GM kills off Saturn
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Unfortunately, due to the greed of General Motors and Penske, Saturn will be shut down - just like Pontiac was. The only reason I am writing about this is for the fact that I am a Saturn owner, and I love my car. I was looking forward to the future of Saturn, and now its future has been crushed by these big-ego companies who cry for a bailout after giving their executives big bonuses and throwing huge company parties.
My Saturn has been the most reliable car I have ever owned. My Toyota died long ago, and my Chevy Silverado is getting a new engine again, for the third time. Not my Saturn. The only thing that I have ever had to replace was the battery. It’s a 1998 SL2, and has over 214,000 miles. My Silverado has just under 114,000. You tell me which vehicle runs better.
Someone from a Saturn dealer posted this on the Saturn forums:
I work at a Saturn Dealership in Tempe, Arizona and I thank those of you who support us. This is a huge blow to one of the greatest brands ever designed. Many people never understood what GM designed Saturn for. We were made to compete against the overseas brands. We were never designed to be a money maker like everyone keeps crying. We were to keep one more American family in an American car to have the chance for them to grow into other GM brands. Our cars, if you take the time to look, have identical features and options as the Toyota, Honda and Nissan. GM’s mistake is to believe Saturn owners are just going to find another GM brand. That customer that we saved from buying the other brand for years and years will be buying the other 3 brands now. They didn’t buy into the belief of GM; they bought into the belief of Saturn.
I wholeheartedly agree. This was a great brand, and now GM has destroyed it forever. It’s not fair, nor is it right.
8 Comments
Henery Schaffer
September 30th, 2009
at 4:54pm
I must say this is a great article i enjoyed reading it keep the good work
Henery Schaffer
September 30th, 2009
at 5:01pm
Hello. I was reading someone elses blog and saw you on their blogroll. Would you be interested in exchanging blog roll links? If so, feel free to email me.
Thanks.
Matt Newell
October 1st, 2009
at 6:00am
I also had a 1998 SL2 wit 148,000 miles and no problems except fan motors (2 in all those miles). I had to get rid of it when I retired because I had more and more trouble getting in and out of it (I’m 6′4″ and have leg and foot problems). I sometimes miss the old thing.
Alex
October 1st, 2009
at 9:22am
I had a 1992 Saturn and I must say that the 1.9 litre engine was one of the best running engines I ever had. It would get 35-37 MPG on the road but the city mileage could have been better. I bought it with 116,000 miles and it ran like brand new. If I had the money I would love to pick up Saturn. I have some ideas that could make it outsell the Prius by a long-shot.
Kevin Pedraja
October 1st, 2009
at 1:23pm
If you’re a Saturn owner and want to see where the nearest GM dealer is, check out this visualization: http://pnw.cc/70. Every Saturn dealer is within 10 mi. of a GM dealership.
Benjamin Geiger
October 1st, 2009
at 3:31pm
Saturn died sometime between 2002 and 2004. Its husk has just been shambling for a while.
I used to own a 1997 SW2 and was very pleased with it; Dad still drives it with almost 200,000 miles on it. I went to a 2000 Grand Prix. All told, the only thing the SW2 was missing was a V6; I was driving about 100 miles per day, and a 4-cylinder just wasn’t cutting it.
Before 2000 or so, the Saturn name *meant* something. It meant a car that could be easily repaired, and was simple enough that it rarely failed. It meant service departments that actually seemed to care about the driver; remember the free doughnuts and coffee? Eventually, though, it became Just Another Nameplate, with cars interchangeable with every other GM brand, and the Saturn dealers became no better than Chevy dealers or Pontiac dealers (not to mention Ford dealers or Toyota dealers).
luckychristi
October 2nd, 2009
at 6:29pm
Wait isn’t it Saturn that has the car commercial on being one of the brands that didn’t need to be bailed out because they were doing so well?
dannyminick
October 2nd, 2009
at 6:31pm
luckychristi: Saturn is a branch of GM like Pontiac, Buick, Chevy, thus they needed a bailout.