made in Korea then F***
THAT S***! If I wanted a damn Kia I would buy an f'ing Kia. Notice I'm
not buying a damn Kia! Same goes for Honda.

Agreed. Bob Putz and the other over paid CEO's at GM are afraid to take
on the damn Unions and they want to move everything over seas. I telling
everyone right now, auto makers are a bigger factor on the economy than
anyone in the government. Dont buy Foreign made or Foreign owned for if
you do then don't ever bitch about being under paid or out of a job...

 

Absolutely! Sure wish the folks who raised horses, built buggies,
cleaned all the horse sh*t off the streets, provided parts and service for
the buggies, etc hadn't caved when their companies' overpaid executives
decided to let their companies go out of business, leaving us stuck with
automobiles.

 

They didn't cave. Coach builders didn't loose their JOBS and starve to
death, their work "evolved" instead of becoming "extinct". Coach work
went from buggies to car bodies and more people gained jobs, not "lost".
(Remember the Fisher Body logo which was a stagecoach???) Now car bodies
are going to Korea along with every other job in this country. Where is
the evolution for the American worker there? Where are the steady
"factory" jobs any more?

Studies show for every one American Auto Worker employed here about 7
other jobs are created. You had better hope you aren't part of that
equation because Koreans don't drive over here to buy the burgers you
flip. >:-|

 

What's magical about jobs for American factory workers? If I understand
your implication, the fact that the US has lost over a million manufacturing
jobs since 1999 (assuming that statistic is correct) would lead to the
conclusion that there should be over eight million people unemployed.
Somehow, I doubt that's true. I also doubt that the folks who worked for
the buggy manufacturers all wound up with automobile manufacturing jobs --
business doesn't work that way today and I can't imagine it worked that way
back then.
Bottom line is that (IMHO) it's a myth (a very ancient one, in fact)
that progress and internationalization result in lower economic welfare on a
"large" basis. It certainly results in at least temporary difficult times
for niche and so-called "unskilled" workers in specific industries and it
can be reasonably argued that we as a society should be better at easing
that pain (and not primarily at the national level, but rather at more local
levels, even with non-public approaches). But directing our ire against
business executives and internationalization are not the answer -- that will
just result in *lower*, not *higher* benefit, when we pay more for goods and
services and deal with the additional bureaucracy and international trade
retaliation.

 

16,265,736 were unemployed in July 2004.

I dont know what economics class you had but a country doesn't survive
by employing people to sell all foreign made goods. Real wealth is
generated by "making" things, things that "factories" are used for. You
can't have a country of pencil pushers and salesmen. How many people
that were making 20 dollars an hour are making 6.50 now? You want to
look at this as a world wide thing. Frankly I dont give a damn about
employment in communist china. We are becoming to damn dependant on
cheap foreign labor (and illegals) that we are becoming no different
than the southern United States during the mid 1800's with slave labor.
Slave labor didn't help the confederacy survive and the current state of
world trade isn't going to help the US maintain its identity. You may
like the idea of the UN running your life, I dont.

Btw are the korean made chassis going to make the Vue any cheaper for
us? Hell no... Will the profits from those savings go towards paying
retired GM workers benefits? Yeah right... Will the taxes on that
chassis go to the US government to pay teachers, Firemen, Policemen, and
OUR military? Nope...

On another note, I bought 3 pairs of "USA" made Dickies boot cut Socks
for 5 dollars. Thats pretty damn good considering the other socks there
were made in China and were priced the same. I wonder who gets the
"higher benefits" as you say with those china made ones? Perhaps the
Chinies army does.

 

Actually, I was an economics major in college. And what I learned in my
economics courses bears no resemblance to what you seem to have learned in
yours. You are preaching autarky (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autarky)
which most of us economists understand to have given the world a great deal
of aggravation and virtually no benefit. Slavery pre-1860s has absolutely
nothing whatsoever to do with the current state of our economy. Nor does
the UN (which has its place at times but seems to itself cause as many
problems as it solves).

Then why would anyone in the U.S. buy them?

What does this have to do with anything? Retirement benefits are a
completely different subject than where parts for the Vue are made. Why
should the U.S. government pay teachers, firemen and policemen? That's for
local governments. Our military is not funded by profits from the Vue,
believe me!

You made a rational choice and I imagine most people would to the same
as you did. I don't see what the Chinese army has to do with it. It's gonna
be there whether Americans buy Chinese-made socks or not.

 

lol That explains a lot...


And what I learned in my

I learned mine from my father over YEARS of him going to work all of my
life. (the economics class taught nothing of real life) Nearly half of
his life was spent working for GM/Delphi and now his retirement is being
threatened by a bunch of bean counters and half wits who buy foreign
made goods at American made prices. Thats more than you'll ever learn in
any class.


You are preaching autarky (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autarky)

If a nation can't be self-sufficient then its called Cuba. We can be
self-sufficient as we have every resource available to us. Importings
fine and dandy. I would have no problem with it IF the exporting was the
same! Democraps and Republicans both want free trade which is a flat out
harmful to us. **** "free" trade, I want "FAIR" TRADE!

Slavery pre-1860s has absolutely

Yeah its nothing like slavery... Asians are cheaper to employ than it
ever was to buy and feed slaves. We are making ourselves more and more
dependant on this cheap labor which is exactly why the south never
progressed.
Why invest in a cotton gin when you can have a slave pick cotton.
Why invest in robotics when you can pay a Korean to put a car
together... SAME THING!

"More" problems than it solves...

Good question. Why do bean counters make millions of dollars in bonuses
for laying off the american worker? Why pay the "SAME PRICE" for
something now foreign made that just yesterday was being made here. Why
do you like paying bean counters for their bonuses so much? The Vue
isn't going to be any cheaper from this change. Now the guy down the
street from me is out of a job building vue's and cant afford to bring
his cars in to me for service anymore, he cant buy your burgers anymore,
and all 3 of us are hurting for cash now. No one in China or Korea is
buying a damn thing from me.

No they're not. GM split off a section called Delphi and their trying to
drive it into the ground to kill benifits. How do they do that? By going
to other countries for parts instead of Delphi...

Why

LOL ok sure what ever you say. I guess the government local or federal
doesn't go around collecting taxes anymore... News to me!

It wont be restocked if it just sits there. If its not restocked its not
reordered. If its not reordered it doesnt come over here again on a
boat. China's government collects money as well. Unless you think the
workers over there get all of the pennies they've worked for...