[Lights_Out]

SATURN COUNTS ON MONEY-LOSING SKY ROADSTER
TO REVIVE IMAGE.

GM says it has no hope of making a profit on its new Saturn
Sky roadster but says the car is worth selling if it changes
consumer perception about the struggling brand.
Saturn hopes to sell 10,000 of the little two-seaters
annually. But GM CEO Rick Wagoner tells the Chicago
Tribune the Sky won’t be profitable—even if Saturn sells
every one it can make for five straight years.

Such is the risk of “halo” cars, low-volume, often
performance-oriented models designed to generate buzz
that translates into sales of more practical vehicles carry-
ing the same brand.

The Tribute points out that two recent halo cars, the
Chevrolet SSR pickup and Ford Thunderbird, have
fizzled. Chevy targeted annual sales of 13,000 SSRs but
sold only 9,700 of them in 2004. Ford’s retro Thunderbird
started strong but soon faded, with sales last year dropping
34% to 12,000 units.

Source: Autobeat

Sucks that they'll lose money on it, but it's nice for them to sacrifice money for something like boosting brand image. A strategy reversal since they used to sacrifice image for profits. Hopefully this will pay off in the long-run for them because the Saturn brand needs an image boost more than anything else. The Sky roadster and the 250hp 3.6L Aura sedan with the 6spd auto should help a lot. Sky should be out soon, and the Aura will hit streets sometime next year. They'll have to redo the rest of the lineup as well so we'll see if this turns out to be a success or failure for them.

 

[.©a®ßØn.]

that car looks pretty good in the pics i have seen, hopefully, it does them some good and more quality comes out from their end

 

[Taikonaut]

Yeah I agree- the Sky is a pretty nice looking roadster, but what is the price they are aiming for it?

 

[Lights_Out]

Yeah I agree- the Sky is a pretty nice looking roadster, but what is the price they are aiming for it?

I believe 25k. Hopefully rebates/incentives and such will bring it down to the low 20's. Not that 25k is a bad deal for this car, just that most people aren't used to putting down 25 large ones for any Saturn. Its Pontiac twin the solstice will cost around 20k...5k cheaper. I don't know what accounted for the large price difference, but i'm assuming the Saturn version has a better interior or higher equipment content or something.

 

[Taikonaut]

Yeah probably- was looking at both and haha the Sky looks so much better then the Solstice.

Anyways with the new Miata coming out sometime soon it'll be interesting to see how these two do.

PS
Anyone seen pics of the top up? I've only seen ones with it down =|

 

[LevelSevenCivic]

image boost? Saturn had an image? When did this happen?

 

[FujiFast]

Here's an analogy:
It's like that ugly broad in college that used daddy's money to become popular. As much as she spent, she was still ugly although she made a couple of friends.

 

[dodolaje]

Here's an analogy:
It's like that ugly broad in college that used daddy's money to become popular. As much as she spent, she was still ugly although she made a couple of friends.

AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA danggg

 

[SuperBirdy]

for 25k i would rather buy a used S2000
they better price it in th elow 20's if they don't want to lose more money