kansaiwalker1

GM's Saturn to double vehicle line-up

Tue October 28, 2003 04:23 PM ET


By Michael Ellis

DETROIT, Oct 28 (Reuters) - General Motors Corp.'s Saturn brand will double its line-up to six vehicles over the next three years, including a new minivan with SUV-like attributes, as it seeks to grow sales to about 500,000 cars and trucks by 2005, the head of Saturn said on Tuesday.

"In the next 36 months, we'll be doubling our Saturn portfolio," Jill Lajdziak, Saturn's vice president for sales, service and marketing, told reporters at a background briefing on the new Saturn Relay and Buick Terraza minivans, which go on sale late next year.

The Relay will be the first of three new vehicles to join the Saturn lineup. Trying to rid minivans of their "soccer mom" image of boring people-haulers, GM refers to the Relay and three other new minivans coming out next year as "crossover sport vans" that combine sport utility vehicle attributes with van versatility.

Saturn has not revealed what other vehicles it will add to the lineup, but Lajdziak has said previously that the brand is considering a small convertible.

With Saturn's 2003 sales up only 2.5 percent through September, far below the growth target of 10 percent for the year, Saturn has introduced new incentives on its Ion small car, Lajdziak said.

But Saturn remains committed to growing its annual sales to 500,000 vehicles a year by 2005, up from 280,248 in 2002, said Saturn spokeswoman Sherrie Childers Arb.

Earlier this week, Saturn launched new sales incentives on its slow-selling Ion -- a downpayment of from $159 to $199 and monthly payments of $159 to $199 for 72-month-long contracts.
"It's very competitive at the low end," of the market, Lajdziak said. "If you're going to be competitive in the low end, you've got to find the sweet spot in pricing."

She said rivals Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. have also been offering lower prices on their small cars.

To cut inventory of unsold Ions, GM stopped production this week at the Ion assembly line at its Spring Hill, Tennessee plant, and is considering halting production again next week, Childers Arb said.

GM currently has inventory of about 140 days worth of Ions, up from the optimal level of about 65 to 70 days, Childers Arb said.

kansaiwalker1

Sunday, November 2, 2003


GM banks on new models to shift Saturn out of neutral


By Ed Garsten / The Detroit News


When General Motors Corp. chose the Saturn name in 1982 for its future "small car project," it had nothing to do with the ringed planet, but everything to do with running circles around foreign rivals.

The name harkened back to the Saturn rocket that carried Americans to the moon and propelled the United States past the Soviet Union in the space race.

In the same way, GM designed Saturn to zoom past the scrappy Japanese in the small car race.

Now 13 years later, the brand imagined as the "import killer" is still chasing as Japan's Big Three -- Toyota, Honda and Nissan -- pull further away. It has also been surpassed by Korean brand Hyundai and is under threat by Kia as well.

To counter the onslaught, and rev up flagging sales, Saturn is undergoing sweeping change, including an infusion of new models in new segments, an ambitious goal to nearly double annual sales and a move away from its trademark plastic body panels.

GM executives say they are committed to see the brand through this rough patch. "Saturn's going to be just fine," GM vice chairman and product chief Bob Lutz said in a recent interview. "They're going to get new products."

While the changes are designed to re-energize the brand, some worry they threaten Saturn's uniqueness.

Known for its no-haggle sales policy, superior customer service and cars with plastic body panels, Saturn was portrayed as the "anti-GM."

Indeed, its relationship with the giant automaker was invisible at first so as not to put off customers who would otherwise steer clear of GM products.

While Saturn doesn't hide the fact that it is part of the GM family now, to some extent it still retains separation -- in the minds of consumers.

Of those who buy Saturn vehicles today, 70 percent would not have otherwise purchased a GM vehicle, and of those, 50 percent would have purchased an Asian brand vehicle, according to Saturn spokeswoman Sherrie Childers-Arb.

And Saturn boasts a 40 percent loyalty rate with customers such as John Dickerson of Royal Oak, who just bought his fourth Saturn, an L-series sedan, after thinking of straying to an import.

