Saturn ion
The interior design of Saturn Ion had a very striking feature because of the instrument panel position, thus instead of being located behind the steering wheel specific for most other car concepts, it had 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 modified to fit 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, the planetary gear set no longer caused overheating issues.
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 longer-enduring engine of 205 horsepower, a harder suspension and re-valved shock absorbers; the model relied on a 2.0 liter Ecotec engine known as the LSJ. 2004 also saw the launching of a limited Saturn Ion edition with upgrades both in outer and interior design. Even if it were more expensive the cosmetic look did matter for certain buyers. The only colors for this select model included electric blue, black onyx and chilli pepper red.
Saturn ion
Until 2007, several additional changes were made in terms of Saturn Ion engine power and cabin decorations. 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. The bad publicity was generated from all sorts of materials published by disatisfied customers. General Motors announced an upgrade with the re-launched Saturn Ion in 2008, pictures of the new model even circulated on the Internet, but eventually the manufacturer dropped the concept and turned to a re-badging. It was time for Saturn Astra to emerge.
