[cire_1wb]

"I agree with you that Saturn was a pointless venture. If GM found themselves to be uncompetitive with the Asian import brands in the '80s, it should have focused on fixing the problems within the scope of its existing brand structure. They could have committed themselves to building better products and improving customer relations without launching another brand to do it. What's even worse was that GM didn't stop with their misguided attempt to launch Saturn. They went on to purchase a financially troubled European company (Saab) and an off-road vehicle company (Hummer). If GM was struggling with building competitive products and retaining their customer base with their 6 core brands (Chevy, Pontiac, GMC, Olds, Buick, and Cadillac), then exactly how did they plan to do it by adding 3 more divisions? It's unfortunate that GM squandered the potential of Saab and Saturn, but it's even more pathetic that they squandered the potential of their 6 core brands prior to launching Saturn or acquiring Saab. If they would have properly taken care of their core brands in the first place, then launching Saturn or acquiring Saab wouldn't have been viewed as necessary by the corporation in the first place. GM definitely needs to do now what they have failed to do in the past: streamline/downsize their North American operations. Once they do this, then they need to focus on clearly defining the brands that remain after downsizing, creating coherent product strategies for these brands that reinforce their position and purpose in the market, ensuring that the products are competitive and exceed the customers' expectations, and improving customer relations and providing market leading customer service."

Oops! I almost forgot about Geo, the Asian import based small vehicle sub-brand of Chevrolet (which Toyota copied with Scion). GM could have saved quite a bit of money by labeling this venture as Saturn since both brands were aimed at targeting import buyers. Why launch an entirely separate division with a dedicated plant and dealer base when you could simply rebadge Asian imports and sell them under a sub-brand within Chevy dealerships? At least with Geo, GM only spent money on signage/advertising/badging (although these were really unnecessary expenditures also). It didn't require the large investment and commitment that Saturn did. Still, GM spent too much money, time, and effort trying to think "outside the box" instead of simply upgrading/improving/evolving what it was doing to recapture the consideration and loyalty of the buying public.