Here’s how Saturn failed at being a different kind of car company
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- Опубліковано 16 лип 2021
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In this episode I provide the history of the Saturn Corporation, which was envisioned back in 1983, launched its first cars in 1990, and folded 20 years later. Saturn was incorporated as a separate company and designed and built all of their cars with no help from its GM, but eventually GM took over Saturn and assimilated their products with GM's other models. The GM bankruptcy marked the end of Saturn as GM could not sustain a brand whose cars were simply rebadged versions of other GM cars. - Авто та транспорт
Back in 1999, I ordered a SL2 5 spd in blue with a sunroof. Saturn invited me to the plant to watch it be built (unfortunately I couldn't attend). Saturn of Chamblee (Georgia) kept me up to date with the progress twice a week. They sent me an "official invite" to receive my car when it was ready, to schedule a time to take delivery. When I arrived at the dealer, my car was sitting front and center in the showroom with balloons as well as a sign saying "Scott's first saturn". After completing the necessary paper work I walked back to the showroom and everyone clapped as I drove out (just like the commercials). Unfortunately, on my way home I was hit in the rear causing $3500 in damage. I called the dealer to let them know and make arrangements with their partnered body shop to repair the car. Saturn of Chamblee took care of everything (despite not having their own bodyshop) they had a loaner available for me, transported my car back and forth to the bodyshop on their dime. When my car was fixed they had me come back to the dealer to pick it up. When I arrived my car was back in the showroom with a sign that said "Scott's first Saturn take 2". To this day the best customer experience I have every had, I kept that car for 4 yrs and to this day still run into my service advisor from Saturn.
That treatment was how the Saturn dealers were trained. Where your car was parked at the dealership was called the "launching pad" in honor of the Saturn rocket for which your car was named after and the celebration was an all hands on deck sorta thing. It was fun to watch the new owners face.
That's a great story man.
Should have got a Toyota
@@droopytx it's almost like you completely missed the point
@@goshaios5799 only thing good about saturn are the engines...
Moral of the story: GM leadership really knows how to fuck up a good thing. 😑
No doubt about it. They love a good bailout. Taxpayers got raped for billions. Tens of thousands of jobs lost, and millions lost their guaranteed pensions. There aren’t enough words to describe how bad GM screwed up. At least the execs didn’t lose their summer homes.
@@Peekay9 That's a lie. A damned lie in fact. Taxpayers made tens of million on the repayment of GM's bailout loans. Tens out thousands of MI and IN (here) jobs were saved. Thanks Obama! He makes the best deals. ;-) I think you'll find Republicans' myth of executive infallibility, union-busting and culture of pension-looting mostly to blame.
The EA of car companies.
@@richsackett3423 - Go ahead and praise the Muslim from Kenya. He will be running back to his birth country soon enough - as the gallows come calling.
@@Peekay9 OK. Obama turned around our economy for 8 consecutive years after Bush43 let Wall Street crash the family car. "Hang Mike Pence" has already failed.
You're just jealous of Barry's three-point jumper. Me too, if I'm honest.
I sold Saturn from 92-95. Fantastic cars and competed head to head with the best of Japan and held their own. Selling Saturns put me through flight school and fed my family while I earned peanuts as a new pilot, working my way up. I have been to the plant in Spring Hill, fantastic facility. Just an overall great experience. Thank you Saturn
Damn I want to go to flight school now that I can afford it but at 47 it’s too little too late 😢.
@@marioavila1559 All the airlines are hiring. at 47 it's not too late
I was told that one reason Saturn's were so popular was that they were easy to buy. To get one, you just go to a dealer and all the cars had their full prices on the windshield. You'd pick the one you wanted and buy it. No goofy salesman walking into the back room, no haggling or negotiations. Just buying a car the same way you buy groceries
In other words, overpaying by a significant amount
So like basically paying sticker price like you can do on any car
Did you squeeze it like a tomato?😁
Compared to what's happening today with dealers asking tens of thousands over sticker, that's very refreshing.
Customer-oriented service will always make a great impression and put a smile on the customer’s face, and it’s sad to see we’ve went down this path of corporate greediness… It’s only getting worse
If it had survived, I can see Saturn being GM's all-electric division now.
They really ought to bring back the Saturn badge for a line of EVs. Glad I'm not the only one who thinks that would be cool.
Oooo David you might have a strong point 🤔
They did. There's a movie called Death of the electric car. They were the pioneers.
Interesting you say that, because the GM is investing billions for the former Saturn plant in Spring Hill, TN to start manufacturing all-electric teaming up with LG. Expanding to a 2.8-million-square-foot facility.
@@charliebeers2013 yes, there's a documentary about it.
Saturn was supposed to compete with Japanese brands, particularly Toyota, in terms of quality. GM's accounting department soon decided that spending extra to ensure this level of quality wasn't worth it.
Funny part is when they started planning Saturn, they could have just bought Toyota.
I loved my ion. It was a giant leap forward from the rusted out honda accord i had before it.
Never really got to know the Saturn cars it just looked interesting.
After spending billions to launch Saturn, what was the problem spending a bit more to be fully competitive quality-wise with the imports?
How typical of GM.
The original saturns where amazing. Great fuel economy, reliable, didn’t rust, and cheap. GM couldn’t have that and killed it. I still see them everywhere still running at 300k miles. GM had to kill it because no one was buying their trash cars.
its the automatic and V6 that are trash, but the standard and 4 cylinder engine are better made they run forever.
I doubt the rust claim you made up in the north east nothing survives rust
@@Creptex they were plastic.
