vid: 1990 Saturn Spring Hill Tennessee Story

[91 s-10baja]

On January 7th 1985, the Saturn Corporation was officially announced as a wholly-owned subsidiary of GM. It was set up to operate independently, but to have the financial support of its parent company. Interestingly, the concept of the Saturn car was originally aimed at snob appeal, based on GM’s still-myopic assumption that people who bought foreign cars were all snobs...


1990 Saturn Spring Hill Promo

[yello430]

Saturn......here is one for that brand:

[Ambalanche]

I was involved with Saturn for 9 years! The only way I wanted to work for a dealershi....Retailer. Been to Springhill twice! Hate GM never learned anything from Saturn. It truely was different in the early years. The cars were great cars as far as reliability went, not as far as people desired them. As per usual, GM let Saturn die on the vine, and when they gave them great cars, they tried to move them upmarket to fast and then GM's demise happened and Saturn died. Loved my Redline Sky! Great car! had a base SL also. not a bad car, just nothing better than the Japanese which is what Saturn was supposed to be better than!! Anyway, the initial thought that was Saturn was great! The 99, the hope! It couldn't materialize from what GM was then. I'm still proud to have been a very small part of it!

[GM-Joe]

Actually, GM was right. Most people I know that drive imports do so because of their snobbery or influence from people in their social circles.

A former manager of mine told me a story of how his kids had to buy clothes at Lazarus instead of Gold Circle because even though it was the same brand and cost more, they didn't want their friends to know they shopped at Gold Circle. And for those who are curious about Lazarus and Gold Circle, Lazarus was bought out by Macy's about 10 years ago and Gold Circle is similar to Kohl's; so it's the difference between Macy's and Kohl's.

I get looked down at work pulling in and leaving the parking lot in my GP, but I could care less. I like the fact at 80k miles I have replaced two tires and added 1 quart of power steering liquid and nothing else. I also like that I support the home team instead of trying to "fit in" to certain cliches.

[Rocket 88]

My Saturn Vue V6 AWD was such a useful vehicle. Miss great customer service and getting my car serviced properly and washed every time I brought her in. Miss having dent resistant body panels and a good ownership experience... It's amazing such greatness could be built and then ruined.

[SCCA1995]

I find myself in the love/hate relationship wih Saturn. GM started Saturn to appeal to import buyers; something they also tried with Oldsmobile after 1996. The Aurora was the start of this & in the end, GM didn't see enough sales to continue the brand yet Saturn soldiered on. I despised Saturn as a whole for years & now for financial reasons, own an SL (much like the one in the first picture). It had a "hard knock life" before it became mine. I haven't exactly been much nicer, & yet I've fixed it myself. It would take an hour to type & have you read what I've done for it, but it's still going, despite any lack of maintainence on my part.

[demonspeed]

I recall watching this at Saturn "onboarding." I worked for Sutliff who was one of the original dealers to hop on with Saturn. It was a good experience and really planted the seed of my extremely high expectations at the dealer level. If it could be done at Saturn, it can be done everywhere -- they just need to "want" to change.

[germeezy1]

GM in many ways did the same thing with Saab, and that is move away from the core base that bought these vehicles chasing those who do not. Lexus today in many ways has shown a sales erosion because of the exact same idea.

[Seneca88]

Brilliant idea by GM , so sad they destroyed it themselves......

[91 s-10baja]

I will always have a soft spot for the original Saturn's. My first new car buying experience involved a 1995 SL2. I could not believe how well i was treated, I was nineteen, and I was regarded as well as anyone. any age. The car may not have been class leading, but the marketing worked on me, i knew early on with the creation of the marque, that it would be my first new car. I traded that car in on a 'new' for 97 built to order SC2, after only 18 months of ownership of my 95. The wait was daunting, and my frequent stops into the dealership evolved into a last name greeting every time, by almost every employee, and that made this young man feel pretty special. I cared for my initial Saturn so well that when it was traded in, the placed my aqua marine 95 in the showroom, as one of their first certified used vehicles. That made a proud owner, even more honored to be connected with this brand. The marketing was true. Every customer was royalty. This method, no question, should have transferred to every division within GM, either during Saturn's tenure, or at minimum after its cancellation.

[Rocket 88]

That made a proud owner, even more honored to be connected with this brand. The marketing was true. Every customer was royalty. This method, no question, should have transferred to every division within GM, either during Saturn's tenure, or at minimum after its cancellation.

My experience at most GM dealerships has been fair to good regardless of brand; but nothing like at Saturn. That was the best. My Dodge dealer treats me like I stole the car from him.

[iluvcamaros]

I find this so bittersweet as a southerner born in 1990. So much optimism at GM with the creation of Saturn. Now I see it also meant great change for a small southern town too. My father raised me on Chevrolet -- so initially I had little respect for Saturn. On my own I learned what the brand meant for GM and what potential it had. Really it is sad that GM had to start a subsidiary just to build a decent small car and provide a pleasurable car buying experience. This should have been happening at Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac! The fact that they had to "start over" with Saturn was the real problem.

Still find it hard to believe that I've witnessed the death of Oldsmobile, Saturn, and Pontiac!

[91 s-10baja]

My experience at most GM dealerships has been fair to good regardless of brand; but nothing like at Saturn. That was the best. My Dodge dealer treats me like I stole the car from him.

Agreed, my Cadillac dealer experience (despite buying my car out of state) has been nothing but fantastic. Likewise with the one time i took my baja in for work (torsion bar mount), but nothing has equalled my experience at my Saturn dealerships. Not yet anyway!

[SCCA1995]

Still find it hard to believe that I've witnessed the death of Oldsmobile, Saturn, and Pontiac!

Try to imagine owning any (or in my case, all) of those brands & getting nostalgic. The '91 Saturn I've got I've already spoken of. And if you remove the '05 GTO from my list, I've still had a '78 Pontiac Phoenix & '78 Olds Cutlass 442. I kick myself these days for not holding on to them as I now look for a respectable version of either.

[yello430]

I too find it difficult to believe the loss of Olds,Saturn & Pontiac.
Spent a better part of my career designing for those 3 brands.
But I guess it's time to move on....