CarBrandLogos archive · Saturn · 2002

SaturnVue

Saturn's first SUV, and the vehicle that launched GM's global Theta platform.

Photo: IFCAR · Public domain

The story

A defining chapter in Saturn history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Saturn Vue, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

The Vue took Saturn into the segment that was reshaping American driveways. Launched for 2002, it was the first vehicle on GM's Theta architecture, a unibody compact SUV with a transverse engine and front or all-wheel drive, and it sold in numbers the L-Series never managed.

Saturn vue-2007washauto · Aude · CC BY-SA 2.5

Design and engineering

Its early years were awkward. The VTi continuously variable transmission fitted to four-cylinder cars proved unreliable and was withdrawn, and GM turned to Honda for a 3.5-litre V6 to give the Vue the smoothness its own engines lacked. It recovered its reputation partly through the 2007 Green Line, a mild hybrid that undercut every other hybrid SUV on price and made Saturn, improbably, GM's fuel-economy showcase.

2007 Saturn Vue Green Line · IFCAR · Public domain

In production

The second generation from 2008 was a rebadged Opel Antara, a sign of how thoroughly Saturn had become a European import channel by then. When the division closed, GM kept building the car for fleets and rental companies as the Chevrolet Captiva Sport, which is a quietly telling epitaph.

2nd Saturn Vue -- 08-28-2009 · IFCAR · Public domain

At a glance

The facts that define it.

Produced

2001–2009

Body

5-door SUV

Technical specification

The Vue, in detail.

Production: 2001–2009
Class: Compact SUV (2002–2007) ; Compact crossover SUV (2008–2010)
Body style: 5-door SUV
Layout: Transverse front-engine, front-wheel drive / all-wheel drive
Manufacturer: Saturn Corporation (2002–2007); Opel (General Motors) (2008–2010)

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