You’re right. 1993 manual SC2, 300+k miles
Yep I bought a new '98 SL1 5 speed sedan in beautiful sandstone beige. It was a no option car, just had AC but no CC, nothing power. My mom had a similarly equipped '97 Cavalier sedan but hers had AT. My Saturn felt so smooth, refined, quality made compared to the Cavalier. 2 same size cars from GM, about same price, but the Saturn was way nicer.
Saturn was the best car my wife ever owned. It got 40 miles per gallon on the highway, with the manual transmission. And we never replaced the clutch on it or had any issues with it. We sold it with around 170,000 miles on it when it started burning oil. If Saturn had been in business at the time, we would have bought another one.
I bought my Saturn used. It burn oil I replace the CV valve that help with the oil burning. Actually I think they are opposed to burn some oil.
Did you continue buying other GM cars instead?
@@patrickwilson2726 I haven't need to buy another car since I bought my Saturn S-Series about 12 years ago
What year it was
For anyone interested, the Spring Hill TN plant is now a general gm plant, however the road connecting it to the city is still called Saturn Parkway.
That's nice that they left that memento from the past
Same in South Carolina! Its a buick dealership now but the road is Saturn Pwy
@@Mr.WaffulzzzHa! That’s in Harbison, I used to work at the CPR cell phone repair on Saturn Parkway. right off 26
When Saturn was doing better, because they had independence, GM decided to lower the quality of Saturn; they felt threatened that it was taking sales away from its other brands. Tragic.
GM is really something else. Shady and insecure.
I know this for a fact!!! I worked for Saturn advance engineering in MI. Every year GM mandated some idea they had without any testing for us to do!! And everyone one had to be reworked and tested to be viable !!! They were AH's !!! Don
I remember the Saturn's of the early 90s and owned one myself.
They weren't very refined they were noisy but they were much more reliable than the other GM cars at the time
@@jamessouthworth1699 Buick LeSabre was GM's second most-reliable model after Saturn.
One area where Saturn excelled was dealer service. In fact they rated number one in dealer service. Penske Auto consider to buy the Saturn Name for this reason. They were trying to workout a joint venture with Renault, where they would build the cars and Penske call them Saturns. That would have been a slow death of Saturn.
Oh for 1955 what's good for GM is good for America. I love the hubris in old car ads "Ask the man who owns one"....
My first 2 cars were both Saturns. I liked the cars a lot, but I mostly miss the dealerships. Best car buying experiences I've ever had by a long long way.
My first car was a Saturn. I didn't realize what a cluster buying a car anywhere else was at the time. When I bought my second car (used, at a dealership, never again) many years later I was appalled at the hassle and the BS and only then understood what a breeze it was buying a car with Saturn.
Wikipedia about Saturn Corporation: ua-cam.com/video/JVpIKW3Q9Jw/v-deo.html
Just purchased my 4th Saturn (1999 Sc2 under 100k) after I lost my third’s engine in the recent flood.
They are beasts and honestly so easy and inexpensive to fix it’s ridiculous. These cars are known to to take care of you if you take care of it. I sold my second Saturn to a friend its still going today with 350k miles.
I sold my winter beater saturn to a co workers kid so I could buy a truck, I'm regretting it now because the kid never registered it in the 3 months he's had it now, maintaince is obviously past due, but he also doesn't have a license, come to find out he was arrested for operating without license or registration and now the poor thing is sitting at the impound lot, probably never to be retrieved either since the dunce blew most of his money on buying the car, then decided to quit his job immediately after because he had enough money to buy the car so I guess he figured he wouldn't need a job.
I was under the impression, as per his dad's word to me. That the kid was going to get his license, register the car, get a better job and move up with his life. Come to find out he only wants to F around and play dumb when the repercussions of his reckless behavior catch up with him. (He blames me for the cars impound status, because I wasn't "cool" and didn't let him drive with my old plates.)
Kids these fuckin days... I want my saturn back damnit.
@@BigWheel. Oh man, Looks like you might have to hound the impound for the next auction date.
Saturn are excelent car if you bought it with a 4 cylinder engine and a standard transmission.
As a former owner, the SL and SC cars really are true workhorses and super easy and cheap to repair
It's genuinely amazing to me that a car could be so popular that in 6 years it could have a homecoming just to visit a factory that would draw over 40,000 people.
All the movie days, and car clinics for women they did too.
Three years. The plant was finished in 1988 but the first model year was 1991
To be fair there was alot less to do back then. No one was sitting at home watchin netflix
The UAW did not like Saturn being non-union and made a stipulation during GM's bankruptcy agreement that Saturn would go away. Notice the UAW is now making cars in Springhill, TN??????????????????????????????????????????
Saturn was a UAW shop, but the agreement was a lot more cooperative. The rest of the UAW didn’t like that much, but it isn’t correct to say it wasn’t unionized.
I worked for Saturn for 12 years and then for GM for another 20. In the beginning, it was a different kind of car company. Decades later, I still hang out and even vacation with my old co-workers. The team building was legit.
My mother had a 90 Saturn and she loved it. She was definitely into the whole company image thing. I think that was its biggest appeal, once it became more and more integrated into GM and the styles of vehicles became more and more mundane because of being body swaps of other GM cars. Once they lost that it was a slow decline into obscurity.
When I had saved up some money to buy my first car, one of the first I looked at was at a local used car lot, a 1995 Saturn SC2 in that teal/torqouise color. A buddy of mine said to check it out because he said they had strong engines and were pretty quick little cars with the manual transmission and DOHC. It looked great in that color, felt great to drive and I wanted to buy it, but my Dad talked me out of it because of the price. Back then the car was only 6 years old and I don't think my Dad knew much about Saturn cars. Later after high school I knew 2 people who had pre GM shared model Saturns and they raved about them.
