GM’s “different kind of car company” is furiously trying to forge a future amid plummeting sales and little outside interest in buying the brand. Saturn’s Franchise Operations Team has been meeting with GM executives in hopes of creating some kind of strategy for the brand’s dealer network. According to Automotive News [sub] the options were narrowed down at a meeting last week, and after further refinement they should be presented to Saturn dealers later this week. When asked if this spelled the end for the Saturn name, Franchise Operations Team member Todd Ingersoll told AN “everything is fluid. You can’t commit to any option.” But he also indicates that “you don’t need four options to kill a brand.” So what’s really going on?
As with most GM decisions these days, the critical factor is finding a way forward that will appeal to the federal subsidy masters. Since GM’s viability plan calls for concentration on Chevy, Cadillac, Buick and Pontiac, most Saturn dealers see their fate as sealed. And they say that the perception of Saturn as a dead brand walking is hurting sales. “I’m really surprised we’re still selling the cars we’re selling,” says one Texas Saturn dealer. He notes that customers often express concern over warranty and parts availability issues that could arrise if the brand is axed. This concern is doubtless being fuelled by GM’s decision, reported at Ward’s Auto [sub] to cancel Saturn’s 30-day return policy.
And this compounding effect could radically reduce the chances that Saturn will survive. “We haven’t seen a dramatic difference in their business,” notes GM’s Mark LaNeve. “Obviously, the quicker we can clarify our direction with Saturn in line with the viability plan, the better.” Ultimately though, GM seems to be keeping its options open until the last possible minute. Ingersoll notes that GM’s decision for Saturn may be disclosed within hours of filing the new viability plan on the 17th. Maybe they think a buyer will come along between now and then. After all, self-deluding optimism seems to be quite the popular survival mechanism these days.
Seems to me that Saturn is finished simply because it will be the only brand which GM can cull without spending billions of taxpayer monies.
Isn’t there a proviso in the contracts with Saturn, that allows Saturn to close down and bypass the usual state-oriented regulatory b-s?
I believe there is.
The fact that Saturn has never made dime one (except one year when the books were creatively massaged, shall we say) pretty well seals the deal.
Of course, I’m talking rationally, now. If rationality were used for GM and Chrysler, they’d be closed down by now.
They may have a list of contingencies, but how many of them are actually viable except for closing up shop?
The fundamental problem with Saturn is that it’s reason-for-being has largely gone away. While there are still quite a few people who won’t buy a GM car, there aren’t even as many now as there were a couple of years ago, and those that remain probably won’t consider a Saturn, either.
The second problem: aside from the Astra, the make no longer has unique products. Nothing kills Outlook sales more than the Acadia et. al., and nothing crimps Aura sales more than the Malibu.
GM could have really done something with Saturn, but the time for that to happen was about 1996. And when a follow-up product did arrive in the form of the L-Series, it wasn’t nearly as good a car as it needed to be.
The last really great Car and Driver headline was their 2002 classic: “We Waited Seven Years for This?”
The then all new Saturn Ion had just come out to replace the then ancient Saturn S … and the Ion was a joke. Said Ion has since been replaced by the Astra, which single-handedly made the Ion look like a runaway success!
That makes two generations of replacement Saturn models which have sold far worse than their predecessor models. Gee, do you think changing the name at each generational step helped anything?
Saturn is dead. Move over Pluto, you have more company in the pantheon of fallen planets.
Car & Driver also said that the ION was better than what it replaced. Damning with faint praise….
It wouldn’t have taken much. I have both.
I had a meeting with a bunch of saturn dealers early last year. They all lamented that Saturn didnt make cars that Saturn customers wanted – cheap with great gas mileage.
Most of their customers were driving them into the ground and they were trying to figure out how to get them back in to the store to buy the latest models (08 Vue, Aura etc). Some quick focus groups with ex-customers revealed that the die-hards didnt like the new models and saw them as expensive and fuel inefficient. These customers were shopping the pre-owned section before looking at the new models.
If you cant convince your core audience that the “new” saturn is great, then you’re doomed.
Menno:
“Of course, I’m talking rationally, now. If rationality were used for GM and Chrysler, they’d be closed down by now.”
If rationally was used for GM and Chrysler, then wouldn’t be staring death in the face right now. Hell, if they were managed rationally, they might even be profitable right now!
My 91 saturn got close to 40mpg on the highway and was a simple reliable car. Today Saturns are just another GM car, nothing special. Too late to change that image.
The Saturn Ion review in 2002 was definitely one of the most entertaining reviews from Car and Driver in a long time. They called the Ion “one of the worst all new domestic cars in 10 years.”
In later issues, C&D turns the Ion that they poorly reviewed in the 2002 issue into a long term test car. Saturn never asked for the car back, and left it with Car and Driver for over a year. So they made it into a long term test. And if I remember correctly, the car was very reliable.
I know 2 people who have 2007 Saturn Ion’s. One of the Ion’s has over 40,000 miles on it, the other about 15,000. Both are very reliable cars that are cheap to run. Everything a Saturn should be.
Saturn Ion 3 Review at C&D, worth the click if you’ve not read it before
The main reason I bought my Astra was because it was the anti-saturn. I drove an ION back in 20006, and that piece of plastic craptastic truly set new lows in materials and build qualities.
I’m still amazed that there were that many people willing to buy something like that. Buy the things they did, at like 20,000 a month.
Mind blowing.
“Today Saturns are just another GM car, nothing special. Too late to change that image”
Exactly. There is nothing unique about Saturn and now they have to try and make a name for themselves amoungst already established brands – Last year there was too much competition and this year there’s not enough of a market.
I spoke to a dealer yesterday and their comment was, “we just want them to make up their minds so we can move forward”. Deep down, dealers know whats going to happen.