"I thought about going in a different direction but saw Saturn made some design changes so that it no longer looked like vanilla ice cream," Dickerson said.

While retaining its touchy-feely, attentive merchandising strategy, Saturn is moving away from other traits that initially set it apart from GM.

With the 2005 Relay crossover van, Saturn will begin building similar vehicles alongside other GM models, such as the Buick Terraza, another crossover van, that share the same chassis and other parts.

The practice will help perpetuate a long GM strategy of building several vehicles off the same basic underpinnings.

And in 2006, a replacement for the mid-sized L-series line will be based on GM's Epsilon architecture, the same platform used for the new Chevrolet Malibu and some of the automaker's European products.

While the moves will help GM save costs by sharing parts across multiple models, analysts fear the approach may backfire.

"The concern I have is the clone factor," said Jeffrey Schuster, director of North American forecasting for J.D. Power and Associates.

There are also signs Saturn will eventually do away with one of its founding attributes -- polymer-paneled, or plastic-like, vehicles.

The Relay will be Saturn's first vehicle without any plastic body panels and there are signals the L-series replacement may not contain polymer panels either.

"Polymer was a tremendous way for us to start the brand and allow us to cut through the clutter in a very unique way," said Jill Lajdziak, Saturn's vice president of sales, service and marketing, last week.

"But when you have polymer, you're not going to have as tight a fit and finish ... that maybe the import intender looks for."

And while the plastic panels were designed to make repairs easier and less costly, they no longer have great appeal with consumers.

"Plastic panels were never a factor for me," said four-time Saturn owner Dickerson.

But as more Saturn vehicles are built on platforms common to other GM vehicles and Saturn's stablemates all declare war on Asian and European brands, does GM's designated "import-killer" still have a viable role?

"GM is probably debating it right now," said Jim Sanfilippo, an analyst with Warren-based consultant AMCI.

"If GM has established imports as the competition, does it need one division based on conquering imports alone? The answer is probably no."

At Saturn of Troy, sales manager Vince Olsen is not worried about the growing ties between the brand and the parent company.

"We've been pulled a little closer to GM, but without having the products that GM can supply us, we were not going to be successful," Olsen said.

Although Saturn's U.S. sales are up 2.5 percent this year, the gain comes solely on the back of the VUE, a sport utility vehicle. Sales of passenger cars are down 9.5 percent through September.

Demand for the Ion, introduced last year to replace Saturn's aging first vehicle, the small car S-series, has been especially disappointing.

Sales have been so lackluster, the assembly line at the Spring Hill, Tenn., plant that builds the Ion will be idled for a second straight week beginning Monday.

The Ion's debut was hampered by a misdirected advertising campaign, the slow rollout of a coupe version and noncompetitive pricing at the end of the 2003 model year, Lajdziak said.

"Success today is all about ensuring you're near the sweet spot in pricing and I don't think we were in September," Lajdziak said.

"The coupe was delayed by a number of months and not having that vehicle working for us accounts for about 25 percent of our volume."

The Ion's design has received mixed reviews, analysts say.

"The styling just didn't do it for the consumer," Schuster said. "Maybe it was the interior, maybe it was the center-mounted instrument panel."

To jump-start sales, Saturn last week launched a marketing program for Ion featuring down payments as low as $159 and monthly payments equally as low.

Quality issues also delayed the availability of customizing kits for the Ion, Lajdziak said, perhaps dampening the enthusiasm of so-called tuners.

Saturn's other troubled child is the midsize L-series. Sales have slumped 14.6 percent this year against brutal competition from the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord and Nissan Altima.

Adding to the model's woes, a strike at a supplier that began Oct. 17 has shut down the Wilmington, Del., plant where the L-series is built, resulting in the production loss of 2,300 vehicles.

For years, Saturn was starved for new products while GM fortified other divisions, such as Oldsmobile and now Cadillac.

"GM did the old launch and leave," Sanfilippo quipped.

But the drought is coming to an end as Saturn now plans to double its portfolio over the next 36 months, Lajdziak said.

