Entry-level buyers are interested in an affordable car - not necessarily a "small" car. This consumer insight was a key driver behind the design of the 2003 Saturn Ion sedan and quad coupe. The end results are affordable vehicles with significant content and a strong, purposeful appearance.

"From the beginning, we knew that these vehicles needed to have a strong presence because people can feel intimidated on the road today when they're in a small car," said Tim Greig, GM vehicle chief designer-small cars. "These vehicles not only needed to be bigger, but they needed to look bigger and to have a strong, structural sense to them, so that when they're out on the road, people notice them, and pay attention to them."

Delta Architecture

GM's small-car Delta architecture provided the basis for the Saturn styling team to develop the Ion's exterior design. Ion designers made a conscious effort to take advantage of the overall size and functionality afforded by the new architecture. Both the Ion sedan and quad coupe, so-called because it features dual rear access doors (RADs), are larger vehicles than their predecessors. This larger size, along with a number of styling refinements, helps give the siblings a more uplevel look. Ion creative designers also incorporated more contemporary shapes throughout the vehicles, as well as precisely controlled surfaces accentuated with character lines.

The Ion models use polymer for all exterior side panels, a characteristic of Saturn models since the first S-Series debuted as a 1991 model. The dent-resistant composite panels help keep Saturn vehicles looking new, longer. They also contribute to a clean look, because there is no need for add-on cladding to protect against dings.

Saturn Styling Cues

The sedan and quad coupe deliver distinctively different exterior styling cues, while leaving little doubt that each is a Saturn family member. "They're distinct in that one definitely needed to be recognized as a coupe, and the other as a sedan," said Wade Bryant, lead exterior designer on the Ion series. "But we also knew that we wanted them to look like siblings of each other, too. So very early on, we leveraged some already-established Saturn universal cues."

These design cues include horizontal headlamps, upswept body-side styling with an embossed "swoosh" that curves subtly upward in the door panels, a fender-mounted Saturn badge, and an embossed SATURN name in the rear fascias.

Roof Rail Accents

A distinguishing feature on both the sedan and also the quad coupe is a polymer roof rail trim piece, which runs from the vehicle's cowl, across the top of the doors, to the bottom of the rear window. "Saturn's spaceframe construction is unique, and we wanted to visually bring the safety cage benefits of the vehicle to its surface," explained Bryant. "The roof rail accent contributes significantly to the structural look and presence we were striving for."

On light-colored Ion sedan models, the roof rails are silver; on vehicles that are painted a dark color, the roof rails are dark gray. The quad coupe's standard roof rail accents are body-colored, creating a monochromatic look and low-to-the-ground appearance. A silver roof rail is available as a factory option.

As part of Ion's unique personalization opportunities, the standard roof rails can be interchanged with any of four other colors available at Saturn retailers as an aftermarket item. Currently planned roof rail patterns are: Leopard, Blue Bubble, Carbon Fiber and Brushed Steel. The interchangeable roof rails can be matched with special interior trim packages, which include trim pieces for the center-mounted cluster, radio and heater controls, gearshift and remote keyless-entry fob.

Improving Performance, Fuel Economy

In designing exterior systems for the Ion, a primary goal was to trim as much weight as possible, in the interest of both fuel economy and handling and performance. For example, bumpers are constructed of aluminum - not steel, as is typical in small cars. Using aluminum for bumpers trimmed 11 pounds (5 kilograms) from Ion's weight, and was the biggest contributor toward trimming 18 pounds (8.2 kilograms) overall from the exterior systems.

Aerodynamically, significant gains were made in several critical exterior system designs, notably the outside rearview mirrors, windshield wiper deflector cowl and vehicle front and rear ends. For example, the cowl protecting the wipers was designed to be an air deflector rather than simply serving as a leaf screen, which is more typical for cars in this segment. With this design, air comes off the hood and is directed up and over the windshield, reducing drag and wind noise.

