General Motors announced today that it's pulling the plug on Saturn, amid an agreement with PAG falling-through. Concerns of a supply and a production agreement after the initial contract runs out with General Motors sent even (Roger Penske's Penske Auto Group) running the other way.I remember the Houston Auto Show in 1992. Saturn was competitive with Japan, or at least more competitive than the other GM brands. People liked the no-haggle buying process. Dealing with oily car salesmen really sucks. There were a lot of Saturn's on the road during the 1990s... then GM let the brand die.
Saturn wasn't for me, but the people I know who owned a Saturn said they were reliable, albeit boring cars. Saturn owners were loyal. Saturn was our Toyota Corolla, a car that could have been for the masses. Built right here in the US in central Tennessee.
I wonder what happened, but I am just a guy in Houston who isn't a smart, highly-paid GM exec and I don't understand the auto market like they do.
5 comments:
GM sold many solid profitable business since the early 90s...cash was being poured into Detroit and funding the union obligations....self liquidation to the point that only toxic waste is left kind of thinking...all sides have been milking this beast since WW2...anyone who acts surprised should be dismissed as someone not worth listening to.
Saturn is a brand that should have survived. But it was managed by the American auto industry who wouldn't understand a good idea if it bit them in the ass and refused to let go. Anonymous @7:41AM is correct, Detroit has been slowly dying since WWII, all we're witnessing now are the death throes of the unions that are still feeding off the corpse.
Instead of putting R&D money into Saturn GM thought Hummer would be a better investment...whoops.
Saturn was betrayed and abandoned, plain an simple.
It did start as a different car from a different company, as the slogan claimed, but eventually some at GM didn't like its independence, and fought to "bring it back to the GM fold". That is where Saturn was betrayed.
Then, when detroit could start printing money by making cheap-ass SUVs and selling for 3X cost, Saturn -- never a profit maker -- was abandoned.
I still have a '97 Saturn SL2. Plastic doors and everything.
Drove it to work this morning.
Saturn got transformed into just another GM brand.
As for unions, they're doing pretty well under the current administration and will likely continue to do so.
"Saturn got transformed into just another GM brand."
Indeed, their last series of commercials outright emphasized that they were just like all the other car dealers now (where the guy walks into a Saturn Dealership, sees ordinary cars, and walks out to check the logo on the sign).
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