Aside from the Relay and a new midsize car to replace the L-series, the brand is introducing high performance versions of its vehicles under the Red Line banner.

With new products in the pipeline, Lajdziak is looking to almost double Saturn's 2002 sales of 280,248 vehicles to 500,000 units in the 2006-07 time frame.

The new vehicles cannot come soon enough for Mike Salerno, a Paramus, N.J., Saturn dealer since the brand's inception.

"We need new product today, not in two years," Salerno said.

You can reach Ed Garsten at (313) 223-3217 or egarsten@detnews.com.

charliemike

Hehe, j/k

Not really ...

gavriil

Minch00

Nothing Saturn makes interests me....

Gilgamesh

Chaptorial

Another

GM needs to take care of whats under the hood too.

xrunner86x

Under threat by kia, hahahahahaha

kansaiwalker1

I read somewhere that the Saturn VUE Redline will be powered by a Honda V6. I wonder how Bob Lutz will explain that to the media.....

I can see it now, a Saturn VUE Redline with a "Powered by Honda" stciker on the windshield!

xrunner86x

Yea honda and saturn are doing a co-op thing. Honda is getting tranny stuff and i think saturn is gettin a motor like you said

Gilgamesh

I wonder why?

Zapata

interesting where did you hear this about the tranny from the GM in a honda?

AcuraFan

I think the guys at GM are funny. I can't believe they put out that kind of crap and thought they were going to beat the imports. I've owned a Saturn before and it was junk. Once I realized what I paid for it and how much better the Civic and Corolla were for the same price, I got pissed (at myself for not shopping around more).

Anyway, if Saturn really wanted to compete with Honda, Toyota and Nissan, they'd have to come out with a new, exciting, well built car...not rehash mediocre stablemates.

xrunner86x

I dont remember, it was probably in one of the following: Automobile, Motor Trend, Road and Track, Sport Compact, this forum, or hondasociety. I believe it was one of the big name magazines listed. I'll try to check on it but there are a lot of issues of several magazines it could be.

Infamous425

i thought GM was getting honda's 3.5v6 and Honda gets GM's v8's from their trucks?

Loseit

iTrader: (1)

i like the Vue

Loseit

iTrader: (1)

i like the Vue

Python2121

i can see why honda would take the GM tranny's, but im not sure why gm would be taking their v6.

the v6 3800 series is pretty much bullet proof, and makes pretty good power and a lot of torque, right?

heyitsme

its amazing how information gets so twisted as it moves around the internet.

"GM also has alliances with Japan's two largest OEMs, Toyota and Honda. The Toyota alliance runs on two tracks, one being a joint manufacturing operation in California, called New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., under which the Chevrolet Prizm is built alongside the Toyota Corolla and Tacoma pickup truck. The other track involves a five-year collaboration, agreed upon in April 1996, focusing on fuel-cell and other electric drive technologies for next-generation vehicles. That agreement, like one under which Honda provides GM with advanced V6 Ultra Low Emission Vehicle (ULEV) engines and automatic transmissions while GM's Isuzu affiliate supplies diesel engines to Honda, is of the non-equity type."

Python2121

thanks for diggin up the info!

thats pretty interesting

1SICKLEX

Saturn had a great start and mis-managment has seen them fall to the absolute back. Their products are ugly and suck. The only reason to buy is because they are cheaper, not better. Saturn really could have been a serious import contender.

kansaiwalker1

Is beaten-up Saturn GM's falling star?

By Earle Eldridge, USA TODAY

General Motors' Saturn brand, once thought of as the spunky little company that could, is faltering.


By Tim Dillon, USA TODAY

The 13-year-old brand has yet to earn a net profit. Inventories of unsold cars are piling up. And longtime owners say GM (GM) is ruining their beloved car company.

"There is no rational reason for GM to hang on to Saturn," says Art Spinella of CNW Marketing/Research. "They would be much better off putting that money into Chevrolet."

