1) Focii are cheap ($10kish)
2) GM is spending about $0 on advertising, marketing, etc for the Astra. Never seen a car commercial for one.
3) The majority of people will not buy a Saturn, no matter how its marketed or how inexpensive it is. Ever.

That might have something to do with the success of the Focus. I mean it’s a class up in size on its price-competitors.

i’ve got one pinky toe, if that, in the door of “the industry,” and i couldn’t stop giggling the whole read, because it’s spot-on.

when you get a fat, old, cheap-suit wearing, combover-rocking, personal hygeine-lacking “professional” columnist grab you by the backpack and yank you out of his sightline to a car on display, while you’re simply trying to take a quick snapshot while no one else other than you or him are near the car, with the explanation of “you’d be mad if i got in front of your camera wouldn’t YOU?!?! This is what i DO.” — you get a rude awakening into autojournalism. the guy was just standing there, apparently discussing the finer points of the car’s design with some other slob… no camera, no anything else to warn me of the danger of intruding upon “his” space. here’s to you, mr. autojourno guy. i hope you DIAF.

Correct me please if I am wrong,

Number of Saturn dealerships USA 430
Number of Ford dealerships USA 4,140

I am not a math wizard or such but my common sense tells me that Saturn will have one hell of a mountain to climb to be able to outsell a car that has quite an advantage as far as exposure, available units (production) not to mention large incentives as well.

If I remember correctly GM Saturn division stated in the early press releases that expected sales target for the Astra was 20-40,000 units per year.

Saturn is a niche market company, so to compare sales to a mainstream company seems hmmm rather ignorant, I’d say.

In worldwide markets were the Astra has the capacity to compete it does rather well.

IMO the car reviews worth paying any attention to are long term (1 month) were the reviewer actually has to live with the vehicle day in and day out.

Having owned Focus on both sides of the pond (three in North America and two in Europe) for my money I will pay for the eurotrash in a heart beat.
BTW I am born and raised in North America, so as not to come across as a euro biased born person.

Thank you.

And I’ve been sneering at all the new Focii I see on the road due to the reviews I’ve read. I was wondering why I’ve only seen TWO of the Astras on the road, now I know why. My apologies to all the Focii drivers, even though the next $16K I drop will be on a Civic or Fit.

But car magazines aren’t written for those people. They’re written for people like us - people who aren’t turned off to a car by a hatchback body or Euro-heiroglyphics on the controls. People who would rather have a suspension designed for German pavement, which is closer to what we have here in Virginia than Detroit’s - than the admittedly amazing Sync system.

The journalists may be hopelessly out of touch with buyers, but honestly - so am I.

I, too, was on the launch and having driven a few Focii, I still can’t understand why people buy them — but do understand that just a few years ago, the same could be said of the Chevrolet Cavalier/Pontiac Sunfire twins. And people loved ‘em.

The point is I agree completely that many auto writers have Hiltonesque tendencies, with the expected five-star treatment at every stop. And I agree it clouds their judgement. Maybe (here in Canada, at least) the Ford was pissed on because for our stay at W in (rainy) Seattle, all we got was a USB drive and were back home the next day.

The Saturn, however, was launched on a scenic highway jaunt down California’s Highway 1 — a perfect location for Vitamin C-starved Canucks.

I’m happy that many of the newest generation of auto writers ‘get it’ as far as this profession is concerned. Take a look at my blog, or jilmcintosh.typepad.com, or (http://blog.fawny.org/2008/05/18/wheels-ethics/) to see the brewing commentary on the lack of ethics in automotive ‘journalism’, and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

As for the Focus and Astra…If it was my money I’d likely buy a barn-find Lamborghini Espada with missing trim and rusted floors. Hence why it’s important to do the job properly and keep the consumer in mind.

M!