Matter (cross) taking precedence over mind or human spirit (crescent).

Oddly appropriate for an automobile, eh?

Though the astrological symbol itself might have been a bit too cryptic as a logo:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrological_symbols

“Rebadge”

It probably made the other GM brand/model/dept/golf round robin managers look bad — which is why they commenced destroying what they had. (Couldn’t have helped that they bought Saab at the same time — Saabs could have been perfect Saturns, or the other way around).

No, can’t have just one kind of car – got to have ourselves a whole range of Saturns. So the GM entry level Saturn car got itself an entry level Saturn …
They’re numbskulls and you shouldn’t really be surprised that they can’t remember the origin of a car they’ve been completely confused by.

Of course what they really need is cars named for the Hindu God Vishnu, destroyer of worlds. Because they need to destroy whatever fantasy world Lutz is living in.

That’s just it, Saturn loyalists would exist if Saturn had done something right instead of failing. I knew a lot of folks “back in the day” who loved their Saturns. Nope, they weren’t car guys (or car ladies), they just liked the afford ability & reliability the cars had. I really don’t know what Saturn did to lose them though.

Will this new Opel brand be required to send a short, amusing british bloke to rebuild your wagon engine after you leave it in a river?

Seriously though, GM could use the boost of a new name to get people to pay attention. Opel would be good because we all know that if it european, it must be better. Vauxhall could be used if the hire ups are afraid that the old Opel image mught cause problems. What do they have to lose? I don’t think Saturn loyalists really exist anymore.

Boy… these guys must really hate Santa then.

I think in this case, the logo is well designed as it represents both; the planet is the first obvious thing you think of with Saturn, but the imagery can also be seen as a rocket path/trajectory around a planet, paying homage to its origin.

NASA Logo:
http://hci.arc.nasa.gov/pages/nasa-logo.gif

X-prize Logo:
http://www.ennex.com/~XPrize/image/logo/XPrize.gif

Old Space & Missile Systems Center logo:
http://www.losangeles.af.mil/shared/media/ggallery/hires/AFG-060622-005.jpg

Before we rename Saturn to Opel, what’s the deal with Vauxhall, anyhow?

Sometimes

Incidentally, some of you may remember the brouhaha when it was learned GM was putting Chevy engines in Oldsmobiles instead of the Olds’ “Rocket” V8. Even though engineers might argue the Chevy was a better engine, GM lost a lawsuit over the switch and Olds’ image was tarnished. Another instance of brand mismanagement, I’d say.

The great thing is that GM wouldn’t have any development costs to supply the new brands. Just slap some new badges on the trusty Lambda platform and you’re good to go!

Of course, that would also require GM not to mess with the tuning, suspension, seats, or size of the vehicles to appeal to Americans, thereby ruining any foreign cachet that they may have. I don’t think that is possible for GM or pretty much any car company.

Instead of saying, when they hear that people switched brands away cause their asses got too big, well, we do have Chevy and other brands designed for you, they think they should just bump Saturn up in size to keep those people. This is the huge flaw of a stable of brands, you need to transition people from one to the other as their taste changes, not just change the cars to match.

Okay Nitpick McGee, you got me there. The Astra can be a Pontiac.

Also, it sounds like it started off as a code name and then stuck. I’m guessing they changed it to the planet so they didn’t offend Oldsmobile. (Let’s ignore the fact that Saturn has effectively replaced Oldsmobile in GM’s lineup.)

Buick already has a rebrand of the Outlook, and a rebrand of the Aura (Epsilon Lacrosse) isn’t far away.

I can’t really see how the Astra fits into whatever the hell Buick’s brand image is supposed to be (pretty vehicles?).

Honestly, every single Saturn should just be a Buick.

Oh wait! MBob says that the brands are fixed.

Sorry, I forgot.

Bunter