Launched in 2003, Saturn Ion is one of the many car models manufactured by General Motors; it came as a replacement for the Saturn S Series, the first line of production since the beginnings of the division. According to statistics, Saturn Ion satisfied customers more than other compact cars available on the American market. Here we have the reason for its sales longevity, till 2007 when Saturn Astra took its place. This car included the famous General Motors Delta platform and it came with a standard DOHC Ecotec I4 engine that gave 140 horsepower.
The position of the instrument panel was pretty striking in the interior design of Saturn Ion, thus instead of being located behind the steering wheel as it happens for most other car concepts, it occupied a frontal position in the center of the dashboard. The coupe and the sedan made the only two variants of Saturn Ion ever produced. The novelty this car enjoyed was explainable by the gearbox that allowed room for five forward gears adjusted to the regular manual gearbox. The fuel consume was positively influenced by such a gearbox structure with the potential to improve acceleration too. Moreover, with Saturn Ion, heat was no longer a problem for the planetary gear set.
An upgraded Saturn Ion variant appeared in 2004 as part of the Red Line designed by General Motors. The model was imagined as a sportier car with a more powerful engine of 205 horsepower, a stiffer suspension and re-valved shock absorbers; the model relied on a 2.0 liter Ecotec engine known as the LSJ. In the same year, General Motors also launched a limited edition of Saturn Ion 3 that had all sorts of additional improvements in terms of interior and exterior design. The price was higher, but the cosmetic look was surely different. Only three color options were available: black onyx, chili pepper red and electric blue.
Until 2007, several additional changes were made in terms of Saturn Ion engine power and interior design. Some of the varieties were also discontinued because of various technical issues that made their reliability questionable: this was the case with the Aisin model. It was during this time that Saturn Ion gained a negative reputation because of the bad publicity received from discontented reviewers. A re-modeling of the Saturn Ion had been announced for 2008, and the world wide web was full of pictures for the new model. It was time for Saturn Astra to emerge.
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