It's a radical concept, pooh-poohed by GM, which says Saturn will get new models and new dealers. But the fact is, Saturn's sales are flagging. Saturn today sells less with three models than it did in its peak year, 1994, when it had just one car.

Through November, Saturn sales for the year are down 2.6% compared with the same period a year ago. But for November alone, sales were down 13.5% from November 2002 in a market that was up 8.9%, according to Autodata. Sales of Vue sport-utility vehicle, added to the lineup in 2002 and the one shining spot in Saturn's portfolio, are up 13.7% through November, thanks to a strong start at the beginning of the year. But sales fell 40.2% in November from a year ago.

The problem: GM didn't give Saturn new products for almost eight years, leaving dealers with one compact car and giving customers nothing to move up to. When GM finally delivered new models, they were disappointments.

To this day, what attracts most Saturn buyers is the one-price/no-haggle sales policy and customer-friendly atmosphere in dealerships, considered a benchmark in the auto industry. But that hasn't been enough to keep the brand competitive.

Jill Lajdziak, vice president of sales, marketing and service who has been with Saturn since the beginning, admits the brand needs an update. "The landscape has changed. It's not 1990 anymore," she says. Saturn needs to build on its customer-friendly image along with adding products, she says.

GM says Saturn will get new models — including the Relay minivan, first shown Thursday — and will add dealers to reach a goal of doubling annual sales to 500,000 by 2005.

It's a sign that GM has no interest in putting its Saturn money into Chevrolet or any other brand, Lajdziak says. "If GM didn't believe in the brand, if we didn't believe in the future of Saturn, we wouldn't be investing in new product. We are looking forward to becoming a full-line brand."

Different from the beginning

When GM launched Saturn in October 1990 — the first new domestic brand since Edsel Ford created Mercury in 1939 — it was described as a different kind of company with a different kind of car. Saturn's mission was to be GM's import fighter, aimed at the Honda (HMC), Toyota (TM) and Nissan (NSANY) small cars.

GM set up Saturn as a separate company, not part of the automaker's hierarchy. It had a president and a chairman who reported to a Saturn executive board instead of GM's North American operations, as all other brands did.

Its plant was built in Spring Hill, Tenn., far from Detroit. The United Auto Workers union was given a separate contract with Saturn that allowed workers to perform other duties beyond their assembly line jobs, unlike other UAW plants. So when production shut down, workers could be assigned to paint a fence, for example.

But beyond the corporate makeup and unique labor contract, Saturn has been most innovative in how it sells cars. It brought no-haggle selling and money-back guarantees to the automotive business. All buyers pay the same price. And new cars came with a 30-day, 1,500-mile money-back guarantee, although in 2004, that's being replaced with a 30-day vehicle-exchange program. You can't get your money back, but you can get a different Saturn.

Saturn, which calls its sales force retailers rather than dealers, developed a family feel, sending car buyers out of the showroom with photos and balloons. It set up Saturn clubs that featured picnics and other gatherings, and threw popular homecoming events that drew thousands of owners to Spring Hill.

Things were so good in the early '90s that consumers took a number and waited for a test drive at Saturn dealerships. Signs that said "sold out of cars" were common at dealerships in the early days.

But that early success was based on one model, the S-Series, available as a sedan, coupe or wagon. GM let Saturn flounder with only the S-Series for eight years, while its Japanese rivals launched small sport-utility vehicles, minivans and bigger cars.

Things have started to change

Since the late '90s, Saturn has retreated from many of the traditions dear to its owners. Save for the dealer operations, much of what made Saturn different has disappeared. In fact, GM no longer uses the marketing line: "A different kind of company. A different kind of car."

Among the changes:

•Saturn's sales, marketing and manufacturing operations are now under the same umbrella as the other GM brands. The chairman position has been eliminated. "Their strategy seems to be to reel Saturn in," says David Healy, a Wall Street analyst at Burnham Securities. Saturn officials say the only way the brand can grow and not be a drain on the company is to tap GM's talent and knowledge.

