Oldsmobile general manager Karen Francis predicted that her division's US sales will rise 20 per cent, boosted by strong demand for the Aurora and the new Alero mid-size sedans.

"We are forecasting growth of about 20 per cent over '98," Francis told reporters at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Francis said that she expects sales to climb from about 340,000 units in 1998 despite the retirement of the Cutlass mid-size sedan later this year and the Eighty-Eight full-saze sedan last year.

Saab US president Joel Manby said that he expects US sales in his division to rise about 25 per cent, or from 31,000 units in 1998 up to 39,000 this year. He attributed the projected increase to the US launch next May of the new 9-5 series station wagon, named top car priced between$35,000 to $40,000 by the American Automobile Association.

Saab, 50 per cent owned by GM, expects this year to sell about 17,000 of the 9-5 series, including the wagon and the 9-5 turbo sedan currently being rolled out in the United States.

The 9-3 series will also sell about 17,000 units in the United States and the 9-3 convertible will sell about 4,000 to 5,000 units, Manby said.

Saturn president Cynthia Trudell said the launch of the new mid-size L-Series sedans later this year, the first entry for the GM unit in the mid-size market, and a strong reception to its new 3-door coupes will boost sales in his division this year, too.

"We expect to see some growth in our sales over what our sales have been other years," said Trudell, who joined Saturn this month from the GM subsidiary IBC Vehicles in Britain.

Saturn's new assembly plant in Wilmington, Delaware, which now builds the Chevrolet Malibu, will have capacity for 200,000 of the L-Series when it is fully operating, she said.

Saturn andOldsmobile, both rejuvenating sales with new products after years of decline, said they will be targeting buyers of Japanese imports.

"When we look at our competition we look, quite frankly, right at Toyota, right at Honda, right at Nissan," Francis said.

The new mid-size sedan offerings are reflective of GM now being on its best Financial footing of the decade, North American President Ron Zarrella told reporters.

After recovering from severe Financial constraints earlier this decade, GM has redeveloped its core products and is now able to cut costs and offer more exciting vehicles to be competitive with Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChysler AG, he said.

Zarrella said he expects GM to gain market share in 1999 over strike-ravaged 1998, while industry-wide sales should slow to about 15 million to 15.5 million vehicles from about 15.9 million vehicles in 1998, including about 300,000 heavy vehicles.

"We're on pretty solid financial ground now," he told reporters. "Now is the time to start moving thatpendulum of risk down to where you can start looking at new concepts, start looking at new products, start looking at getting into what might be big evolving segments."

GM cut costs by more than $4 billion in 1998 and Zarrella said that he expects cuts in material expenditures and warranty expenses will cut at least that much from costs this year.

Zarrella said GM will stop losing money on its small cars by eventually introducing modular assembly, letting outside suppliers pre-assemble many of the parts of a vehicle before it is finally put together in a GM plant.

"We need to find a way to make money, or at least not lose a lot of money on small cars," he said. "You'll see it (modular assembly) in the next generation of small cars."