Will Saturn Once Again Become An Independent Car Company?
When founded more than two decades ago, Saturn was billed as a different kind of car company. Since then, the brand has been pulled into the GM fold, losing its originality. Now, GM wants to discard the brand to the chagrin of Saturn faithful.
When General Motors launched the Saturn Motor Company in the mid-1980s,
they made it clear that the company would operate as a separate entity, outside of the vast network of GM brands. GM wanted to start from scratch with Saturn, allowing it to have its own factory, dealer network and employ its own workers.
Saturn quickly benefited from its independence as the company received its own line of compact cars, the S Series, attracting fresh buyers who would never had considered a GM product previously. Unfortunately, the experiment didn't last and the Saturn brand was eventually pulled directly into the GM network.
Fast forward to 2009 and the news from General Motors about Saturn is not good. GM has stated in papers submitted to the federal government (which outline the company's restructuring efforts), that in all likelihood Saturn would be shut down or sold off, perhaps as early as 2011. That move has been anticipated, but it isn't being very well received by Saturn faithful.
GM is also trying to sell Hummer and Saab with additional plans to shrink Pontiac. Ultimately, the company believes that it can support four major brands in the US: Cadillac, Buick, GMC and Chevrolet. Saturn, unique and loved as it is, won't be among them.
Though the news is grim for Saturn dealers, fans and admirers, there is a chance that the company could live on, perhaps as an independent entity. Founded as a “different kind of car company” Saturn could be revived thanks to the effort of a dealer network committee exploring wresting Saturn from GM and letting the company operate independently.
This could include the revived Saturn purchasing cars from other companies and selling them as Saturns. China, of course, would be a logical market to source Saturn vehicles as long as those cars met certain engineering, technological and safety conditions.
GM could even supply some of the vehicles for Saturn, perhaps allowing the new company to import various Opel models and selling them stateside. In fact, at one point GM had said that Saturn and Opel would be basically mirror images of each brand, selling the same models in tandem though badged differently.
It is too early to tell how everything will play out, but you can bet that Saturn dealers who have millions of dollars tied up in their businesses, will do everything within their power to make sure that the Saturn name lives on. However, time is of the essence and a new plan must be hatched within the next few months in order to stand the chance of succeeding.
