Saturn: 2007 Car of the Year
07:12 | 
I had the opportunity to speak with Saturn’s Jill Lajdziak at December’s Los Angeles Auto Show and she was expressive about the past year for Saturn and the renewal of the brand. During the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, she was definately on cloud nine after the Saturn Aura won the 2007 Car of the Year Award. Voted on by an independent panel of 49 full-time automotive journalists, Jill told me off camera the competition wasn’t even close — they won with an extremely wide margin. In this podcast I speak with Jill and share in her excitement over the win as she gives us a look at the vehicle. Afterwards, I had the chance to speak to Dave Rand, GM’s executive director of interior design about what he thought helped the car win. He responded it was because you get more for the money. Starting around $20,000, you get stitched two-tone leather seats, two-tone gray carpeting/interior, and a trunk that is practically as big as some Manhattan apartment kitchens, among other things. Plus, this spring Saturn will introduce a hybrid version of the Aura to it’s Green Line portfolio. This is definately not the Saturn of just last year.
Reporter’s Notes: We must be making quite an impression on the large automakers with our content here on The Next Gear. So much so that GM invited us for an all expense paid trip to Detroit to cover the North American International Auto Show. While there, they wined and dined us and gave us unprecedented access to designers, high level corporate bigwigs and company spokespeople, yet with no requirement that we publish anything about them, only that we disclose this enticement. It was an opportunity we are happy to share with you, our audience. I encourage you to leave your feedback!
-Matt Kelly
Tags: Saturn, Jill Lajdziak, Saturn Aura, 2007 Car of the Year, Dave Rand, GM
15 Responses to “Saturn: 2007 Car of the Year”
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Copyright ©2008 PodTech.net. All rights reserved. Modified: Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:48:15 -0700
January 17th, 2007 at 6:34 am
I rented an Aura on a recent trip and was very impressed. Roomy and comfortable on the inside, sporty looking on the outside, and it drove and handled great. It seems like a terrific car for the money.
January 17th, 2007 at 7:41 am
[…] Robert Scoble provided a pointed to Matt Kelly’s story on PodTech about the Saturn Aura winning the Car of the Year award at the the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. […]
January 17th, 2007 at 11:13 am
Hi Matt– This is really great. I have owned Saturns since 1993, and I’m getting ready to make a purchasing decision this fall. Watching your video was good for me, in that I feel that Saturn is a relationship company, and I felt that getting to see the relationship between you and Jill seemed real and vibrant.
Give me a car, and I’ll ask for the floormats. You know what I thought would’ve really pushed this forward even more? A driver’s perspective. Or five drivers’ perspectives, or the journalists who voted and why.
But great interview on the surface. I like the piece.
January 17th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
“We couldn’t be more proud” of a 5-year-old European Opel Vectra masquerading as a brand-new American car; “we couldn’t be more proud” of a ’sporty’ model with no manual transmission available and a 4-speed slushbox on all but the top-of-the-line; “we couldn’t be more proud” of a 3.5L V6 which makes 12-27% less horsepower than a Nissan VQ-series engine, and a range-topping 3.6 that still doesn’t match it in rated output or fuel efficiency. “We couldn’t be more proud”? Yeah, sure, right.
January 17th, 2007 at 7:00 pm
Hi Chris-I know what you mean–we were hustling at the Auto Show and we were psyched to speak with Jill again…she’s got so much energy. We hope to be able to get a car and put a camera in it next time to get that “driver’s perspective” you were commenting about. It’s interesting to hear people’s response to the new Saturn Aura, both here and on Robert Scoble’s blog…I think the company has done the easy part…building a quality product…now comes the hard part…changing the minds of those who have a negative impression of the brand. As with any manufacturer, you’re going to get loyalty and those who don’t care. I love my Miata, but don’t think I’d buy another Mazda in the future…I might look at the Aura, truth be told. But I’m going to drive my rag-top until it drops, that’s just how I get my money out of a car. It’ll go another 100k miles for sure. And I have 2 friends who love their Saturn’s…one the Vue and another an older model, can’t recall which it is. And for her, its her 3rd Saturn…
January 18th, 2007 at 9:13 am
I would only buy an American car if it came with a 100k warranty for everything. I only buy Honda, they last.
January 18th, 2007 at 11:27 am
Thanks for the feedback Tim…all GM vehicles (including Saturn) now have a 5-year/100,000 mile powertrain warranty. This also includes roadside assistance and courtesy transportation for repairs conducted under warranty for the life of the warranty. It is fully-transferrable with the vehicle…
January 26th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
My new Aura XR with 3,000 miles has major rattles and clunks in the braking and steering systems. Dealer states that their demo cars with similar mileage have the same defect. Saturn tech support told dealer that they have no record of the problem and have no fix for it. Dealer states I have to live with it until Saturn admits there is a problem and develops a global fix for the defects in these cars.
January 28th, 2007 at 5:30 am
Hi Jim–wow-interesting problem. I’m going to the Chicago Auto Show and will be again meeting with Saturn GM Jill Lajdziak. Also, I’m going to forward this to their Communications people to see if there can be a response. Can I ask where you are located? Feel free to respond to me directly at mattk@podtech.net
January 29th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
Jim: Please provide me the 17-digit vehicle identification number and I’ll look into your file.
Kyle Johnson
Saturn
January 30th, 2007 at 10:50 am
[…] At the Next Gear, we’ve had the good fortune to be given access to some of the highest level executives at the biggest automakers. It’s a privilege we don’t take lightly. Quite the contrary. It’s an honor we take very seriously. The feedback and involvement of our community is also taken just as seriously. That’s why when there was a response to my podcast with Saturn’s GM Jill Lajdziak about the Aura winning the http://www.podtech.net/home/technology/1894/saturn-2007-car-of-the-year 2007 North American Car of the Year at the Detroit Auto Show from a gentleman who was dissatisfied with a mechanical issue he had with his new car, we felt we had to respond. We notified Saturn execs of this man’s concern and Saturn responded, resulting in the gentleman’s satisfaction. This has impressed upon me the true power of social media, community and the conversations we have the good fortune to help start and be a part of. The email thread of the man’s situation is below: […]
January 30th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
Re: Problem with Aura XR mentioned in previous comment listed above.
Worked with Saturn Customer Support and was provided a solution that met my expectations. Saturn appears to be continuing its emphasis on customer satisfaction in addition to bringing out some exciting new vehicles.
January 31st, 2007 at 7:35 am
Thanks for the update Jim. Feel free to keep us in the know about your progress. It’s great to see a resolution to this. Thanks for being part of the discussion!
April 6th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
This August we celebrate our 50 years wedding. We will buy a new car then thinking of the VUE. Green or regular not decided. Hope by then we will have enough info to decide.
Thank for any help.
May 30th, 2007 at 2:38 am
I like GM’s take on hybrids. By making them more inexpensive, you can get a greater market penetration. When you look at monthly payments, the difference is minimal. This will make it easier to recover the cost in gasoline and Saturn body kit. If you can get these mild hybrids to become ubiquitous, you’ll make a much larger impact than having 1-2% of the market driving the more efficient (and more expensive) models. This means less money wasted on gasoline, less oil imports, and cleaner air. Now all we have to do is see if the strategy works.