Noise Suppression

In addition to weight reduction, Ion engineers focused on noise suppression in order to increase the comfort level of occupants. This emphasis resulted in giving the Ion one of the quietest interiors in its segment. A key contributor to lowering the noise level is a windshield with glass thickness of 5.4mm, an increase of 12.5 percent over the 4.8mm glass common in the entry-level segment. The thicker windshield, typical for higher-end cars, acts as a barrier to transmitted sound.

Another key factor is the windshield wiper cowl mountings, designed so the aforementioned cowl acts as a headwind deflector in addition to serving as a leaf screen. This carefully sculpted, injection-molded plastic cowl drives oncoming air up and over the wipers, minimizing turbulence and further diminishing noise through the windshield.

The cumulative effect of these two measures is to reduce wind noise coming through the windshield by 2.7 decibels.

The aerodynamic design of the outside rearview mirrors also reduces wind noise appreciably by minimizing drops in air pressure behind the mirrors, making a system that's among the quietest in the segment.

Solid-Looking Sedan

The Ion sedan brings a very clean, contemporary, purposeful and more upscale look to its segment. "We've incorporated very precise surfacing and a structural look to the sedan," said Bryant. "We've eliminated the soft lines and shapes of the S-Series. The Ion is much more 'architectural' and solid looking. We really tried to bring the viewer's eye upward so the car looks more alert and has a stronger presence," Bryant explained. "We did this primarily in the headlamp and taillamp areas - and its effect is quite dramatic."

More Contemporary Look

The feature lines on the front of the sedan add width to the vehicle and draw the viewer's eye to the Saturn badge, which has been redesigned with a more upscale and contemporary look. The front of the sedan incorporates the traditional Saturn styling cue of horizontal headlamps. Clear polycarbonate lenses and a high-sheen, reflective interior housing provide a jewel-like look on par with some premium vehicles. The light housing integrates a halogen bulb headlamp, running lamps and outward-mounted turn signals.

Running between the headlamps, a horizontal chrome accent bar adds a luxury cue while enhancing the vehicle's width. The feature lines on the hood - together with the surface details on the front appliqué - help give the Saturn badge more prominence.

The hood on the sedan offers a very clean appearance. In its center is a simple, structural-looking inset that accentuates the hood's slight, forward grade and that leads to the Saturn badge. The hood lines carry forward from the cowl all the way through to the top of the headlights, adding to the sedan's clean appearance. The lower front fascia wraps from wheel-to-wheel and houses a lower air opening. On uplevel versions of the sedan, the fascia houses fog lamps that flank either side of the air opening.

Profile

The profile of the sedan carries a number of traditional Saturn cues:

• The contemporary shaped "shark fin" areas in the front (exterior mirror mounting area) and back (behind passenger rear window) provide visual structural bases for the roof rail accents
• The "swoosh" is inset into the side-door panels, and it is a more "technical"-looking, refined slice through the vehicle rather than a soft curl.
• The Saturn fender "coachmark" (also redesigned to match the new hood emblem) remains positioned just behind the forward wheels on the front quarter panel.

The rear quarter panel on the sedan carries the vehicle's structural theme - a large, bold, clean vertical panel with little or no flaring around the wheel. The front fender incorporates the same cue, but is flared for the wheel with a flattened cowl, dramatizing the vehicle's wider stance.

Rear of Sedan More Upscale

The rear of the sedan brings a dramatically more upscale appearance than its predecessor. The decklid - again a clean horizontal surface - runs from the backlight and bevels downward to a flat, clean "notch" bumper surface that enables optimal decklid liftover and easier loading. The license plate housing is inset to the back-beveled area of the decklid. The Ion logo is mounted to the left of the plate housing. An available low-profile spoiler sits at the back edge of the decklid.

The vertically shaped rear taillights are inset and mounted at the uppermost back corners of the vehicle, bringing the eye up in the process and contributing to the sedan's strong presence. Red-tinted clear polycarbonate lenses add an upscale touch, and the wedge-shaped rear light housings wrap around the vehicle's rear corners. The rear fascia flows around the vehicle's corners from wheel-to-wheel, and carries a traditional, embossed "SATURN" treatment in its center.

