Saturn estimates first-year sales of the 2002 VUE compact sport-utility to reach 50,000, says Jill Lajdziak, vice president of sales and marketing for the automaker. That would ensure Saturn sales will top 300,000 for the first time since it began selling cars for the 1991 model year. Lajdziak estimates that half of VUEs will be sold with all-wheel-drive and a 3-liter V-6, 30 percent with AWD and a 2.2-liter 4-cylinder and the rest with front-wheel-drive and the 4. It starts at $16,100. The buyer profile is an 18- to 49-year-old with median family income of $70,000.
– VUE offers a continuously variable transmission, which has an infinite number of gears ratios and changes them based on such factors as how hard you press the pedal. Because there is no pedal pressure when idling at a stoplight, a CVT has none of the typical forward “creep.” To keep from alienating motorists accustomed to “creep,” Saturn engineers built some into the VUE.
– The ’03 Saturn Ion replacement for the compact S sedan reportedly will offer a CVT as well.
FYI
– Overall sales at Saturn are estimated at 260,000 to almost 280,000 for 2001. Saturn sales peaked in 1995 at 285,000 cars.
