What do we do now?
I just found out the news myself, and quite frankly I am pissed about it!
Some of the details of the Auto Bailout have just come through and I don’t like it! Yeah I get that some brands would have to go but GM is going to ditch Saturn?!?
SATURN?!?!?!?!?
The best car company on the planet and you are going to kill it?!?!?
SON OF A BITCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Let me ask you geniuses in Detroit something…how are you going to feel when people start walking off your lots because they are being pressured by three “Glenngary Glen Ross” addicts who are trying to hard sell us into buying a stripped down car for more caysh then we can afford? And don’t tell me that is not how you guys do business. Everybody in this country knows that buying a car is like trying to get blood from an anemic diabetic. It’s possible, but you might not like what you get.
Saturn changed all of that. Saturn had a “no pressure” policy that people loved to deal with. no more of the polyester-suit-with-the-white-belt-wearing huckster who was going to give you the least that he could for the most he could get out of you. The sticker price was the sticker price, and everything on the sticker was included in the price. None of this “special features are extra” crap. No more of this ” I have to talk to my manager about this” while he leaves you alone in the office to talk it over. Meanwhile he and his manager are in the manager’s office listening to your conversation that’s being recorded with the bug that they have planted in the picture of the salesman’s wife and kids. That way they know how to get you to agree to pay extra for that air conditioning that is supposed to be standard. No more being descended on by six salesmen at a time with their fake “can I help you” grins as if you were chum to a bunch of hungry sharks.
Saturn didn’t pull any of that crap. They said hello when you walked in the door, they would ask if they could help you with something, you would tell them, they would help you out and that would be it! No trying to sell you something you didn’t want or need, they would just help you get what you want without the games. I found this entry at HowStuffWorks.com:
It was in the retail area that Project Saturn had its greatest impact. Saturn carefully selected dealers who agreed to build separate showrooms and service facilities and to operate under strict guidelines for customer treatment. Sales personnel were trained in “consultative selling” to replace hard-sell tactics. A “retail associate” would sit down with customers, discuss their needs, explain their options, and arrange a test drive.
Pricing would be just as buyer-friendly. Federal laws on price-fixing prohibit car companies from forcing dealers to sell at a set price. That’s why window stickers carry the legend “manufacturer’s suggested retail price.” But Saturn strongly urged its dealers to avoid the usual haggling, saying no customer should ever wonder about paying too much. Dealers agreed, and Saturns sold at full retail price — no more, no less.
With production slowed to solve nagging quality problems, demand quickly exceeded supply during the 1991 model year. A good thing, then, that dealers obeyed another Saturn commandment: Thou shall not gouge. Buyers used to seeing “added dealer profit” signs on popular cars were pleasantly surprised by Saturn’s “no ups, no extras” policy…
Saturn’s extraordinary approach to customer care drew derisive comments from competing dealers, but it worked. With the Spring Hill factory managing only 48,629 units the first model year, dealers sold every one they could get. Most customers were ecstatic. Some even volunteered to help sell Saturns on their days off…
Other brands scrambled to “Saturnize,” hoping to boost their customer satisfaction and sales with it. Struggling Oldsmobile, in fact, soon implemented many of Saturn’s policies in the “Oldsmobile Edge” program. Some other dealers switched to “one-price” and “no-haggle” appeals, but many of those also selling other brands eventually returned to high-pressure tactics.
As Saturn President Richard G. “Skip” LeFauve observed, Saturn’s success stemmed from many factors, including being true to its mission statement. “You can’t just tell your retailers to be nice to people,” he said.
So now what, are we just supposed to go back to the way things were and just have to accept getting screwed over by some Willy Lowman wannabe?
Maybe not.
There is a possibility (a slim one right now) that Saturn could still survive in some way, shape or form and exist as a seperate entity from GM. This is what I managed to find on Wkipedia:
General Motors Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner announced during a news conference on February 17, 2009 that Saturn will remain in operation through the end of the planned lifecycle for all Saturn products (2010-11). In the interim, should Saturn retailers as a group or other investors present a plan that would allow a spin off or sale of Saturn Distribution Corporation, GM would be open to any such possibility. If a spin off or sale does not occur, it is GM’s intention to phase out the Saturn brand at the end of the current product lifecycle. In recent news concerning restructuring of GM the corporation declared its intent to part with this brand by closing or selling the division, either to investors or to dealers, as part of plans dependent upon the receipt of a second round of government loans (“bailout” funding).
So there is a possibility that Saturn might live on if the dealers are able to band together and save the company (unlikely in the current economy), or if some investor(s) decide to buy the brand from GM.
I don’t know about the rest of you Saturn owners out there, but I am going to do what I can to ask the universe to save the company either by the dealers buying it or someone with deep enough pockets buying it and keeping it going the way it has been. They say in “The Secret” that the Law of Attraction says ask for what you want.
Well, I want Saturn to remain in operation making good cars that people can afford and treating their customers with respect and dignity.
Hey, this was a car company that I actually wanted to work for at one point. I actually inquired for jobs at my local dealership but they weren’t accepting any applications. Shame. I want to see this company survive because it is a good company, with good people, and they deserve to survive.
Who’s with me?
