Saturn is positioned for Growth over the next Five Years.

[packardlust]

I found this news item at Lefthand News.

Although the U.S. car market is expected to take a downturn in 2008, General Motors is confident that its Saturn brand will continue to see growth. In fact, GM thinks that Saturn's momentum should carry the brand through at least five years of continual growth.
More at the address below

http://www.leftlanenews.com/saturn-t...html#more-6609

[coaster.n3rd]

Uh-oh.... here comes another "burn down Saturn" thread.

Not much info in that article other than Saturn has been doing well.

[montrealvue]

Not much substance to the article, pretty much says what we already know. I can't see how Saturn wouldn't grow with the amount of new models it receives . Now where is that Aura Wagon Jill was saying would be here as an '09 model ....

[Elk]

“General Motors is confident that its Saturn brand will continue to see growth. In fact, GM thinks that Saturn's momentum should carry the brand through at least five years of continual growth.”

Didn’t they say that 5 years ago, why yes, yes they did:
“Lajdziak's growth goals are tough ones. GM chief Rick Wagoner says he is looking for 50,000 more sales from Saturn this year than last and 170,000 more than that by 2005. Taking Saturn from 280,000 last year to 500,000 in 2005 would put the brand about even with Pontiac and on the same growth path as hot brands Volkswagen and Hyundai in the USA.”
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/...0-saturn_x.htm

Originally Posted by coaster.n3rd

Uh-oh.... here comes another "burn down Saturn" thread.

Of course it is. With a little more searching I could find some stories from back in 1990 that sound just like the one posted at the start of this thread. It doesn’t take a genius to realize this story is just like all the other ones that have come up over the past 18 years. Everyone is getting sick of watching GM continue to throw more into that money pit.

[cdp326]

Originally Posted by montrealvue

Not much substance to the article, pretty much says what we already know. I can't see how Saturn wouldn't grow with the amount of new models it receives . Now where is that Aura Wagon Jill was saying would be here as an '09 model ....

When does the new Insignia debut? Hopefully they'll show the wagon version then as well and confirm it for North America....
Hmm...which would you rather see here, montrealvue: Zafira or Vectra wagon? Mazda's dropping the 6 wagon and I think I see more promise with the Zafira; more and more people are preferring to sit up high nowadays. OTOH, VW sells the Passat wagon....

[montrealvue]

Originally Posted by cdp326

When does the new Insignia debut? Hopefully they'll show the wagon version then as well and confirm it for North America....
Hmm...which would you rather see here, montrealvue: Zafira or Vectra wagon? Mazda's dropping the 6 wagon and I think I see more promise with the Zafira; more and more people are preferring to sit up high nowadays. OTOH, VW sells the Passat wagon....

I'd love to see an Aura wagon but with Bob Lutz on an anti wagon campaign, it will likely be a Zafira or variant thereof. It would sense make for Saturn to differentiate itself (yes, we've heard that 1000+ times) by adding a model that stays close to it's Opel roots. Keeping with Lutz's plan to stay as a "North American Opel store". Maybe a Zafira VXR? .

[cdp326]

Originally Posted by montrealvue

I'd love to see an Aura wagon but with Bob Lutz on an anti wagon campaign, it will likely be a Zafira or variant thereof. It would sense make for Saturn to differentiate itself (yes, we've heard that 1000+ times) by adding a model that stays close to it's Opel roots. Keeping with Lutz's plan to stay as a "North American Opel store". Maybe a Zafira VXR? .

Well, IIRC the Aura wagon was planned to be the [likely next-gen] Vectra wagon all along.

[CrunkedRL]

Originally Posted by Elk

Of course it is. With a little more searching I could find some stories from back in 1990 that sound just like the one posted at the start of this thread. It doesn’t take a genius to realize this story is just like all the other ones that have come up over the past 18 years. Everyone is getting sick of watching GM continue to throw more into that money pit.

Well it really wasn't a whole lot GM had invested in bringing new products to Saturn. The Aura is a variant of the previous gen Vectra and G6, the new Vue was designed and engineerd in co-op with GM's South Korean and European subsidiaries and the Astra was already existing over in Europe. I don't think it took very much to give Saturn a version of the Lambda's either since their minivan had been discontinued. All of their vehilces now share a platform mate with some other GM product. This has cut cost substantially which is the reason why GM was able to accelerate Saturn's product turn around. Now if only this could translate into more sales. But lets not forget this year's auto sales probably will not be that great for anyone in the industry especially if this recession gets worse in the U.S.

[EldoFan]

I could give a **** less about how much 'new' product Saturn recieves.......unless GM learns how to advertise Saturn and oh.....maybe enlarge it's dealer network slightly, their sales are going to grow about as fast as my toenails...

