New Saturn Astra Arriving at Dealerships

This is what happens when an automaker sets a firm date for a car’s sale: It doesn’t always happen exactly as planned. Saturn assigned a sale date of Jan. 2 for the all-new Saturn Astra compact hatchback, but we heard reports from readers saying it simply hadn’t arrived, even though they had ordered one.

Today, Saturn confirmed to Cars.com the Astra started arriving at dealerships late last week — a week late — and are now showing up in local inventories.

Readers should know it does take some time for any new model to show up in all its varying trim levels and colors across the country. The Astra is also being imported from Europe — it’s built in Belgium — so time to the dealership will be longer than it is for most domestic cars.