Sedan Wheels

Sporty-styled aluminum alloy wheels are optional on the midlevel sedan and incorporate an alternating semi-circle, five-spoke design. Flangeless 16-inch alloy wheels are packaged on the uplevel sedan and incorporate a highly styled, four-spoke "X"-shaped design with a dynamic center cap. The flangeless wheel - a first in the segment - provides a larger wheel appearance because the character of the spokes can be taken to the edge of the tire.

Fourteen-inch steel wheels with polymer covers come standard on the base sedan, and 15-inch steel wheels with polymer covers are standard on the midlevel sedan.Quad coupe The quad coupe creates an entirely new product category by incorporating dual RADs - a segment first - along with an overall sportier flair.

"'Fluid' is a good way to describe the coupe," Bryant said. "It's not just 'clean,' but clean as if it's been sculpted by the wind. There are fewer details on the surfaces - it almost looks as if a 150 mph wind just kind of erased all the non-essentials."

Front of Coupe

Like the sedan, the quad coupe incorporates traditional Saturn horizontal headlamps, but in an entirely different fashion. The headlamps are slightly larger, more shapely, and sculpted into the top of the front fascia. Clear polycarbonate lenses, combined with a reflective interior housing, deliver a high-end, jewel-like effect. As in the sedan, the light housing carries halogen headlamps, daytime running lamps and outward-mounted turn signals.

Distinctive to the quad coupe, a sporty "air slot" opening runs horizontally between the headlamps. The hood on the coupe is more aggressive than the one on its sibling. It's lower, has a slight centerline peak, runs farther forward and seamlessly leads to the air slot, producing a lower nose effect, as coupe buyers expect. The new Saturn emblem is prominently displayed on the hood about 2 inches above the air slot.

The front fascia wraps from wheel to wheel and houses a lower grille opening. Fog lamps flank either side of the fascia opening on the uplevel quad coupe.

'Wind-Swept' Profile

The "wind-swept" profile of the quad coupe brings a clean, uncluttered appearance, and is enhanced by the roof rail accents. The vehicle's cowl is moved slightly forward, adding to the wind-swept effect, as does a sleeker rear-end profile.

The front fender carries the traditional Saturn "coachmark" emblem behind the forward wheel wells. The door "swoosh" is larger and more sculpted than on the sedan, running diagonally from above the rocker panels to the center of the RADs.

The rear "shark fin" (behind the passenger rear windows) on the quad coupe is larger, longer and more pronounced on the quad coupe than the sedan. A vertical, rear-facing slot directly behind the rear passenger windows is designed into the rear edge of the shark fin, adding a performance look to the coupe's rear-quarter profile. The greenhouse area of the quad coupe makes extensive use of glass, highlighting the vehicle's airy interior and high visibility.

Rear of Quad Coupe

The rear backlight on the quad coupe is longer than its sibling and leads to the deck lid, which is the only common exterior panel shared between the two vehicles. A low-profile spoiler is available as an option on all quad coupe models. High-mounted, corner-inset vertical taillamps incorporate red-tinted polycarbonate lenses and a smoother shape than the sedan. A reflective internal housing on the taillamps creates a mix of semi-circular, intersecting shapes when illuminated, conveying a high-tech, sporty image.

The rear of the quad coupe sits visually higher than the sedan, and is significantly more swept from the roofline to the deck lid's downward bevel. The Ion insignia is affixed left of the plate housing. A slightly scalloped "notch" bumper surface enables optimal decklid liftover and easier loading. The rear fascia flows around the vehicle's corners from wheel-to-wheel. It incorporates a bold, clean appearance and carries an embossed SATURN treatment in its center.

Wheels for Quad Coupe

Like the sedan, the Ion quad coupe also features 16-inch flangeless wheels on uplevel models, a first for the segment. The flangeless aspect makes the wheels look even larger. Fifteen-inch steel wheels with polymer covers come standard on the base quad coupe, and sportier-styled, flangeless 15-inch alloy wheels incorporating a unique oval/slot design are optional on the midlevel coupe.

Want more information?

Source: Saturn