During a recent 10K training run, my buddy Jim, who prefers his cars to come from Germany, his wine from France, and his running shoes from Japan, still was incredulous as he recounted driving a V-6-powered Saturn Aura rental in San Francisco. "Joe," he said, panting for breath, "that car was actually pretty good. I couldn't believe it. A Saturn!"
Anyone who's ever driven the first-generation Saturn Vue, a vehicle mired in mediocrity, might be similarly shocked once settled behind the chunky wheel of the all-new 2008 Vue. Like the Aura, which is based largely on the Vectra developed by General Motors' European arm, Opel, the new Vue is the result of a transatlantic collaboration. It's a twin to the Opel Antara crossover. "We took the ride and handling developed in Europe," says vehicle line engineer Bob Reuter, "and transferred it directly here."
And why not? GM finally is overcoming the institutional, geographic, and cultural barriers that historically have prevented it from leveraging its global resources. Saturn leaders acknowledge that the first-generation Vue was developed in a vacuum, with little to no input from other divisions either here or abroad. And we know how that ended.
The new Vue, happily, is a far more satisfying vehicle.... Read full article