Who knows what could have been!? I've owned quite a few vehicles over time but that little Saturn still sticks with me for some reason. Cool car.
Fun fact: the last Saturn dealership ever built... Saturn of Panama City... was built in my town. It was scheduled to open 1 month after the brand died. Its a Mazda dealer today.
How cool did not know that I live in Crestview fl west of you
Very interesting.
I had a '94 sc2 great cat it was in our family for 21 years. Now I want to buy a '98 with the 3 doors
The former Saturn dealership in Rockford Illinois is now a Hyundai dealership
Talk about horrible planning or naïveté on the part of the dealer franchise. If they started building one month before the brand was discontinued someone, somewhere in the process knew it was closing.
Some people really are idiots.
Saturn didn’t fail GM failed. They were work horse plain Jane vehicles.
Preach. Keep them (original S-series) maintained, and they would just keep working without complaint.
GM is still failing today.
@My Pronoun is WTF the Saturn s series were not at all the same as a Chevy product.
We had a SL2 we bought brand new in 97 . No complaints. It was a great car . We drove it everywhere. It was used and abused and ran great .
They should have just made this car the new j car instead of wasting resources on multiple dogs that wouldn’t hunt. Everyone in the 9os even the kids were not fooled , everyone knew these were general cars. The issue is , like with most of post wwii America - they didn’t want to own it.
True story, in the early 90s my Dad was looking at getting a Saturn as shown in this video. The salesman advertised the thermoplastic body panels, and proceeded to kick rear quarter panel hard enough to make a dent, which then popped out. He said "Isn't that something?" and my Dad goes "I just want a nice new car, that is reliable, being able to intentionally put dents in it is not one of my priorities" and he ended up losing interest and walking away lol
Your dad sounds like he'd be great at parties...
I'm joking 😁
Hey he had a point. It was a new product and it probably looked like a gimmick more than anything. What did he end up getting?
Not sure why you said "true story" what? A salesman doing his best to look dumb? Like usual.
My mom almost bought a vue when they came out. They had a door in the showroom with a hammer on a cable that you could beat the door with.
I was with a friend when he bought his in 1996. He destroys everything. He drove like a maniac out of the lot even though told to take it easy the first 700 miles. Lo and behold, he sold it after fifteen years and 290,000 miles. Spectacular car. I was so mad that GM and it's employees let it go away. Stupid move.
My Grandpa was so excited to get his 1992 Saturn SL2 Red/silver Just like the one in the video.Then unfortunately he passed away,3 months later. Saturn took the car back and gave my grandma a full refund. Miss him and that Saturn.
That was very nice of Saturn
No company will ever have the heart of saturn. What other time has a company given a FULL refund when taking a car after a death? They often will take the car and give nothing, maybe a partial refund if lucky.
@@JDMHaze It sure was
@@Bobby-cm7vu Times definitely have changed, unfortunately!
Wow.... that should be it's own video.... I''ve never heard of that happening.
Saturn is an important part of my family's history. My grandfather moved from Ohio to Tennessee to work at the spring hill plant when it was first created. He worked there for about 20 years before retiring. My brother still has his first car, a 1997 Saturn SL1 that he bought from the original owner with 55k miles. It's one of the only S series on my area and certainly one of the most preserved. It's interesting because some of the production stickers on the car match up to dates that my grandfather was in the plant, so there is a real possibility that he helped build that car almost 25 year ago.
1:57 Saturn of Savannah.... i remember hearing advertisements for them when they were in their prime. I can still hear it in my head today.
I worked for the local Saturn dealership in the early 90s as a technician. The cars were really good. The company kept up with service bulletins, recalls, and were pretty simple to repair. I really liked the atmosphere in the showroom, as all new Saturn owners got their picture taken with the new vehicle and hung up on the wall as part of the family. The service writers and service managers always called each customer after a service was completed to make sure each customer was happy with their visit and how could the dealership improve.
Charm offensive. People felt pampered and thought the salespeople were honest and transparent. They could be sold anything after being softened up like that.
During their era, they were the one car you'd never see rusty!
Yes no rust but everything else wrong with them
You should have seen one after a hail storm
That's because the doors were made of plastic
You still don't, unless you look underneath!
Unfortunately, that gimmick wasn't good enough to beat Toyota or Honda.
Saturns were too good and lasted forever, so GM killed it. You will still see 20 year old Saturns on the road that look like new.
my 94 sl2 is still kickin haha, looks a bit shit but she runs
@@jesseihc3361 i drive a 2000 sw2. i love it. i had an 01 civic before this car and i'd rather have the saturn. i've had two dipshits in the last 3 months bounce off her with nothing worse that scrapes thanks to the plastic body.
@@70mcnevin My 2002 Saturn SL series still looks almost new. Manual crank windows which I like. Made in Tennessee which is stamped on the window. I'm the second owner and it's my second Saturn.
My son is putting his 20yr old to pasture just this summer.200000 plus miles.still runs like a top, floors are finally giving away.
My aunt bought a 94 Saturn Wagon new and had it for about a decade. It was put through its paces, the AC didn't work, the manifold was warped, so she had to keep some extra oil and water with her, but that thing started right up every time you turned the key. Every time. Without fail.
