Opel’s new flagship vehicle could share a platform with General Motors’ Saturn brand in the US.
The alignment of Saturn and Opel is opening up totally new possibilities for us in the niche segments, GM Europe President Carl-Peter Forster said in an interview at the Detroit auto show. “And a new, large Opel can also share a platform with Saturn.”
The Opel flagship model will be launched by 2009. Sources say the car likely will be a crossover or "multi-activity vehicle" that will combine characteristics of a minivan, SUV and station wagon. Opel and Saturn most likely will share GM’s Lambda architecture, a platform now used in the development of a range of crossover vehicles in the US, including products for Saturn and Buick.
Saturn will get the architecture first with an eight-seat crossover called the Outlook that is scheduled to debut at the end of the year.
The new Opel model would be capable of incorporating all-wheel drive.
The sharing represents an increasing amount of technology exchange between Opel and Saturn. For example, in 2009 the successor to Saturn’s Ion lower-medium car will be derived from the Opel Astra platform, company sources said.
That kind of sharing between the Astra and Ion "makes sense," Opel Managing Director Hans Demant said in an interview in Detroit. Saturn vehicles will increasingly resemble Europe’s Opel models.
The Opel flagship product would be positioned at the top of Opel’s current product lineup, but below models from GM sister brands Saab and Cadillac.
Today, the upper-medium Signum station wagon is Opel’s top-of-the-line model.
The Signum is a high-end version of the Vectra wagon with a higher roofline than the Vectra plus special interior features such as a small refrigerator.
Opel has been discussing the addition of a flagship model since 2003, when it retired its previous top-end model, the Omega.
Opel models
GT -2007 / Sky -2006
Vectra -2008 / Aura -2006
Flagship vehicle -2009 / Outlook -2006
Antara -2006 / Vue -2008
Astra -2010 / Ion -2009
Cars, launch dates on platforms shared by Opel, Saturn.
Oh, if you didn't know, the 00-05 Saturn LS was a Opel Vectra, just "Saturnized."
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-----The orginal Mr.Goodwrench on the JBO since 11/99-----
Cool, Astra = ion= good.
So am i to understand that saturn will get the "opel flagship" before opel does?
www.drluc.ca
I love Saturn.
Red 2005 Saturn Ion-3 Coupe
this has already happened before the l series was the vectrea
