One problem with rolling Saturn into Chevrolet may be this... Saturn was created as a stand alone offering that was to be perceived as being outside the normal GM heirarchy, indeed not GM at all (of course we all know it was and is GM) and as such was intended to appeal to import intenders who would never consider a Chevy or other GM brand for that matter.

That said, how do you move the import intenders into a Saturn-***-Chevrolet showroom, if they would never have stepped foot inside the door in the first place? Could you funnel the existing customer base that Saturn has into said Chevrolet showroom given the established history that Saturn has? That could be a tough balancing act since many of these customers would never enter a Chevy dealership. The big question is, would they follow Saturn as it is now, into Saturn as it would be under the scheme you outline?

 

Saturn on a Chevy lot? Not gonna happen. Different franchise agreements and different customers.

The issue isn't the number of brands at GM, it's making sure there's enough attractive product that fit the market the brand intends to appeal to.

There's strong GMC brand loyalists and they don't want a Chevrolet.

Oldsmobile went away because despite much investment in the cars and some fine ones among the lineup, the buying public didn't respond sufficiently to justify the business case.

Dumping Buick makes no sense given the small but very loyal customer base, very strong quality and satisfaction numbers. One of Buick's challenges is the lack of product range. That's being addressed.

Leaner to be efficient is fine if there's business reasons to pursure slicing and dicing. It doesn't make sense to cut that which will cost you money in the long run.

 

All intresting points.

I'd say that Chevrolet should adopt most of Saturn's customer relation practices. At the same time, what's to say that cars badged as Saturns would have to give up the "no haggle" pricing? Samll cars have narrow to non existant price margins to begin with. Why not have set pricing on smaller cars, while the larger ones continue, and be phased over to no haggle over time if it continues to be popular?

Another benefit to folding Saturn into Chevy is not only does GM not need to spend money to make Saturn a full car line, people moving up from Saturns will go to Chevrolet. Saturn could be used as a way to get people who never considered Chevrolets into the same dealership that sells Chevrolets. Perhaps even having designated Saturn sales reps and service reps.

The Saturn buyer who had a good experience and moved over to Chevrolet when they needed more car, might be more willing to look at Buick-Pontiac before they check Lexus or Infinity. Others would move on to Cadillac-Hummer over BMW, Mercedes, or Land Rover.

I wouldn't shut down Saturn dealers or any GM dealer not in the bottom 10% in customer service.

 

Once again, Saturn is a corporation, not a division like Chevrolet, Pontiac, etc.