Filed under: Marketing/Advertising, Saturn
GM's LaNeve: "We are completely behind Saturn"
It sounds as if it's about time to get Bob Lutz some face-time with Mark LaNeve, 'cause the two men are trumpeting vastly different statements regarding the future of The General's interstellar brand. Recall that Lutz was recently quoted as saying, "It's really much better to have fewer brands, do it well and then market the hell out of them." This statement was directed squarely at the Saturn Aura, which is selling in much lower quantities than its platform-mate, the Chevy Malibu. Much of the blame can be attributed to the fact that these two vehicles are fighting for the exact same customers, yet only the Malibu gets the big ad bucks for promotion, which is probably as it should be considering that the Malibu is GM's best and most recent midsize sedan.So, what to do with Saturn in these troubled times of belt-tightening? Ditch the brand entirely? Not so fast, counters LaNeve, who recently told dealers that, "We are completely behind Saturn." Hopefully, being "behind" the brand means cutting the number of models it sells and reducing that internal competition between rival GM brands while still keeping the Saturn name alive with new and exciting – not to mention well marketed – products. Sounds easy, right?
[Source: CNN]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Rick 11:04AM (12/24/2008)
Try advertising the right products for once.
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Noidor 12:54PM (12/24/2008)
Saturn has a good line-up, but it gets compromised when their products trickle down from Europe to US, also marketing job is piss-poor...i.e. "Kiss my Astra"
Vauxhall, Holden, Pontiac need to be killed and products within their ranges that still make sense should be put under Opel umbrella. That way GM can grow Opel into a worldwide recognized brand to take on VW for example. Chevy should remain a value brand.
GMC also needs to go.
Tim 1:19PM (12/24/2008)
Why?
They got billions with no strings attached. Why do anything differently? Just threaten more job losses and billions more will rain down.
Funny how a gov't bailout gives you new found chutzpah
azrael4h 10:44AM (12/25/2008)
@ Noidor
Kill Holden and Vauxhall? Are you on crack? Holden is GM's Australian brand; they aren't sold anywhere else. Vauxhall is GM's British brand, again not anywhere else. Open is the mainland Europe brand.
Those brands do not compete against other GM brands directly like Saturn does (Chevrolet is in Britain as well, but it's still not to the extent of the US with 8 or so brands overlapping). Maybe you should go back to the 4 piece puzzles that trouble you so much instead of trying to run an automaker.
The product is done right at Saturn; they just need to market the damned things. Most people don't know about the Astra or Aura or Vue or Sky.
hypermiler 11:11AM (12/24/2008)
Saturn with Hummer is the first GM brand to be sold to the Chinese(SAIC).
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Conundrum 11:28AM (12/24/2008)
SAIC should first bail out its own brands (Ssangyong) who cannot meet payroll due to excess debt.
big j 12:39PM (12/24/2008)
I find it hard to believe that anyone would be interested in buying Hummer even with cheap gas prices right now.
pelzauto 11:14AM (12/24/2008)
Why isn't there a comparison between number of cars sold per dealership? One would presume the car with more dealers would be in a position to sell more based upon this one fact alone.
Why not break down cars per dealership sold? This is done for Box Office results for movies all the time and gives a more insightful understanding of the interest of the public.
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mmstowes 11:15AM (12/24/2008)
The irony here is, Lutz says "kill 'em" but they seem to have more invested in Saturn than they do any other brand that COULD be successful given the right marketing. Moreso than Pontiac and even Chevy. For example, we all talk about the Chevy Volt, and how there might be a Cadillac version, but people seem to forget Saturn already unveiled their Flextreme version (arguably more attractive as a whole than the production Volt). Two-mode Vue, plug-in Vue, Sky, previous North American car of the year...the list goes on. When was the last time Pontiac had a NACOTY? And they're more valuable? Please, it's not like Saturn couldn't use the G8's underpinnings for a vehicle. That leaves Pontiac with what? The G8 ST...um...ok.
Aesthetics being subjective, I honestly think Saturn has probably one of the more handsome lineups vehicle-for-vehicle of any GM brand, helped a helluva lot by Opel/Vauxhall.
Feel free to disagree, but I see a lot value in the Saturn brand and think perhaps instead of blaming it, management should take a look at themselves first and how they're underutilizing it.