•Saturn's dedicated design engineers have been eliminated. Saturn designers are now part of GM's global design team. And Saturn no longer will get exclusive engines and chassis components. The changes are designed to reduce costs. GM has spent more than $5.5 billion on the Spring Hill plant, including $1.5 billion pledged in 2000 to add products and expand the facility.

•When Saturn announced a new midsize sedan for 1999, the UAW insisted that the vehicle be built at a plant in Wilmington, Del., that was slated to close. It was the first time Saturns were built outside Spring Hill, and the first time they were built by UAW members on the regular GM contract.

•For the first time, Saturn will sell a vehicle without polymer dent-resistant body panels. That has Saturn enthusiasts screaming. "Building Saturns without polymer panels alongside other GM models threatens to alienate even more customers," says Charles Eickmeyer, who runs the SaturnFans.com Web site. "I've heard stories from countless customers who already have become frustrated with the changes made to Saturn during the past few years and have looked elsewhere outside the GM fold when searching for a new car."

GM's recent attempts to revive Saturn have made little improvement. Its 2003 Ion small car, which replaced the S-Series, was called a disappointment by Consumer Reports. The magazine said the interior is cramped, with uncomfortable seats and "cheap-feeling materials."

Production of the Ion and the midsize L-Series sedan, added to the lineup in model year 2000, has been halted several times in the past year because of slow sales. More than 400 workers, about 19% of the Delaware plant's workforce, lost their jobs in March.

While the auto industry typically likes to have no more than a 60-day supply of vehicles at dealerships, Ion has a 144-day supply. The L-Series has a 177-day supply. Even Vue has a 101-day supply. Days supply is the number of days dealers could keep selling if the factory stopped delivering vehicles.

GM has ambitious plans

Despite the problems, Lajdziak says GM will double the number of models in Saturn's lineup to six by 2006. First up is Relay, scheduled to go on sale late next year as a 2005 model. It will be a sister to the new Chevrolet Uplander, Buick Terraza and Pontiac Montana minivans.

Saturn also will add 15 to 20 dealers next year and hopes to grow to 700 dealers from 440 over the next three years.

It's an ambitious plan that worries some dealers who fear that — given Saturn's recent past — investing in new stores might not improve profits.

Many dealers are being asked to decide by the end of the year if they are willing to build one or two more stores. "Some of the older Saturn dealers have been very successful," says Bob McGuire, who owns two Saturn dealerships in New Jersey. But, "They may be 65 or 70 years old and may not want to take on more risks with a new store."

McGuire, a former president of the National Automobile Dealers Association, says Saturn needs to clearly demonstrate to dealers that the risks will mean profits in the new locations.

But, he adds, Saturn dealerships are in demand. A Saturn franchise in Tempe, Ariz., which nets about $1.7 million in annual profit, was sold to a bidder for $5.4 million recently.

One reason for GM to keep Saturn going would be the huge cost of paying off dealers, most of whom are profitable, if it shut down the brand. GM took a $900 million charge to shut its Oldsmobile division in 2001, much of it to pay off the 2,800 dealers.

"It would be incredibly expensive to buy out Saturn dealers," says Spinella.

Still, Spinella says, while 70% of Saturn buyers are new to GM, its mission of fighting the import brands could now be handled by Chevrolet. He says his research found that the percentage of buyers who chose a Chevy after considering other vehicles rose to 38.2% this year from 21.6% in 1997. For Saturn, the percentage fell to 29.8% from 51.5% in 1997.

So should GM kill Saturn?

"I don't want to see Saturn go away," says owner and fan Eickmeyer. "But Saturn has to appeal to new customers and its core customers. They have to continue to invest in the brand, and design, build and sell cars that are state-of-the-art and class-leading."

"In the big picture, GM doesn't need Saturn," says Chris Denove of J.D. Power and Associates. "But I hope they keep it because Saturn has provided a great test bed for innovative ideas."

"I don't want to see Saturn go away," says McGuire, the New Jersey dealer. "I think it has gone through a lull time, and I think we've come to realize that the marketplace is different."

"That's one of those questions that makes me glad I don't run an auto company," says analyst Healy.

Minch00

Like I've said before.......

