Saturn: New Models = Dead Brand?
Posted Sep 07, 2007 @ 1:21 pm
According to Jerry Garrett, author of the New York Times' "Wheels" blog, Saturn is dead. "G.M. has not only killed it, it has dismembered the body and dumped pieces at undisclosed locations."
This is most puzzling... replacing every Saturn model in an 18 month span means the company is dead? Increased sales in a year when the car industry as a whole has faultered means the company is gone? Ridiculous.
His main argument is that GM has changed Saturn from being an independant company to being Opel for the US. Well this isn't exactly true considering the only rebadged Opel designed car in the Saturn lineup is the forthcoming Astra (the VUE is sold as an Opel, but it's Daewoo derived. The Aura takes styling cues from the Opel Vectra, but it's on the same platform as the Pontiac G6). But so what? Saturn used to sell boring cars. Now they sell stylish cars that are fun to drive, and they're selling more of them. Hardly seems like a bad move to me.
On GM's Fastlane Blog, Kyle Johnson, Director of Communications for Saturn, fires back at Garrett, defending the "Opelization" of Saturn.
Read More:
The NYT blog
Saturn's Response
Category: Saturn
According to Jerry Garrett, author of the New York Times' "Wheels" blog, Saturn is dead. "G.M. has not only killed it, it has dismembered the body and dumped pieces at undisclosed locations."
This is most puzzling... replacing every Saturn model in an 18 month span means the company is dead? Increased sales in a year when the car industry as a whole has faultered means the company is gone? Ridiculous.
His main argument is that GM has changed Saturn from being an independant company to being Opel for the US. Well this isn't exactly true considering the only rebadged Opel designed car in the Saturn lineup is the forthcoming Astra (the VUE is sold as an Opel, but it's Daewoo derived. The Aura takes styling cues from the Opel Vectra, but it's on the same platform as the Pontiac G6). But so what? Saturn used to sell boring cars. Now they sell stylish cars that are fun to drive, and they're selling more of them. Hardly seems like a bad move to me.
On GM's Fastlane Blog, Kyle Johnson, Director of Communications for Saturn, fires back at Garrett, defending the "Opelization" of Saturn.
Read More:
The NYT blog
Saturn's Response
Category: Saturn