I have had two Saturns in my lifetime - a 1995 SL2 with 169,000 miles and I am the original owner of a 2007 Saturn Vue Hybrid with 295,000+ miles on it. Both ultra reliable. My Hybrid Vue is close to one of a kind - considering only about 7,000 were built in 2007 and very few are still on the road today. I would not trade it for a new vehicle. When I bring my Saturn in for service - it is like I am bringing in a collector's item. All the techs wonder how it is still on the road. By the way, I am on my 4th set of tires, 3rd Hybrid Battery (all have been covered by the dealer), 3rd truck and ignition lock, 3rd serpentine belt and still has the original transmission and original muffler. Lifetime 30.88 mpg - 31.3 mpg March - October and 29.75 mpg in November - February. I am curious if anyone can top my 2007 Saturn Vue Hybrid in terms of mileage and MPG?
Im looking to buy and 06 Vue scouring the internet now for customer experience. That's really awesome about your hybrid. 🙌
That's amazing!
Didn’t even know they had a hybrid model
I recently gave my '08 Aura to my sister loved that car. Runs perfectly
I loved my Astra. Sold it to my son, who drove it into the ground...
GM was mis-managed Saturn's in its last year. Saturn's weren't supposed to be similar to the other GM brands - Chevy, Olds, Pontiac & Buick. GM decided that they didn't want give Saturn money to design and built their own cars and dropped Saturn when they went bankrupt in 2009
your first sentence describes GM in a nutshell,.... Their crap management is what destroyed them, and them over saturating the market with an excessive amount of brands selling damn near five of the same vehicle... Saturn operating independently wasn't a bad idea
It's the same thing that GM did with SAAB, although part of that is SAAB's fault as well. When partnered with SAAB , GM would provide them funds and access to their "parts bin" and their platforms. SAAB would then take them and make them more SAAB like, costing lots of money and really not getting any return. If GM would have put the money into Saturn in it's final days (and maybe improved some of the issues people are griping about - oil issues) I am sure they would be on the road today. Instead, GM invested in other companies that are no longer with us: Hummer, Oldsmobile, Pontiac. The only reason Buick survived is brand loyalty of the octogenarian and the Chinese who love them.
The later Saturns and SAABs were just re-badged Opels. Opels were sales flops in Germany and even bigger flops in other countries.
@@raverboyloki GM killed Isuzu as well.
GM killed Saturn.
Along with Oldsmobile, Pontiac and Geo.
And Hummer
And let's not forget SAAB . Okay, SAAB hung around for a couple of years, and was sold (sort of), but they ruined the brand beyond repair.
I absolutely hate GM for killing Saturn and Pontiac. Mismanaged money and high @s- paid CEO's that didn't know their @s- from a hole in the ground and to much government destroyed them. And Oldsmobile as well. Now that they are going to all electric, I can see how long the rest is gonna last as well. Oh well. Ford screwing up as well. Killed of all their car except the Mustang that's gonna be electric.
The way GM killed their first electric car was the stuff of documentaries.
Pontiac just isn’t talked about enough. The Trans Ams from the late 70s and the 2002s were both insanely ahead of their time in their stylings.
I bought a 2007 Vue with a manual transmission. After 84,000 miles, it still runs great. It has the original clutch, even after teaching my grandson to drive it! The switch to GM parts bin, especially the 2.2L engine, is probably a good thing, as parts will be available for the foreseeable future.
I had a 94 SL2 for the last several years in college, it was such a great car. Had to upgrade when I got a job where I would transport kids and needed things like airbags 😅 I still miss my Saturn though, the thing had some power.
Saturn was fine when they stuck with the original marketing plan. It didn't tank until GM Made them like everything else
@TOM you are intitled to your opinion i don't have the time or patience to sit there and haggle i guess that's why i hate buying a new car
Quite an interesting story. They tried to be a hip import killer and then they ended up as an Americanized Opel.
Not that americanized actually. At least not in a bad way like the Cavalier.
What was so bad about the Cavalier?
It was rough around the edges and an ancient design… but you STILL see them driving today on a daily basis. Long after your precious Japanese cars rusted into oblivion and your European cars became one gigantic electrical fault.
@@Bartonovich52 are you sure you can easily see 1981 to 1988 Cavaliers? By the mid-90's the were mostly gone being very unreliable and not competitive to their japanese counterparts at all. The reason? Well, mostly the infamous X-car suspension, too massive and soft for the compact car as well as the engine - buzzy and underpowered. BTW the Ascona rusted faster than Cavalier but had no engine or electric issues.
@@Bartonovich52 You are right. In my hometown of Lansing Michigan, there are TONS of late 90's and early 2000's Cavaliers, probably hundreds. Some are in good shape, some aren't. People like them.
Exactly. The first time I saw a Cadillac Catera, I thought it was a Saturn. Turns out, they were both made by Opel. 🤣
My first car - '97 SL2, $403.13/mo, never missed a payment and worked my ass off to afford it. Got my first speeding ticket in it. I took care of that car.. lots of good memories.
Fascinating as always. Thanks!
Thanks, as a relative newbie I definitely appreciate the feedback from a long-time successful youtuber! Hope I can someday come close to you've accomplished.
@@MyOldCar Shouldn't be hard. You make high quality content, so it'll come. I only started in 2019, and now I'm being called "long-time"! 😀
If you ever need any help, let me know.
I just promoted this video on my channel, so hopefully you'll get a few more views & subscribers.
It’s your turn...
Those early Saturn prototypes look like a precursor to GM's aero look of the late 80's and early 90's(the GM APV minivans, The GM W Bodies, etc).
Fiero was a precursor. The Gillman mill & drill machines were used at Saturn.
Diane Jackson From Lantana, FL Drives Her White Mid Or Late '90s Saturn SW2 Today.
Oh the memories! My very first new car was a cherry red Saturn SC2. I attended both homecoming events in Tennessee. It was a great car and a great company before GM ruined it. I own a 2008 VUE which I still drive and last year I bought a new Cadillac XT5. I was thrilled to learn that it came from the old Saturn factory that I toured all those years ago.
