Year of Saturn Ion

For the cars collectively known as Saturns, see Saturn S-Series.

Saturn is a division of the General Motors Corporation and a brand of automobiles. It was established on January 7, 1985. As a wholly-owned subsidiary of GM, it manufactures automobiles in the United States. GM began manufacturing Saturn cars in 1990, largely in response to the success of Japanese & German small-car imports in the United States, such as Nissan, Toyota, and Volkswagen. Starting in the 21st century, Saturn is becoming the US brand for Opel vehicles, similar to Vauxhall Motors in the UK.

• 1985
  • "What Kind Of Car Is That? It's A Saturn!"
• 1989-1994:
  • "A Different Kind of Car Company" (US)
  • "We've reinvented the automobile." (Canada)
• 1994-2002: "A Different Kind of Company, A Different Kind of Car."
• 2002-2004: "It's Different in a Saturn"
• 2004-2006: "People First"
• 2006-2007: "Like Always. Like Never Before."
• 2007-present:
  • Formerly "Rethink American.", later "Rethink." (US)
  • "Like Always. Like Never Before.", later "Rethink." (Canada)
  • "Passion for the Road." (Spanish-speaking US slogan)

The company's products used a dedicated platform called the Z-body and a dedicated engine, the 1.9L Saturn I4 engine, and a dedicated plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee. All of the original Saturns featured dent-resistant plastic body panels which were also touted as allowing the company to change the look of the vehicles readily. However, in practice, the company did not take advantage of this capability often.