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geo.stewart 11:32AM (12/24/2008)
I agree. My pet peeve is that Saturn spent a decade building 1) brand loyalty and 2) an incredible, critic and public pleasing dealer experience; all this with crappy vehicles (maybe not crappy but definitely appliance level).
Now they have infused the brand with badge engineered vehicles and 0 marketing. The Aura was a fantastic car when it came out and 0 marketing. the Malibu is better because its basically a Gen2 version.
The Astra is a good car but GM doesnt want to sell a lot of those because they basically lose money. Its just not competitive to ship the products from Europe. Now if they had sent over an upmarket Astra and been able to compete with the Si for 20K in performance, they would do much better.
If GM would quit treating it like the red headed step child, they could probably do wonders.
Frylock350 12:00PM (12/24/2008)
@geo,
Good post.
Saturn was from the start, marketing over product. Now they have excellent product, but no marketing.
As for the Si, that's the most pathetic sports compact there is. GM could top that simply by using the Cobalt SS's engine and suspension on the Astra.
TBlueMax 12:16PM (12/24/2008)
Agreed. All good points.
mmstowes 1:12PM (12/24/2008)
@ Frylock350,
So because the Si doesn't have a gazillion horsepower going to the front wheels, it's "pathetic"? Before you compare it to practically any other spo-com, keep in mind it came out before all of them except the GTI. That's what manufacturers do. Look at what's released and try to one-up it. But if it wasn't for the Si (and while we're at it, the GS-R and SE-R), there wouldn't BE a Cobalt SS. GM designed the Cobalt specifically to compete against performance imports like the Si and RSX-S. Because we all know the sales record breaker the Cavalier was...
Back on topic, I agree with geo, that GM should've brought over a performance Astra. I planned to buy an Astra just before they came to the states, but the current cars are too expensive and not efficient enough for the class. I could certainly afford it, but it's like the Scion tC with the TRD supercharger. Why bother paying for that, when I could have a more well-rounded Si, or GTI for similar money? There are, unfortunately, other options, though few as good looking as the Astra.
Owen 11:01PM (12/27/2008)
I think that the Astra is about the nicest compact out there style and content wise (and for the money there's no touching it). And it's certainly the nicest on the materials side of things. But it needs the Cobalt SS engine (the suspension isn't all that bad really). Then it'll hold a candle to vehicles like the Mazda 3 and the GTi. But then it also needs a good mid-level engine option as well, something in the 170 hp range that still allows it to get mid 30's mileage numbers, perhaps the 1.4T that was rumored back in the day. And for gods sake give the damn car an MP3/Aux input. Who builds a car nowadays for the US market without that and expects to market to anyone under 70.
Fix those items, then market the hell out of it. It'll sell just fine, no discount required..
catgirlshyla 11:22AM (12/24/2008)
Just turn it into a Scion-themed brand already, and offer some Euro-Spec econocars.
Also, if you REALLY want to set the brand apart....offer a dirt-cheap-as-hell-but modifiable RWD platform. THAT will bring in the foot traffic.
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Jake B 10:41PM (12/24/2008)
Agreed. A stripped down 2+2 based on the sky platform would be amazing. Offer the Sky as a slightly more high end vehicle as it is.
ron 11:26AM (12/24/2008)
If they're going to hold on to Saturn they better get a lot more dealers online! I currently live in a city that has 2 Saturn dealerships withing 15 minutes of me. 100 miles from me in my old hometown the 2 nearest Saturn dealers are each more than 1 hr away. There are a half dozen Chevy dealerships within 30 minutes of there, the nearest being 5 minutes away; the next 2 dealerships within 15 minutes. Why go way out of your way to get a Saturn Aura when a Chevy Malibu is so close?
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Derek 12:06PM (12/24/2008)
You've got that the wrong way around. More Saturn dealerships are NOT needed. Less Chevy dealerships is the answer. You don't need six Chevy dealership within 30 minutes, that's market oversaturation.
Steve_S 11:30AM (12/24/2008)
Well most of them will be gone when they file chap 11 after the bailout money runs out in 3 months.
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henrykrinkle 11:32AM (12/24/2008)
They really have no idea what they're doing, do they. Every penny of the bailout should be going towards killing of brands or we should be asking for it back.
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