Gm STARTED Saturn.
So how could the “ruin” something they started? Lmao.
We have a red Saturn Sc2 ! It’s a 1995
@@danielpeddicord6079 How can they ruin something they started? Same way you ruin anything else, rash decisions and poor quality control. Just because you started it doesn't mean you can't screw it up.
@@danielpeddicord6079 Bro. Watch the fuckin video, lmao.
I was super interested in Saturn and bought one as soon as there was a local dealership. I bought one of the first SL2s in Maryland and drove it over 200,000 miles. When I needed a larger car for my growing family, they were too far behind in releasing it and I bought something else. But it kinda was the first (and last?) time that GM made a 'good' entry level vehicle.
1:54 Yes, SMC (Sheet Molding Compound) body panels and ALSO: stainless steel exhaust systems and a timing chain, not a shorter-lived belt. These were quality cars.
Well told, but there's more to the story. History has revealed Roger Smith to be a better leader than the villain he was portrayed to be. Partially due to timing (Michael Moore's career-building hit piece), plus Ross Perot, the militant board member that Smith eventually bought out (which was what Perot wanted all along). Smith made Saturn possible - and it made him many enemies. GM management, the UAW, and the GM dealer networks all feared Saturn and hated Smith. While it took a few years for the funeral, Saturn was smothered in its crib by those three groups. Bashing GM as stoggy and out of touch is easy to do. However, there have been a few occasions where they were able to innovate and lead. Saturn was one of those times. Just like with the EV-1, powerful forces of the status quo refused to look beyond their noses. Again, a well-done piece. Thanks.
And...Roger Smith actually agreed to Michael Moore's interview request...but that wouldn't have made a very good (or long) movie if they had just met right away.
I have a Sky Turbo and it does have a different suspension and look than the Solstice GXP, but the good thing about the Saturn deal was that the Pontiac dealerships were charging up to 10K$ OVER INVOICE at that time!
Also , one can "Praise" Roger Smith for forming Saturn and It's clean sheet approach to developing good reliable attractive well made , well organized cars to effectively compete with Japanese imports.;.... However.... Roger Smith in doing so screwed over, GM workers and their families with crappy labor agreements, cut cost and reduced overall quality, profitablity and reliability with all other existing GM brands by closing plants, creating production issues with allowing cheap , poorly made materials, enter production via GM parts bin ( cheap plastic "wood grain panels in the interiors of Buicks, Oldsmobile AND Cadillac models for example.)
Furthermore ,Smith's further cost-cutting measures also included his audacious, notorious " cookie cutter "brand marketing model approach for all of the car divisions and which all of the cars look pretty much like all of the others cars all of the different divisions this included All J- bodied,(Chevrolet Cavalier Buick Skyhawk Oldsmobile Firenza Pontiac j2000 sunbird and the infamous Cadillac Cimarron) A-bodied ,( Chevrolet Celebrity Buick Century Pontiac 6000 and Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera) N-bodied (Pontiac Grand am Buick Somerset regal and the Oldsmobile Cutlass ciera) the E body -ed full size front wheel drive Cadillac Eldorado ,Buick Riviera ,Oldsmobile Toronado ) And finally C bodied full-size FWD sedan and coupe models ( Buick Electra Oldsmobile 98 and Cadillac DeVille). All of these important models ( Except for minor differences in divisional trim themes ) were products that all looked the same , drove the same and had the same issues ( problems ) as all of the other divisions ( Except Saturn of course) . This is another reason why GM attempted to market Saturn as a separate entity from all the other divisions. Why....Because The other divisions were plagued by GM bureaucracy as well as GM 's inability to solve it's manageable quality control problems !!!!!.
Later on the success of Saturn's management, Sales and quality success GM's corporate minions began to sabotage Saturn as a successful entity by cannibalizing inferior GM parts from other divisions thus contaminating Saturn with all of the other problems that all of the other divisions had and making very stupid choices which began to damage the reputation of the Saturn brand which killed Saturn ultimately....... this is what happens when you have greed, stupidity,and "too many cooks spoiling the soup" of a very good product the same can be said about GM's debauchery of the EV-1 electric car program they had a very successful well-made ( but ugly) electric car that people actually desired and wanted that was well made, well orchestrated and had great potential that was totally and completely sabotage of its development and its inception right from the very beginning .,. Once again thank you GM for your greed shortsightedness and your incompetency!!!
@@rodferguson3515 Moore was no hero, but he had it right with Saturn. Also, you are taking a bit of a selective tour of the facts. The homoganeation of GM brands began long before Moore's tenure which started in 1981. If go back far enough you will find a strategy of cross-polination to both reduce costs and increase the difficulty of breaking up GM by the justice department. GM interiors already sucked in mid/late 70's and the enterprise-wide platforms were already in place long before Roger took the big chair. i was there in the late 70's and quality was already awful. Saturn was an attempt - albiet unsuccessful / too little / too late to fix a beuracurcy controlled by bean counters. Blame Roger if you want to but GM's entrenched braindead leadership and their inability to keep UAW power in check led to the decay and destruction of a great industry, great city, and also untold personal misery for millions. They are a shadow of the former company and are positioning themselves for another great failure as their EV results (and plans) are laughable.
@@carlmelville Carl on the contrary Michael Moore exposed not only GM's business practices but also Roger Smith's backstabbing and skulduggery practices upon American workers especially workers who had very good labor and pension and retirement packages Smith was dipping into those retirement funds that those workers had and basically left them high and dry without adequate unemployment compensation.how would you like it if a multi-million dollar CEO like Roger Smith did that to you ?....you wouldn't like it now would you?
