No Astra for the U.S.
Thursday, February 5th, 2009Don’t be looking for the 2009 Saturn Astra compact in the United States. The Astra is built at the GM plant in Antwerp, Belgium and is based on the Opel/Vauxhall Astra. If you’re here in the States and you want an ’09, you’re going to have to go to Canada to get one. Why? They have too many 2008s on hand and need to get rid of them. Of course the Saturn spokesman quoted over at Automotive News put it a little more smoothly:
“We feel we have adequate stock of the 2008 Astra already. Since there were no major product changes for 2009, we’re content with what we have on the ground here.”
What they have on the ground, as of January 1, is a 139-day supply of 2008 Astras, proof positive of the more than 18 percent sales slowdown in the American automotive market.
General Motors launched the Astra in January 2008 and through December sold 11,968 of them. Unfortunately, they aren’t concerned enough about the stock on hand to cough up any good incentive options. The same spokesman had this to say on that front:
“So we don’t expect to do heavy incentives. From a marketing standpoint, it’ll remain the same rate as what we’ve had — which is targeting digital marketing.”
If you want to learn more about the Astra (rated 24 mpg city and 32 highway), click here for the official page at the Saturn site.