The death of Saturn
 

In case no one has noticed it yet, GM has been quietly killing Saturn.

The exclusive Saturn plant? Dead.
The plastic Saturn body panels? Dead.
The restyled Saturn Ion? Dead.

Saturn's dealer network and name is the only thing surviving.

Saturn is becoming the American name of Opel, and will become what is probally the only legitimate international brand sold by a US automaker.

Most all vehicles will be shared.
The grille will be shared.
The pricing structure (Saturn moves up to Opel levels) is shared.

This "restructuring" will help GM Europe as well as Saturn to become profitable, potentially cut GM's design and engineering costs in half over the 2 brands, and will further build on Saturn's equity as a "[i]Foreign Brand[/i"] (most Saturn buyers think Saturn is and/or have considered buying foreign brands).

I mentioned it in another thread, but I figured this should have it's own, since I don't think anyone noticed, and GM is doing this in a pretty deliberate & methodical way.

Re: The death of Saturn
 

Your 2 years late on this one ;) -

March of 2004 http://web.camaross.com/forums/showt...highlight=opel

Sept of 2003 - http://www.saturnfans.com/forums/sho...highlight=opel

Re: The death of Saturn
 

The North American exclusive Saturn is dead, but to the avg. North American Saturn is booming. Since Americans don't see Opels on a dealy basis and Opels have great styling I'd say this is a great move to both save money and make Saturn more atractive. Now they just need some of those slick diesels used in Europe.

Re: The death of Saturn
 

ahem :confused:

Re: The death of Saturn
 

If Saturn ends up with issues, it will be about something other than product.

Saturn kicked and screamed way too long over a resistance toward metal bodywork.

The Saturn will have good product in the pipe... Product, product, product....

Re: The death of Saturn
 

Why didn't they just use the name Opel then?
I can't tell you how many people have LOVED the Sky or Aura but can't get past the Saturn name. Seems like it'd just be easier to rename them Opel and start fresh.

Re: The death of Saturn
 

They better bring the Astra VXR here unchanged :bow:

Its the best possible thing that GM coulda done for Saturn . The brand GM always intented to be a Euro alternative/contender is finally gonna be just that .....and damn good one too . Once people see the product , I think they will wholeheartedly warm up to the Saturn name . If Hyndui (sp?) can beat the cheap perception .....and they are , the Saturn brand with its new face can surely make believers out of some skeptics .

Re: The death of Saturn
 

Wow sure didn't see that one coming! Very interesting to hear and see the views on the subject. Guess this is G.M.'s way of trying to stay afloat!

Re: The death of Saturn
 

Dent resistance panels are so great though.

Re: The death of Saturn
 

I don't think I am very smart, but I thought this was implied? lol

Re: The death of Saturn
 

:bow:

Re: The death of Saturn
 

The problem is that now, Saturn dealers are turing into @ssh*les just like every other dealer now that they have "product". Case in point:

A Toyota owner that frequents the gas station my dad works at wanted a Sky - the first American product he was going to buy in years. He went to the Saturn dealer, ordered it for sticker price and put $500 down. My dad said he was VERY excited to get this car. My dad told him to stop in as soon as he gets it because there has been no Skys on the road here (NJ).

The guy shows up on Saturday with a 2006 Mustang V-6 convertible (at least it was American). The Saturn dealer called him on Friday and said "I have good news and bad news. Good news your Sky came in. Bad news is that we sold it out from under you."

The dealer said that they "were so excited" that a Sky came in they forgot it was sold and sold it do someone that was in the dealership the "second it rolled off the trailer." Obviusly they found a buy who would pay over sticker for it and said screw the customer. Not very Saturn-like huh?

They offered to order the guy (no Saturn dealership would trade a Sky obviously) another Sky or give him back is deposit. Needless to say, the guy got his deposit back, went accross the street to the Ford dealership and bought a Mustang and will never look at Saturn again.

Someone has to pull the reins in on these scumbags before they ruin one of the few good things GM has going for them - Saturn dealer reputation.

And for those in NJ area, stay away from Saturn of North Brunswick.

-Walt

Re: The death of Saturn
 

Definitely something to be careful of, but couldn't it be possible that they did simply make a mistake? Not sure how, I guess a paperwork screwup, but still... After all, they offered to order him another (I assume at the same agreed upon price). So they were still planning to order and sell this guy a Sky at MSRP (or whatever price he had agreed to). It isn't like they told him to get lost because they plan to sell all their Skys above MSRP. Right?

That would absolutely suck, and I can't blame him for checking out the Mustang, but they really are two totally different cars.

:shrug:

I'd love to drive a Mustang vert, though not a V6. Tell him he shoulda got the GT. ;) :D

Re: The death of Saturn
 

Yeah, I would think Opel would do well here. Eliminate Saturn and rename to Opel, cool "Euro" cars, and a FRESH NEW NAME! (Could mean more then we think...)...

Re: The death of Saturn
 

Saturn is not dead........far from it. It will have new product, altho. the dent resistant panels are probably not in the cards. (I personally love the dent resistant panels, however, the body gaps have to be larger in that dark colors on hot days in Phoenix mean that they expand........we had a 'certain' vehicle under development that has composite panels......the dark colored pre-production cars at the Mesa proving grounds had a problem on hot days........the doors would not open the whole way.....they'd bind at the front fender!)

I'm sorry to hear about the issue at the dealer in NJ, but that's not the norm. ON the contrary, Saturn dealers have one of the highest satisfaction ratings in the industry. There's a reason for that: when we appointed Saturn dealers, they went thru a very lengthy process in order to be awarded a Sales and Service Agreement for Saturn. When you start a new Division or company, you start with a fresh dealer body. Existing Divisions or Manufacturers are not able to do that. Francise laws in all 50 states pretty much dictate who our dealers will be (as they are sold)