Saturn was a waste of time and resources from the beginning. GM had a division designed to fight imports... It's called "Chevrolet". Diverting resources into a separate division at a time when those resources were becoming scarce, and diverting them from a proven market winner was a terrible error.
Saturn had zero brand image (nobody writes songs about Saturns... but they do write them about Corvettes...), had no scale, and was carried on the financial back of Chevrolet and Cadillac anyway. Instead of pissing away money and talent creating something new out of nothing, it should have been devoted to making Chevrolet everything it could be.
I currently have an 02 saturn sc1, 104k miles and runs and drives great. Great gas mileage. Wish saturn was still making cars
I owned 2 Saturns, a 1993 SL1 and a 2001 SL2. I put over 200,000 miles on each of them and was very pleased with the cars. Both of those cars were driven by college students for years after I sold them.
One unique thing I remember about the older 90s Saturns (from my olden days working in oil/lube/tires, etc.) was that their transmissions had external screw-on filters, like oil filters. This struck me as odd.
It was designed to service easily. There were many things in the car that didn't even take tools to repair. Head lights and tail lights were easily accessible, etc.
The transmission also was designed with the valve body and oil pan on the top instead of on the bottom. Because of this the usual fine metal particles and clutch plate debris would build up in the valve body and eventually jam up the valves and the trans wouldn't shift properly. My valve body had to be replaced at around 70K miles and it wasn't covered under warranty.
It's beat to hell with 216k on it but my '05 redline is still my daily driver. Love it to this day!
Nice, My 04 Ion Reline is still my daily driver... Damn, its getting hard to get parts these days.
I miss my Solstice/Sky. Sad story from their hopeful beginnings to such a common end
A neighbor of mine has a Solstice, hes kept it like new. Love the styling of the car.
I have one r/n bought it from a family friend for $1k it’s a single owner car until me and was in pretty good shape except the convertible top got knifed and sewn back up (robbed in San fran) for some reason original owner never had it fixed under insurance.
@@Protoking $1K !!! Hot damn ! Good deal.
Buy a Mazda MX5. You’ll get over it real quick.
Much better roadster.
@@BIGLOVE4TRUTH Its suspension is better for the track “out of the box” but harsher for everyday driving.. sure they weigh less too being unibody but I do know the Solstice engine is a popular upgrade for certain year Miatas as it’s more powerful and bolts right up and that’s the base model 2.4 never mind the 2.0T. Both engines are very receptive to forced induction. I know they made a turbo Miata for a few years that didn’t sell. I want to supercharge my 2.4 for increased bottom end torque mostly, engine has enough top end to satisfy me and I wouldn’t bother turbocharging the 2.4 turbo lag will leave the bottom end still lacking.
Loved my Saturn's! I've had 2 SW2's. Drove both to over 270,000 miles. Hardly had to repair anything, just basic maintenance.
Bought my daughter a second hand SC2 @4:10 for high school. She was over the moon happy with my purchase. I alway though the car had great styling the twin cam engine gave good performance. She only kept it for about three years before moving on to a Mazda 6 of her own finance.
My friend and I took an SC-2 for a test ride (without the salesman) and beat the crap out of it. It was a fun little car. I liked their sales pitch. "Take it for a full 24 hours. See what it feels like when you come out of your house in the morning and see it sitting in the driveway."
I could pull 40 mpg with the one I had with a stick. Bought a ton of salvage ones, fixed them and sold them.
Great clip. When I was a kid my mom had a sl2 with the twin cam. Bought brand new from good ole sonny hill saturn. Thanks for the memories
I remember my grandparents went to the factory tour. They were dedicated Saturn buyers. My grandmother died and my grandfather traded in the sedan for the sport car with the 3rd door behind the driver door!!!! And my first car was a chevette. Lol. Cheers. Took me down memory lane with this! Thanks
I drive an 03 saturn ion. I drive it 60 miles round trip everyday for work. Awesome reliable car. Still see tonnes of ions on the road today.
As someone who loves American cars and was a proud UAW auto worker, one of my saddest days was when Roger Penske dropped his bid to take over the Saturn marque because GM had blocked them from preparing a new line of cars. The Captain would have made Saturn a hellacious brand.
caribman10 I’m a fan of American made cars too… what’s ur favorite brands? Mine would be Mercury, Lincoln, and Buick.
He would have taken them racing, no doubt.
I agree, when the news struck I was so sad
@@masonf7332 Modern? Pontiac, Chevrolet (where I worked), Studebaker, Chrysler.
@@davidgalinat4257 Saturn had already had a factory race team.....
My family owned 5 Saturn's from 1992 to 2002 models. They were good cars, cheap to maintain. I liked all of the Saturn's although I'm not really a GM fan, have owned over 50 vehicles but only 3 other GM cars besides the Saturn's. They really were a different kind of car from a different kind of company....until the last few years.
my first saturn was a 95' SL2, that my dad gave to me when things were tough for me. He gave it to me with 258k miles. I ran it until 397k. After moving states and finding myself "hard up" again, but employed. I bought a cheap 92' SC2 with manual transmission. I ran that until 268k. My situation had substantially improved by this point and I bought a Mazda3, that I'm still driving today. If Saturn was the brand it was when it produced the SL2 and SC2 it would still be in GM's portfolio today and maybe I wouldn't be driving a Japanese car.
