The Biggest Losers @ $4.00

[GMC-70]

Originally Posted by Saturn69

Not true. I, for one, would go to Ford or Honda before I'd step foot in a Chevy stealership. I buy Saturn because I know I'm not going to get screwed (mentally or financially) like I would at any other GM stealership.

I see your point but personally I feel the opposite. I would rather haggle for the final price of a car and get my best out the door price rather then to have a one price for all strategy.

Maybe Saturn has the best strategy for the not as informed customer or customers who simple do not want to be bothered. But, if you go to any dealer well informed then who actually gets screwed? I for one got my HHR for a steal and I felt like I robbed GM--not the other way around.

That simply would not have happened at a Saturn dealership.

[Ed Arcuri]

My wife and I attend a Saturday morning tai chi class in downtown Denver. (Yeah, I know, I thought I was going to learn a second language). The parking lot is always full.
I have observed the cars driven by these urbanites - as I did on a recent trip to California. Among the myriad Japanese and Korean cars were sprinklled a few Saturns. It just may be that Saturn's emphasis on "rethinking American" is confusing their potential customers. I'm convinced that many of them didn't know that the Saturn was an American car!
Just a thought: mayhap the origin of the car and its association with GM might be downplayed to good effect.
Cheers,
Ed Arcuri
P.S. I rented a Sostice while I was in California. Folks showed lots of interest in that car.

[Saturn69]

Originally Posted by GMC-70

I see your point but personally I feel the opposite. I would rather haggle for the final price of a car and get my best out the door price rather then to have a one price for all strategy.

Maybe Saturn has the best strategy for the not as informed customer or customers who simple do not want to be bothered. But, if you go to any dealer well informed then who actually gets screwed? I for one got my HHR for a steal and I felt like I robbed GM--not the other way around.

That simply would not have happened at a Saturn dealership.

What's wrong with paying a fair market price for a car? You don't haggle on a refrigerator, why haggle on a car? Tradition, that's why. I have no problem paying the price on the windshield. I am not an uninformed customer, either. I often have to show features to the sales people or correct them on specifications. I know the invoice prices of the cars, and I feel the markup is a fair commission to the salesman and the retailer. Everyone at my Saturn retailer (it's not a dealership, they treat sales as a retail purchase....which they are) knows me by name, I've recommended them to 5 people who purchased cars from them - my boss bought an Ion sedan AND a Vue Hybrid on the same day - and I'll continue to go there as long as possible. We all have our reasons for liking whichever division we like.

[slowinthefastlane]

Originally Posted by wescoent

Wow... I don't know what the heck kind of mutant MBA's the West Coast is turning out, but it'd probably take any consultant worth his degree about 5 minutes to eliminate this function. Talk about a waste of time and reduction in productivity. Every time you guys get trimmed down during the lean times, an accountant's head probably explodes when he sees stuff like that.

I'm 100% certain that the extra process was put in place by a consultant to reduce the company's exposure to RSI litigation. Guess what - the 1 in 10000 employees that will try to sue will still try to sue no matter what the process is.

[jbernie]

Originally Posted by PeterPuck

I'd like to know how VW was so successful in the eighties at going from low-quality cars like the Rabbit directly to well-regarded compacts like the Jetta and Golf. I don't recall people having misgivings about paying big bucks for those vehicles, after decades of VW junk.

Given the opinions many American's have of the Detroit 3, it would seem anything not made by them is a luxury car that will never ever fail them no matter who made it or what the actual reliability is.

[D C]

What a stupid f'n list.

Saturn as a whole is a loser because of $4 gas? I'm thinking that with a 33mpg Aura, gas prices don't have a bloody thing to do with it.

And the entirety of Chrysler is affected by gas prices?