GM’s plans to kick Saturn to the curb may be on hold. If the automaker is able to restructure the way they want to, Saturn may live on to fight another day.

The history of the Saturn brand can be traced back to about 1985
when GM management decided that the best assault against encroaching
Japanese brands such as Honda and Toyota was to create an all new car
company. Eventually, the Saturn name was settled on for the company,
which built a factory in Tennessee and began to produce the S-Series.

From
the start, the compact cars from Tennessee attracted a strong following
of loyal devotees, owners who loved the quirky car company as much as
they enjoyed their little cars. Annually, owners would gather together
near the Spring Hill plant to show off their cars as well as their
devotion to Saturn.

Eventually, the S Series began to lose its
sheen as GM neglected to update the model or include a second line of
vehicles to supplement the Saturn brand. By the end of the 1990s,
Saturn’s role as a separate car company appeared doomed before the
brand was finally folded into the GM fleet a few years later.

Today,
Saturn along with Cadillac, Buick, GMC, Pontiac, Chevrolet, Hummer and
Saab represent the GM brands sold in the US, just another moniker in
the long list of GM nameplates. But, Saturn’s future has been
threatened of late as the automaker weighs a federal mandate to trim
the fat which could include several brands being sold off or retired.

Hummer,
Saab, Pontiac and Saturn have been mentioned most as the brands most
vulnerable to being shut down, with Saab likely to be sold off while
Hummer is simply liquidated. Pontiac’s future could hinge on its
relationship with Buick and GMC (they share dealerships) while Saturn’s
fortunes may depend on the automaker’s plans for Opel (they share
models).

Regardless, the word coming from Mark LaNeve – GM’s
marketing chief – have been suggesting that Saturn may have a future
after all.

When interviewed by several leading publications in
December 2008, LaNeve said that GM would revisit Saturn to see what
role the brand could play for the company going forward. GM is keenly
aware that the brand’s dealer network is among the best in the country
and that Saturn’s relationship with Opel could help the brand live on.
Regardless, GM is interested in helping dealers clear out old inventory
to make way for new models.

GM’s desire to keep Saturn could rest
on what a proposed “car czar” would order, an Obama appointee expected
to oversee the US auto industry when he or she is appointed by Spring
2009. That person could weld an unusual amount of clout, but with the
federal government holding the purse, GM may have no choice but to
follow the federal mandate for Saturn and all of its many brands.

A
quarter of a century later Saturn is no longer known as “a different
kind of car company” but if Saturn faithful have their way, the brand
will soldier on minus its quirks , but perhaps with its mystique in
place.

About the author

Matthew C. Keegan is a freelance writer who resides in Cary, North Carolina. Matt is a contributing writer for Andy’s Auto Sport an aftermarket supplier of quality parts including sway bars and lowering springs.

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