I really enjoyed the video. I really did. I did want to say a few things. The taillamps on the GMC Acadia came from the Saturn Outlook. I liked how you shared how Saturn got integrated into GM. I know GM at one time was looking at merging Oldsmobile and Saturn when they were trying to change Oldsmobile 1997-2004. GM was using Saturn to sell Opels and integrate there. They later were using Buick for that as Opel and Buick had a history. As you saw what happened Saturn died Opel was sold to Stellantis. I think the Aura was a nice lookin car. It looked like a Oldsmobile Eighty Eight. I saw a Saturn Sky last weekend on the road. Chevrolet was threatened by Saturn. That is when they ran into trouble.
I always thought the SKY was a very nice looking little car.
First! I remember when Saturn went under. Hard to believe it was 11 years ago!
I feel the same about Pontiac
JDM Haze Still driving my 1994 Grand Am SE with the 3100 V6. Mileage per gallon not so great but no problems. Just oil and trans fluid changes regularly and brake jobs when needed. 164,000 miles
Still have my wife’s grandmas old 1995 Buick century with the 3100 v6 bought new passed on to us . With 60k when we got her I have 211k now and still driving it daily 17 years later with 38degree in Florida weather will not be given up
@@keithrussell2307 What a sweet ride, it was hog heaven with GM in the 90s, once the 2000s came they went downhill... I really hate when good car companies with potential lose their way, Nissan equally the same,, the 2000s reeked tragedy
It never ceases to amaze me how the folks at GM seem to ALWAYS find a way to screw up a good idea every single decade since I can remember! Unbelievable…..they should have let that old dinosaur go bankrupt in 2008! 😏 😒
GM did go bankrupt in 2009. The Govt should have never bailed them or Chrysler out.
@@joecostantino3684 yeah they should of just let 500,000 people lose their jobs instead. That would really do wonders for the economy! 🤡
@@swoocu that ended up happening anyway look at all the plant workers that got laid off. Look at all the jobs that were either eliminated or moved overseas.
@@joecostantino3684 Not bailing out GM and Chrysler would have killed both companies! That would have meant bad publicity and lots of propaganda for rival nations! Import companies like Toyota and Volkswagen would have completely taken over the American car market! Not acceptable for Americans!!!!
@@johnnymason3265 but the Japanese companies already took over "normal" car sales. Go to a highway and truly see how many Japanese/ Korean cars are out there. The big three even let the Japanese take full control of the car segment
I had one of these great little cars, a 1997 SL2 I had purchased used. It was a lease return vehicle with 23k on it and it was my third car but my first that was actually reliable. It was forest green with the tan cloth interior, automatic transmission, very reliable and great on fuel. I could get 42 mpg with mostly highway driving; and if I really tried, 45-47 highway. Plus, with upgraded tires, it could corner with the best of them. It got me through my college and university years and never left me stranded. About 6 months after graduating (with 92k on the odometer), I gave the car to my parents to repay them for the car I wreaked 7 years prior (a 1988 Plymouth Reliant with 135k). If I could do it all over again, I would have another Saturn but it would have been the wagon model. The driving dynamics (and fuel economy) of a sedan plus the cargo space of the VUE; a winning combination. It was a right car that got me through a unique time in my life.
Everyone in middle Tennessee was sad to see Saturn go. I still remember hearing of the plant's closing.
Makes me miss my parents old Vue, with the 5-speed manual! Such an odd combination but it was interesting to grow up with
yess!!! What amazed me was Saturn was one of Jim's few reliable brands
I still have a 02 vue with the 5 speed and I love it, although it is on its last leg. I bought it used 10 years ago for $3000 and have put about 150,000 miles on it since then.
Such a good start with original ideas and then going from bad to worse. Such a shame!
Good video.
I started at SATURN Spring Hill on 01 November 1990 and retired from Spring Hill Mfg. on 01, August 2012.
Thanks for the memories.
I fucking loved my 2002 SC2. I was heartbroken when it got rear-ended and was totalled :( I drive a Subaru now(have for a while)and its my baby, but my Saturn is the only automatic car I'd buy again and the only "gm" I'd probably consider.
I hear the Sky’s fetch a fair price these days, if they’re in good condition.
I worked at a Saturn dealer from 2001-to the end in 2009. It was some of the best years I spent in the auto industry. I’ve personally owned a Saturn S-Series,Vue and Sky. What a great brand.
I have a 2002 Saturn S Series that still runs great.
I had a ‘96 Saturn SW2 wagon back in high school. It was amazing! Super efficient, very powerful, power locks and windows, A/C, Cassette player, and even a remote key fob! Did amazing in the snow with only FWD. I drove the hell out of that thing and still miss it lol.
A 97 Saturn was my first car 😊 After watching the video I now know it was a 2nd generation SC. I wanted one with the suicide door so bad!
A fun fact about that door. It was designed by an SC owners son who usually sat in the back but it was hard for him to get in and out. He designed it and submitted it to the right people at Saturn and they paid him a royalty on every car with the door.
I had a '93 SL1, and while by today's standards it seems really basic, they were more than competitive with other small sedans of the day. As I recall, they referred to the dealers as "Retailers" or "Saturn Stores", and I was fine with not having to haggle with the usual stealerships of the day to get a fair price. With a 5-speed manual, the SOHC engine actually performed reasonably well, since the car was lighter than others of the same size due in part to the plastic panels. And I could get over 40 mpg on the highway. I was sad but not surprised when GM pulled Saturn back into the corporate fold, and not at all surprised when that was the beginning of the end for the nameplate.
I have a 1997 Saturn SL1 with 290,000 miles and a 2002 Saturn SL1 with 190,000 miles. The engine is original. They are my daily drivers and they refuse to die. There is a fair amount of rust damage under the chassis. However, no one would guess that my car is 24 years old.