[packardlust]

I guess I didn't make the point clear enough. Nearly 13% increase in sales plus ( and a big plus) the transaction price increased nearly $7000 dollars. I'd say it has been a couple successful years for Saturn. These are numbers that are hard to refute....

[coaster.n3rd]

Originally Posted by Elk

“General Motors is confident that its Saturn brand will continue to see growth. In fact, GM thinks that Saturn's momentum should carry the brand through at least five years of continual growth.”

Didn’t they say that 5 years ago, why yes, yes they did:
“Lajdziak's growth goals are tough ones. GM chief Rick Wagoner says he is looking for 50,000 more sales from Saturn this year than last and 170,000 more than that by 2005. Taking Saturn from 280,000 last year to 500,000 in 2005 would put the brand about even with Pontiac and on the same growth path as hot brands Volkswagen and Hyundai in the USA.”
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/...0-saturn_x.htm


Of course it is. With a little more searching I could find some stories from back in 1990 that sound just like the one posted at the start of this thread. It doesn’t take a genius to realize this story is just like all the other ones that have come up over the past 18 years. Everyone is getting sick of watching GM continue to throw more into that money pit.

Define "everyone" because I don't feel that way so that sort of throws your theory that everyone is sick of this right out the window doesn't it?

Also I would like to add that we have heard from GM that each generation of Malibu at launch was just as bit of a real contender against the imports as other cars and that has only been the case one time out of three gens. So using your very flawed logic, GM should shut down the money pit that is Chevrolet.

So what do you have to say to Saturn's growth in 2007? Just a fluke? Seen it before?



Reposting in support of:

Originally Posted by packardlust

I guess I didn't make the point clear enough. Nearly 13% increase in sales plus ( and a big plus) the transaction price increased nearly $7000 dollars. I'd say it has been a couple successful years for Saturn. These are numbers that are hard to refute....

So how exactly is Saturn a "money pit"

[Koasterking]

For it to continue its growth, Saturn should increase two things.

1. Its dealership network. In my area people have to drive 30-45 minutes to get to a Saturn dealership. Having more will increase public awareness about the brand.

2. It needs to increase it product line up. IMO, it has successfully replaced the "rubbermaid" junk it had before, but now it needs to have a more diverse line-up to meet what people are looking for. Examples: Corsa, Astra redline, Astra twintop, Aura wagon, etc.

[EldoFan]

Originally Posted by Koasterking

For it to continue its growth, Saturn should increase two things.

2. It needs to increase it product line up. IMO, it has successfully replaced the "rubbermaid" junk it had before, but now it needs to have a more diverse line-up to meet what people are looking for. Examples: Corsa, Astra redline, Astra twintop, Aura wagon, etc.

Two Barriers to this:

1) Safety Regulations (that are getting increasingly anal in this country)

2) Bob Putz........he may be a 'car czar', but he's got one hell of an anti-wagon mentality and will shiver like a little b**** anytime CAFE is brought up (which is why there won't be a G8 wagon....)

[ctaylorzl1]

Originally Posted by Koasterking

1. Its dealership network. In my area people have to drive 30-45 minutes to get to a Saturn dealership. Having more will increase public awareness about the brand.

I think that is Saturns biggest hurdels! Eveyone knows where their closest Chevy dealer, most could even tell you where their nearest BPG dealer is. But ask them where their closest Saturn dealer is and 9 out of 10 pople probably couldnt say! Saturn makes cool cars IMO, and few people actually know about them because of lack of public exposure, sure anyone can drive around and drive through their local Chevy lot and browse, but what about Saturn? I bet if they could there would be alot more Saturn sales, I prefer the Saturn models to the other GM models! Aura to Malibu, Outlook to Enclave, Sky to Solstice, Vue to Nox. I think alot of other would to if they has real life exposure to them.

[t-rex]

Originally Posted by EldoFan

I could give a **** less about how much 'new' product Saturn recieves.......unless GM learns how to advertise Saturn and oh.....maybe enlarge it's dealer network slightly, their sales are going to grow about as fast as my toenails...

This is a problem hurting Saturn exponentially more than its lack of dealers. Customers aren't going to bother looking for where the dealership's located if they don't know the product even exists.

I bet if you took a public poll in a mall or something similar, three quarters of the people would still think Saturn only made small plastic-bodied cars...

I predict the Astra will fail, and fail badly. GM should have offered only the three-door hatch (Americans seem to like hatchbacks only if they only have two doors) and the LWB four-door sedan, not to mention the wagon and Twintop.