We’ve heralded General Motors’ year- old, in-house Performance Division for spearheading Pontiac GTO development, reviving the Chevrolet SS lineage and creating a performance-oriented V-Series for Cadillac. But we’ve lent little mention to the Warren, Michigan-based division’s plans to add oomph to Saturn in the form of a “tuner coupe” based on the Ion.
John Heinricy, GM’s high-performance vehicle operations director, says the car should be on the streets by early ’04. Sources say the car will be running the same Ecotec 2.0-liter turbocharged four found in Saab’s 9-3, which means we’ll be driving a Saturn with as much as 210 hp and 221 lb-ft of torque at 2300 rpm. But first, the Saturn pocket rocket will undergo tuning at Germany’s Nurburgring, much like testing done on Cadillac CTS and an increasing number of GM’s production cars.

A performance-packed Cavalier and Pontiac compact should be on the tuner coupe’s heels. Performance Division director Mark Reuss says GM brass has approved some unspecified high-performance projects; we know his team is working on a production-approved V-Series CTS and a Pontiac Bonneville GXP.

Other Saturn news? Sales chief Jill Lajdziak says the division is pursuing plans for bringing its Sky 2+2 convertible concept into production as a halo vehicle for Saturn. Another need: A heftier vehicle to wear the Saturn nameplate. GM is working on replacing the L in model year 2005 with a premium car based on the Epsilon platform (Chevy Malibu, Saab 9-3), but Lajdziak says there is still room for a seven-seat Saturn-badged vehicle.