Quote:
Originally Posted by DGthe3
The original Saturn was a great idea and did a lot for GM in terms of perception and import wining, it built a great reputation for service and reliability and won quite a few sales back from imports, or prevented their loss to imports. It just never realized its potential and was too expensive to operate. So they folded it into the rest of GM. The time to sell it was 10 years ago when they had an independent design studio, manufacturing plant, and dealer network. It was a pre packaged car company.
But the 'new' Saturn essentially was Oldsmobile, for about 5 years. Now its dying just like Olds did. There isn't much market share left between the entry level brands (Chevrolet) and low end lux (Buick). As a result, the two in between (Pontiac and Saturn) have been squeezed out.
Hummer, I agree on the 'Hummer Edition' GMC's. Make it their off road performance trucks, while Denali would remain as a luxury trim.
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I can see what U are saying but still have to disagree on overall necessity of Saturn in the first place. In 1990, even.. GM, Ford, and Chrysler controlled the market so much so (see Chart below) that they simply had to put force and cash into reworking existing brands rather than try and tout new ones. Saturn, for instance, wasn't purchased by consumers because the thought they were buying an American nameplate.. but quite possibly just the opposite. Many people to this day that I speak to still thought Saturn was a Japanese maker.
If GM had of taken that money it invested in Saturn.. a "from the ground up" operation.. and invested it in Chevy, Olds, or Pontiac.. or all three.. they could have snagged back buyers who were looking at Foreign nameplates. In 1985... 1985.. GM spent $3.5 BILLION on just the Spring Hill Plant alone. Also keep in mind $3.5 Billion 25 years ago would be $7.3 Billion today. If GM took $7 billion today and spent it on Chevy, Buick, Cadillac, and inadvertently thru Chevy for GMC... a Malibu would be the equivlent to an Acura TL... a Buick Lacrosse would be on the same level as Lexus's LS460.. a CTS would be equivalent to a Benz CLS.
