So I'm watching the news this morning and I see that GM has decided to kill Saturn. It was inevitable, really; GM has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt to have the business acumen of a turnip. A rotten turnip. Just in my memory they killed off the B-body and ceded the full-size market to Ford alone - just how many Chevy Tahoes does GM sell to police agencies versus the Crown Vic? Then they let the Camaro die (to be brought back to life later as a more "boutique" brand), ceding the market yet again to the blue oval's Mustang.
And now, GM has gone and killed the only good thing to come out of Detroit in the past 30+ years.
Saturn was something new, something fresh, something completely unlike the rest of the staid, status quo crap coming out of Detroit in the 1970s and 1980s. Their small cars turned the automotive world on its ear - here were well-built, dependable cars... From Detroit! They were affordable, had a strict "no haggle" policy to streamline the buying experience (further attracting first-time new car buyers formerly put off by process), and were reliable and economical.
Naturally, GM couldn't let this success continue. One of the complaints, in a business sense, for Saturn was that they allowed no upward mobility in their product line - your young buyer would pick out a coupe upon graduating college, and only have a similarly sized sedan or wagon to grow into. In 2000, under pressure to expand the product line, they began Saturn's descent into typical GM hell by taking a European Opel Vectra, slapping Saturn badges on it, and selling it as the LS series, almost immediately renamed the "L" series. Workmanship was standard GM - meaning significantly less than that of the car's immediate rivals, the Camry and Accord.
And it got much worse as the decade wore on - more and more GM products started wearing Saturn badges - the Relay (Chevy Uplander), Sky (Pontiac Solstice), and Outlook (Chevy Trailblazer) were introduced as the product line was grown artificially. Quality suffered - greatly - and sales declined. No wonder, really, as the luster was off the brand, diluted to a mere shell of its former glory as the attention to detail that made Saturn its name faded into "the New Oldsmobile".
So long, Saturn; you passed far too quickly. Be sure to say hello to the folks at Tucker in the automotive graveyard...
That is all.
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6 comments:
I thought there was some hope that Roger Penske could make it work. There was so much potential, but it is a classic case of mismanagement. Mr. Penske knows how to run a business, and he must have seen it was hopeless.
Keep in mind that GM now stands for "Government Motors" and this baby is in the lap of Barack Obama, who now runs GM, and the auto workers' union, which was GIVEN majority stock ownership.
This is THEIR decision.
....and as I recall, at least the orginal Saturn plants in Tennesee were NOT UAW plants. So now with the Union haveing a big say is it any wonder that they were not all that eger to have Penske make it work?
As to Penske, he wanted to market and sell Saturns through his dealer network, but he was not interested in actually becomeing the manufacturer and he couldn't find someway to farm it out.
Bought my first Saturn, an SC1 ("sports" coupe with a lawnmower engine) in 1996 and LOVED it.
Loved it. Loved the car. Loved the dealership. No bad experiences in 5 years. NONE.
Treaded it in at the same dealership in 2001 for a 2001 SC2 - same-ish car, slightly more oomph.
Love love loved it. Would have loved, a couple of years ago when I was looking for an SUV (Minnesota + house = Need a 4WD hauler) to remain "in the family", but their only SUV was a girly-box Vue. Couldn't make the move.
Then when my dad went to run with all the other dads on a farm, I got his Jeep Grand Cherokee and I had my 4WD hauler. Slurps the gasoline like me & my buddies drink rum, but it's a great car to have.
Still and all, I had a great ten years with Saturn cars and would have loved to do more. They were indeed different.
Indeed the UAW had a lot to do with killing Saturn. Sad, really. No doubt some other manufacturer will take the TN plants over and make fine non UAW built, cars there.
I saw a Saturn Sky in a local parking lot, damn, those things look pretty sexy. Like to take a turn in that, but it ain't gonna happen now...
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