GM: "We Won't Kill Saturn in the Next 30 Days"

Robert Farago
by Robert Farago

How reassuring. Not to taxpayers, obviously. We’re supporting this dead brand with $13.4b of our tax money– if you don’t include GM’s share of the Department of Energy’s $25b retooling loans (remember those?). Still, Saturn dealers must have been pleased as punch to hear The General claim– at The National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) conference in N’orlins– that it will continue to build models for Re-Thinkers through 2012. Why “in some cases,” they’ll keep creating Saturnalia until 2013! After the meeting, GM Marketing Maven Mark LaNeve told Automotive News [sub] “We have all the current products funded. What we told them was the biggest issue is slimming down our product cadence. We don’t have enough finances to fund all these brands.” What new product cadence would that be? “I’m talking about vehicles with a fluid, uniform design theme, top-notch engines, dynamic chassis philosophy and a focus on detailed interior and exterior execution.” GM Car Czar Maximum Bob Lutz, “Product Will Reign,” 2005. Two years later, via Edmunds, “If this lineup doesn’t work, I’m out of ideas.”

Robert Farago
Robert Farago

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  • Akear Akear on Jan 26, 2009

    I have a friend who is working at a saturn dealer. He says they are selling about 2 cars a week. However, slow sales have allowed him to study for his A+ certification exam at the dealership. He passed the exam and hopefully can leave the dealership and start a career in computer repair and networking. There is also a college kid there who has become a tetris expert. When he gets bored of playing tetris he gets up and walks aimlessly around the sea of unsold cars. Can internet porn be far away? How else do you spend 8 hours.

  • Raskolnikov Raskolnikov on Jan 26, 2009

    It's a shame for the Astra. GM finally listens to reason and brings over a great little car from Europe...only they don't market it AT ALL and then kill off the entire brand.

  • Aggrazel Aggrazel on Jan 26, 2009

    The american automobile industry will continue to fail as long as morons like this guy are running them.

  • Ponchoman49 Ponchoman49 on Jan 26, 2009

    Of the 4 main core reasons for Saturns existance: no haggle pricing, superior no pressure sales environment, plastic panals and a totally different approach to making cars only the no pressure sale experience has remained. The plastic panals are out, no haggle pricing is long gone and most of Saturns lineup has turned into rebadged Chevys or other GM products along with all the baggage that goes with them. The writing is on the wall for Saturn. With such a small dealer network and a reputation for small cheap noisy cars with wide panal gaps, Saturn is never going to reach sales goals with a badge engineered lineup. Eliminating Saturn and Hummer will give the Genral much needed resources for ailing brands such as Buick and Pontiac.

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