Nothing Saturn makes interests me.....



It is probably the last car company I would ever consider purchasing an automobile from. I'd choose a Kia over them.

Red Rider

News Flash : They're BORING

chungkopi

saturn and buick is my last choice..

1SICKLEX

SATURN SUCKS. Have they actually tried looking or driving their own cars?

Chaptorial

If they want to survive they have to change that image. Only Honda can get away with making boring cars.

charliemike

Oh and the UAW = teh suck

kansaiwalker1

Thursday, December 18, 2003


GM's Saturn unit falls back to Earth, is getting overhaul


By Doron Levin / Bloomberg News


Thirteen years after General Motors Corp. introduced Saturn, the small-car venture that was designed to neutralize Japanese competition in the United States, the subsidiary is getting an overhaul.

Suffering from slow sales and steep financial losses, Saturn will soon become just another GM vehicle nameplate, operating in the same manner as Cadillac, Buick and other brands.

GM executives have promised to invest in new Saturn models only if the division can be folded into the company’s worldwide operations without the special conditions it received upon its inauguration.

Over the weekend, Saturn’s 6,000 union workers by a wide margin approved a new labor agreement. The agreement contains a provision opening talks toward returning Saturn workers to the United Auto Workers union national contract, which covers GM’s 110,000 other hourly U.S. workers.

GM isn’t allowed to lay off Saturn workers under its current agreement. The automaker must pay workers their salary even if they are not building cars.

GM quietly signaled the union that it couldn’t continue to absorb losses indefinitely and could shut Saturn, albeit with regrets, ending everyone’s job.

“We all wanted it to work. There is a sense of loss,” said Mike Gutshall, a tool and die specialist at the Saturn plant in Spring Hill, Tenn., since 1987.

Through November, sales of Saturn vehicles totaled 251,994, a 2.6 percent decline from the first 11 months of 2002. GM doesn’t post Saturn’s financial results separately.

The company says it lost money in 11 of its past 13 years and that losses in the past year or so have topped $1 billion.

Saturn’s creation in 1985 reflected the No. 1 automaker’s determination to figure out how Toyota Motor Co.p. and Honda Motor Co. were attracting GM customers.

GM hoped to use its considerable financial clout to duplicate a Japanese-style manufacturing system. The automaker offered a no-layoff contract to induce the union’s support.

Those were the days when Detroit automakers were grumbling about the growing tide of imports from Japan and seemed mystified that anyone might choose a Honda Accord over a Buick Skylark.

Starting Saturn made no sense from a financial standpoint. It was a strategic response that only an automaker as big and rich as GM could afford.

GM initially committed more than $5 billion to a new factory, new plastic-body subcompact car models and training in Japanese manufacturing principles, such as relying on assembly workers to design their own workplace and improve efficiency.

When GM might expect a return from such an investment no one could guess. After all, the new factory was to build small cars -- which produce small profits, if any. And Saturn could build only a few hundred thousand of them from one plant.

To make matters even dicier, Saturn inflamed rivalry among GM product developers at other divisions, who resented the fledgling company’s special treatment and status.

Saturn advertising never mentioned its connection to GM. The company’s own research showed that buyers who intended to buy Honda and Toyota wouldn’t consider another model if they thought it came from GM, a once estimable automaker whose quality rating in the 1980s was poor.

Even Saturn’s distribution and retailing policies differed from those of Buick, Cadillac and others. Dealers agreed to sell Saturns according to a one-price, no haggle policy, which customers said they appreciated.

But Saturn ultimately failed in its mission, mostly because the subcompact cars never won much recognition for quality, performance or durability. A larger sedan, built in another GM plant but labeled a Saturn, wasn’t well received either.

The brand has won supporters, though, especially those customers who love the hassle-free environment of the dealerships.

The Saturn Relay minivan will go on sale next year. At the North American International Auto Show in Detroit next month, GM will show the Saturn Curve, a prototype of a sports car that it might make.

And GM would like to add new Saturn dealers and double sales within a few years.

