GM and Ford finally doing what they should have done long ago.......

[FinanceDude]

Articale from the NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/business/18brands.html?_r=1&ref=business

Funny, I had similar thoughts about 5 years ago. My idea was to take Pontiac and offer it as a "Pontiac package" on a Chevy chassis. They have a long standing relationship with a performance company called SLP that they could even outsource it to, or probably have economies of scale because they have unused capacity if they instead do it inhouse......

You could probably charge somewhere from $3-$5,000 extra for the Pontiac package, and get:

Pontiac name badging
Dual exhaust
Upgraded brakes (Brembo?)
Upgraded ECM chip
Stiffer sport suspension
Sport ground effects package
Sport shift in automatics
Hood Scoop
Sport interior, with wraparound front buckets

Honda does a HUGE business in the Civic and Accord lines, where folks mod them to death. The Honda dealers make a KILLING on margins on that stuff.

I think the "Cadillac, Chevy, done" could work.

 

[travelover]

Chevy used to have a Cadillac package. I think it was called a Cimaron

CanadianDriver: Motoring Memories - Cadillac Cimarron, 1982-1988

 

[jIMOh]

They got it wrong-

keep saturn, and have saturn make a full size pickup, then cut everything else.

 

[cardude]

They got it wrong-

keep saturn, and have saturn make a full size pickup, then cut everything else

Oh yeah, make a plastic full size truck that only Propeller Heads will buy. Maybe put one of those wonderful go-kart style transmissions in it while they are at it. Yeah, that's the answer.

 

[jIMOh]

Oh yeah, make a plastic full size truck that only Propeller Heads will buy. Maybe put one of those wonderful go-kart style transmissions in it while they are at it. Yeah, that's the answer.

My comment was not to imply the truck had to be plastic- just put a new logo on the silverado.

The saturn lines are better cars than the cavalier, or similar models being kept (I used to own 2 saturns, now drive honda's)

 

[cardude]

Not really ragging on Saturn. I think it sucks that all those Saturn dealers that drank the Kool Aid are getting the rug pulled out from under them now.

But really, it was a waste of money and a distraction from the start, and they should have just developed good small cars and let the existing distribution channels sell them (existing dealers that is).

JMO.

 

[samclem]

But really, it was a waste of money and a distraction from the start, and they should have just developed good small cars and let the existing distribution channels sell them (existing dealers that is).

JMO.

Maybe that would have worked. But after the Vega and the Chevette, etc I think GM realized buyers might not believe any small Chevy was worth owning. The Saturn brand was an attempt to give people a new small car company they could believe in--which did things differently, had motivated workers, etc. And they did, for awhile. But even those cars were only okay, no match for the Japanese vehicles.

I read that the Saturn dealers may band together to import cars from India or China and put a Saturn name plate on them. That doesn't sound very promising. They'll be cheap, but that's probably about it.

 

[Zathras]

I loved the original Saturns. Me and my wife have owned three in the past.
GM should have ditched the Chevy nameplate and rolled it all into Saturn in the late 90s.

 

[haha]

Day befroe yesterday I saw a Monte Carlo SS on the highway.
Looked really good. I think it is supposed to actually be pretty good too. Some years back there was an Impala SS that was a really attractive and fast big car. Only black I think.

Ha

 

[JOHNNIE36]

I loved the original Saturns. Me and my wife have owned three in the past.
GM should have ditched the Chevy nameplate and rolled it all into Saturn in the late 90s.

I was working at the General Motors Tech Center when the Saturn became a reality. Know a number of guys that were picked to go in with the start of that division. Supposed to start with a clean slate and everything was done in Spring Hill, TN. Overall I think they did a good job and it has been a successful car for GM. I own a 2008 Saturn Vue (small SUV) and really like it. Quality is really good. What surprised me was that it was made in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico. I've lost track of all that when I retired in 1988 but I thought they were still made in TN. The Chevy HHR is made down there also. Had one of the first models and liked it also. Good quality. Anyway, the original Saturn concept was great and wonder how much of that idea went by the wayside. I love the SUV and will probably buy it at the end of the lease. Especially if they are selling at 2/3 of the book value as has been the talk lately. No finance company wants leased cars back on the dealer lots.

 

[jazz4cash]

Day befroe yesterday I saw a Monte Carlo SS on the highway.
Looked really good. I think it is supposed to actually be pretty good too. Some years back there was an Impala SS that was a really attractive and fast big car. Only black I think.

Ha

Monte Carlo is out of production....it is a nice car. The sedan version is Impala and it comes in SS trim which is a 5.3 liter V8 (300 hp) with cylinder deactivation so it still gets 29 highway. Standard engine is 3.5L V6 (211 hp) and I think it'll do a bit over 30 highway....that's what I have.

 

[jazz4cash]

I was working at the General Motors Tech Center when the Saturn became a reality. Know a number of guys that were picked to go in with the start of that division. Supposed to start with a clean slate and everything was done in Spring Hill, TN. Overall I think they did a good job and it has been a successful car for GM. I own a 2008 Saturn Vue (small SUV) and really like it. Quality is really good. What surprised me was that it was made in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico. I've lost track of all that when I retired in 1988 but I thought they were still made in TN. The Chevy HHR is made down there also. Had one of the first models and liked it also. Good quality. Anyway, the original Saturn concept was great and wonder how much of that idea went by the wayside. I love the SUV and will probably buy it at the end of the lease. Especially if they are selling at 2/3 of the book value as has been the talk lately. No finance company wants leased cars back on the dealer lots.

Saturn lost internal support within GM. GM squandered a highly enthusiastic group of owners by not continually improving the product. Remember they had Saturn Reunions in Spring Hill? The union pushed for a small SUV and they finally produced the VUE which was a big hit, but Chevy made thier own version of it (Equinox). Chevy always gets whatever it wants, so Saturn lost command of the platform. With no internal support, Saturn could not get budget for its own products to remain in orbit around mother GM and became just another GM carline. The current Vue/Equinox is an Opel design. GM was starting to use Saturn to distribute other Opel models like the Astra which is actually GM's top selling model wordwide. I always liked Opel....my 1st GM car was a 74 Opel Manta. Saturn is going away in 2011 per the GM restructuring plan submitted to US Gov. I expect a Chinese or Korean entity may buy Saturn just for the dealer network, which is excellant.