Saturn a Victim of Its Own Success and Poor Attention from GM

Everyone knew that GM had too many brands, even after killing Oldsmobile several years ago. Few thought that Saturn would be killed, though. After all, the Saturn concept sought to challenge the Japanese in the 80's by making cars in America that were fuel efficient, reliable, affordable, and as fun to buy as they were to drive. The SL series that was introduced during the Reagan administration was an ugly car by anyone's standards, but Saturn's anti-Detroit attitude toward manufacturing and no-haggle pricing caught on with customers. As Saturn developed over the years, though, they seemed to become victims of their own success. The best ideas from Saturn were quickly taken and put into other GM brands, especially Chevrolet. For example, the Cobalt is a rebranded Ion, the Equinox is a VUE, and nearly all the GM brands have something based on the Aura. The customer favorite Ion (descendant of the SL) was discontinued and replaced by the ugly hatchback Astra; thus if you want an Ion you now had to buy a Chevy Cobalt. Saturn models were moved from Spring Hill so that GM could bring struggling models like the ugly crossover Traverse to the Tennessee plant's productive work force. This was a turnoff to Saturn consumers who expected their car to be made in Spring Hill, TN. While GM was busy rebranding Saturn vehicles, it neglected to rebrand any GMC or Chevrolet pickups for Saturn dealers, which hurt them immensely. As for no-haggle pricing, it was adopted by many dealers of all manufacturers, as the modern consumer with Internet access in his pocket no longer fears getting taken by an unscrupulous salesman. My last vehicle purchase was a full size Ford pickup I got at a no-haggle price, which is itself a reflection on the reasons for Saturn's demise. The question now is whether or not current Saturn owners will support GM or switch to Japanese brands. I suppose our next family car could come from Nissan's Smyrna, TN plant.