Saturn sales are off 39.2% when compared to March 03. When Chevy launches the new Cobalt and Equinox it certainly wont be helping Saturn (Ion and Vue) any since there are far more Chevy dealers (closer to potenital customers) and Chevy has a larger advertising budget as well.

http://www.gm.com/company/investor_i...on=open&page=6

 

i've said it before, and i'll keep saying it until it is done.

KILL IT.

 

Maybe if they actually sold Saturns with chevys and other cars instead of having individual saturn dealers like they do around here, they would get some sold. I dunno.

 

Although GM uses Saturn as their "import" brand, IMO there still isn't a reason to have that brand as long as they have Chevy and Pontiac.

 

I dont think I will ever buy a Saturn, I wouldn't miss it..

 

There are a few "behind the scenes" reasons why Saturn sales are plummeting (Vue specifically). Look for sales to be pretty low until around October.

As we have discussed here, Saturn will not remain in it's current form for more than the next 4 years. Changes are a comin'.

 

Since you are one of the folks in the know what have you heard about Saturn turning into Vauxhall or Opel, that you can discuss? Also I have heard from a lot of people that Saturn will get a car very similar to the Vauxhall Lightning concept shown last year. If this is true then Solstice just took a big step DOWN on my list of cars. The lightning ROCKS .

 

I can't really share any info other than that Saturn is going to get a version of Kappa (we all knew that) and it will not be the Curve. The Vue is also getting a MCE for '06 and a full redesign for the end of the decade. The Ion is getting a facelift (not a major redesign I don't think) in the next 2 years. All these things are giving Saturn a chance to "take a different direction."

 

Yeah, straight down.

It's time for Saturn to join Oldsmobile.

 

I agree - why prolong the suffering.......

 

well, just because its GM's import brand so to say, doesn't mean they have to design them like an import, and why on earth are all the saturns the same color, that green that just screams look at me, i was cool when it was 1992. why cant they just make hte cars look better. no one is even going to care if it gets 40mpg if their friends are laughing at them. and no, putting a spoiler and ground effect on an existing model will not help. rebuild the style!

 

In a way, I agree with you. Saturn's whole purpose from the begining was to set a new way of doing business that the rest of GM would follow. On all fronts it failed:
* GM didn't adopt Saturn-like customer policies.
* GM ignored the brand for a decade, supplying it with only one modest reskinning.
* It brought in people who saw cars as appliances.

It was successful in one area, the buyers it did bring in would have brought a Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla. Being that the Saturn engines were pretty noisy and the quality was only slightly better than a good Chevy, it's more marketing and perception than actual car itself. The plastic body panels are also a great idea.

But, whatever changes GM has planned for Saturn over the next couple of years, I suspect this will be Saturn's last chance. But being that they will become rebodies versions of other GM cars, have large SUVs, and loose the plastc skins, I really wonder why GM simply didn't send Saturn's cars to Chevrolet.

 

It's sad when all the "import people" that GM was suppose to attratch with saturn that I know of only think of dent resistant panels when they think of saturn. KILL IT, more money to improve Pontiac and Chevy.

 

I live about 5 miles from the Spring Hill Saturn plant in Tennessee. I would also have to say kill it. I mean it is really bad when you have one of the most modern factories that GM owns has to be shut down 6 times this year because of slow sales. That hurts people working hourly jobs, and they are talking about layoffs.

The reason Saturns are not selling, they look abosulety terrilbe
They are also mediocre cars, not any better than other GM cars, Fords, Chryslers, and definetly not on the same level as the Japs. I may be wrong on this, but I don't think they offer as good of incentives as they do on other GM cars. And the whole idea of buying a car and not haggling over the price is ridiculus. Paying sticker is retarded, you save money by haggling.

Now what they should build at Spring Hill is the new RWD cars that GM will roll out in a few years. I bet that would keep the assembly line busy.