Carlos Ghosn, the hard-driving turnaround artist who has led Nissan's remarkable recovery since 1999, has seen the future of General Motors's moribund Saturn division and he is impressed.

"I think they have a possibility," said Ghosn, describing the cars that impressed him most during his tour of the North American International Auto Show. Dozens of new models and dreamy concept cars were unveiled at the show in downtown Detroit's sprawling Cobo Hall, but two future Saturns caught Ghosn's eye.

GM can only hope that the flicker of promise Ghosn has seen in Saturn -- and Ghosn is the car executive who once said there is nothing wrong with a car company that good products can't fix -- launches the struggling GM brand into a successful orbit.

To give Saturn a chance at finally taking flight, GM is injecting an estimated $3-billion into reinventing Saturn's entire lineup. A slew of new models won't arrive at once, but GM is clearly committed to reviving the Saturn brand.

"You can say that we let the [Saturn] product get too long in the tooth, but I'm optimistic, confident, the new Saturn products will be very well received," said Gary Cowger, GM's president of North American operations.

In keeping with this show's tradition of glitzy and sometimes whacky stunts at product unveilings, Cowger pretended to jump from a balcony two stories high into the cockpit of the new Saturn Sky roadster before driving it on to a stage.

In truth, a double did the dangerous stunt for Cowger, though for more than a few moments the crowd on hand was deceived through stage-managed sleight of hand. The point was clear, though: GM plans to take some risks as it sends Saturn into new territory with a revived lineup.

The halo model for the whole remodelled division is the Sky , slated to hit showrooms in 2006 at a price of less than $30,000. The Sky shares its basic mechanical architecture with the Pontiac Solstice and it is gorgeous.

Only slightly less visually interesting is Saturn's vision for its next midsize car. It is embodied in a concept called the Aura.

The tentatively named Aura, to be built on a shared architecture with the Chevrolet Malibu and Pontiac G6, will be joined in Saturn showrooms by a larger crossover wagon. Both are slated to go on sale by the end of 2006. A year or less after the Aura and the crossover go on sale, Saturn will introduce a replacement for the current Ion.

"This is an aggressive move and growth strategy we're putting behind the brand," said Saturn general manager Jill Lajdziak. "What people want from us is a growing portfolio and a dynamic design."

Lajdziak said Saturn can also be expected to continue selling a version of the current Vue utility wagon. Thus when the full array is stocking dealer showrooms, Saturn's lineup will have doubled to six models from the current three, including the Vue, the Ion compact sedan and coupe and the Relay minivan. The future of the performance-oriented Red Line series for the Vue and Ion is not clear, although if successful Saturn may keep it around as well.

Certainly the broader array of products should give a huge boost to Saturn sales, which were down 22 per cent in 2004 from 2003. At its peak, Saturn sold nearly 286,000 cars in 1995, but is now struggling to keep north of 200,000 until the new products arrive.

"The [Saturn] brand is solid and the distribution system excellent," said GM CEO and chairman Rick Wagoner. "I'm confident about Saturn, but only time will tell."

Saturn has had a checkered history. Launched in 1990 as an independent GM division aimed at Japanese imports, Saturn quickly found itself starved for funding as GM struggled with a financial crisis in the early 1990s. The result was a lineup of aging cars that managed to keep many buyers happy only because the sales and service experience at Saturn dealerships was so excellent.

"Saturn didn't get fresh product [funding] because it was operating under a different business model," said Wagoner, adding that Saturn has since been fully integrated into GM. Saturn has since adopted virtually all of GM's common practices for design, production and labour and is benefiting from the whole of GM's engineering and product development capabilities.

The next step is to put some sizzle into Saturn vehicles. For that, GM is turning to its European operation for inspiration. The wide-stance Sky with its foldaway top was created at GM's Advanced Design Studio in Birmingham, England. It signals a "design language" for all future Saturns.

The new look is decidedly sophisticated -- so much so that the tight new body panels spell the end of Saturn's novel but unattractive plastic sides and flanks.

Bob Lutz , GM vice-chairman for new products, said the company is drawing heavily on not just its advanced design studio in England, but also on GM's Opel operation in Germany. One wag at the show summed it up this way: Saturn is breaking with its low-brow past.

GM officials are counting on Saturn's perennially high customer service rankings to combine with the new product onslaught to produce a winner, much in the mould of the recent successes GM has been enjoying with Cadillac. In doing so, GM expects Saturn to finally turn a profit, after losing billions of dollars over the years.

"What clearly is changing at Saturn is the character and scope of its product offerings," Lutz said.

The Saturn story of rebuilding, or at least reviving a brand through sexy new models, is not an unusual one for the car business. In fact, a like story was being played out not far from the Saturn display by the luxury brands of Ford Premier Automotive Group.

The star of that show was a new Jaguar concept car, the Advanced Lightweight Coupe, which is a crystal-clear signal of what the next XK coupe and convertible will look like when they arrive about a year from now.

With a wink and a nod, Jaguar managing director Bibiana Boerio said the baby blue Coupe is only a concept, but there is little doubt the 2007 XK lineup will look very much like what Jaguar put on stage under a flashy light show.

Jaguar design director Ian Callum is well known for his desire to pull Jaguar away from its current wood and country club image and into a more sporty and daring direction, one drawing on Jag's roots in the 1940s, '50s and '60s. Boerio said the concept, with its bonded and riveted aluminum skeleton supporting aluminum body panels, has been a source of lively debate within Jaguar.

The debate is apparently now over.

"The Advanced Lightweight Coupe represents the very essence of Jaguar, its heart and soul," said Joe Greenwell, chairman and CEO of Jaguar Cars. "If you want to know what lies ahead for use, what direction we will take, this is Jaguar's answer."