“Saturn’s going to be fine,” said Bob Lutz, GM vice chairman. “We no longer have the luxury of keeping Saturn separate.”

Under Lutz and CEO Rick Wagoner, GM has been developing a handful of basic vehicle platforms that will be used worldwide, saving development costs. Manufacturing processes are also being standardized around the world to save money.

Roger B. Smith, GM CEO in the 1980s, believed his company could “out-Japan the Japanese” by copying their methods in a unique, American setting.

Grand and expensive strategies like Saturn often prove futile, and this case was no exception. Japanese automakers have won customers over slowly, steadily and deliberately, by producing superior quality and value.

GM no longer has the financial strength to try another Saturn. It has no choice but to win back customers one at a time.

Doron Levin is a colist for Bloomberg News. You can reach him at (248) 827-2942 or dlevin5@bloomberg.net.

Slimey

It needs an overhaul.

My wife was the unfortunate owner of a 1997 SL2.

The first generation of Saturn owners were proud of their little automobile. It was reliable, easy to self-maintain, SAFE, and because of this got a near cult-like following amongst it's owners.

She bought her second generation SL with the hopes that the car would maintain it's reputation. Saturn, at the time, was in the ranks of Lexus for customer satisfaction.

He car was just another in the tradition of American made small shit-boxes. Sure, it never broke down at the side of the road, but it did have it's share of problems. In the first three years of ownership she went through brake rotors, 4 moonroof modules, an alternator, cracked motor mounts, and two recall campaigns.

Couple her experience with bad customer care and it was an overall horrible car ownership experience.

Whatever Saturn had in it's early years has been lost. Saturn has become just another marquis in the line of GM brands. Nothing special. It's really too bad.

gavriil

About time for Saturn to come down to earth....Just because that business model worked 10 years ago, does not mean it will work in the next 10 years. Come to Lutz Saturn, come to Lutz...

Infamous425

how do they expect to compete with honda/toyota with crap interiors like the ion

chungkopi

even hyundai and kia is better than saturn..

matteichenfels

i used to have a 98 Sl1....great cars....but then came the ion....the ugliest car ever put into production...the sl's and sc's were the "bread and butter" of Saturn...they killed themselves with the intro of the ion. .....and those creepy commercials...ugh!

Red Rider

It's because their cars look like Uranus Couldn't help it (and they do )

Loseit

iTrader: (1)

gavriil

Saturn will lose the styling blues, Lutz says


By RICK KRANZ | Automotive News

Saturn's styling is bland but will get better, vows General Motors' product chief.

"We really have to crank up the sex appeal of the Saturn product line," said General Motors Vice Chairman Robert Lutz. "We can and we will."

Lutz said the direction for Saturn's future styling will be revealed later this year. A Saturn spokesman said the public will see a major change in Saturn's styling within the next 36 months.

"It is very easy for me to criticize (Saturn styling) because I wasn't there" when the decisions were made, said Lutz who was interviewed at the Detroit auto show.

Lutz said Saturn failed to make styling equal in importance to the buying and ownership experiences, two categories in which Saturn leads the industry.

"That has resulted in a degree of blandness or absence of character for some of the Saturn automobiles," Lutz said. "That is what we have to correct.

"We have to give Saturn vehicles that are compelling, to where people who have never considered Saturns say, 'Wow, that is terrific, I'm going to go to a Saturn dealer because I think I want to take a closer look.' "

In the 2006 model year, Saturn dealers are scheduled to get a front-drive sedan based on the same platform as the Chevrolet Malibu, Pontiac G6 and Saab 9-3. A new sport wagon is due in the 2007 model year.

One of the hits of the Detroit auto show is the Saturn Curve, a stylish rear-drive four-passenger concept. But a Saturn spokesman said that car does not represent the new styling direction for the brand.

Added Lutz: Why should buyers have "to choose between exciting cars in a normal dealership or uninteresting cars in a dealership that treats me well?"

Source: Autoweek

1SICKLEX

Saturn=nice reliable cars, that is all.

chef chris

Let's see what he does...

gavriil

For now...