I had a 97 SL2, the main oil seal went out. When it was cold out the whole body vibrated and sounded like a Piper Cub. The SL1 lasted the longest with manual transmission.
My aunt's 94 wagon was beyond solid. No matter what, that engine started right up every time you turned the key.
10:55 Now that's a CLEAN transition!
We’ve had 3 Saturns: a 2nd generation sedan (MY99), a 3rd generation sedan (MY 01), and an 08 Astra. The first one was very reliable. I put 226,000 miles on it with only one “unscheduled” maintenance concern (clogged fuel injector). I only got rid of it because it was totaled when I got T-boned at an intersection. We’ve had the Astra for 14 years. It is still our primary driver and has 140,000 miles on it. I get a kick out of it because NO ONE else owns an Astra. Also, if I am looking up a fix on UA-cam, it is always a Polish, Turkish, Greek, or Scottish person showing you the fix, since most of the Astras are Opels or Vauxhalls in Europe. I also love the ESC (Stabili-trak I think they call it) on my Astra. It is easily the best feature on the car. It really performs well. The car is a surefooted jack rabbit in slick conditions.
I had a brand new, 1995 Saturn SC1 coupe. Great little car.
Hey, I saw my comment flow past in the opener! I owned 2 Saturns, a '97 SC2 and an '03 L200. My dad made a deal with me in HS, if I managed to get a full tuition scholarship for college he'd buy me a new car. I got the scholarship and a dark green, 5 speed manual 1997 SC2. It was a cool experience, they just gave me an options sheet and had me select everything I wanted on the car, no BS, just a checklist with prices. Car was delivered, had a bow on it, the dealership made a big deal about, all the salespeople gathered around and applauded as you drove it out, fun stuff :) I remember the salesman's name, Jim Lee, for 2 reasons. His last name is the same as my first and 7 years later when my wife rolled her Kia Sephia into the car in front of her at a stop sign and totaled it (no lying, foot off the brake, no gas, insurance decided it was totaled, those cars were garbage, lol), we walked into a different Saturn dealership and found good ol' Jim Lee ready to set us up with a 2003 L200 fleet car that just came back to the dealership. The L200 was nothing to write home about but we put 150K miles on it. It was a stupid simple, reliable and comfortable car that got you from A to B with no drama. I miss cars like that. The original Saturn models were some of the safest on the road too. The cars were basically one big roll cage that the plastic panels were hung on. Brilliant design.
Back in the 90s and early 2000s my dad had a Lada, kind of looked like a tracker. That thing was an off road machine I tell ya! Havent seen one in at least 15 years.
Loved my 07 Saturn Aura XR. Had some electrical problems at the end though. The heated driver’s seat randomly would come on to the point of constant so I had to pull the fuse which also disabled the driver’s side window. The car had great power, terrific ride, and a lot of features. If you can find one in good shape - I think it’s still a reliable car. Never broke down on me.
I had a 1993 SC2. It was an incredible lemon in constant need of repair, but fun to drive!
I always liked the Outlook and the Sky. I look every once in a while for used Sky Red Lines with a manual but they are hard to find in decent condition.
My grandpa had a 93 s series wagon that he loved and put almost 300k miles on. When he passed it became my first car and i put near 100k more on it with only minor issues. Really was sad to get rid of that car. Reading the stories of good times others in the comments had in their Saturns warmed my heart.
I had an '02 Vue as my first car, it had its flaws but it never failed me. Lots of memories with that car.
How many versions of the Cavalier did they need? Enough to bankrupt all of it.
Pontiac didn't ask for a Cobalt and Aveo
@@kclefthanded427 neither did Saab 🤷🏻♂️
@@jbizzle8491 Tbf the Vauxhall Cavalier was totally different from the Chevy Cavalier. Ruined a good brand though. RIP SAAB.
ask a Cimiron owner?
Saturn Aura is an amazing car. I got mine from my uncle who bought it brand new in 2007. It has 214000 miles on it and still runs great
Same. I'm still driving the same one today.
It's a Chevrolet Malibu clone with same engine.
@@waltchan the Aura came out a year before the Malibu redesign so technically the Malibu is an Aura clone. Basically every GM vehicle is a copy of another. I like the styling of the Aura better than the Malibu anyway and that’s why I said the Aura was a great car and why I didn’t say Malibu.
I still love Saturns...I had a 1998 SW2 that went to well over 200K miles (120K that I put on, the rest by other owners), and I still own a 2008 Astra with 52K miles. I wish they were still around...
My '99 SC2 is waiting in the garage for tomorrow morning. Made its annual KS to MI and back Thanksgiving trip without a hitch. 222,000 miles.
This channel has some really interesting videos on historical car brands.
My dad had 2 Saturns. A 96 wagon, and an 06 Ion. He liked the older one much more.
My first car when I was 16 was a used gold 1998 Saturn SC1. As cheap as it drove and felt, my friends and I had a whole lot of fun in that thing. I would love to have one again just for the nostalgia. Thank you for this video and the memories it brought back!
In 2004 we bought a used 2003 Saturn Ion Coupe with 30,000 miles on it. Still driving everyday. 240,000 miles on it now. Best car I have ever owned. Other than maintenance I have had to replace a alternator and one power window regulator.
I was fresh out of college when I bought my first car. I had done my research via car mags (no internet) and was determined to buy a ‘92 SL1 in the Fall of 1991. Bought it at Saturn of Sterling in Virginia. Loved that car. It ran great and held up for years with all the miles I’d put on it. It was companion on many adventures.
Loved the Dave Campo clips. "Friend, look at this car right heeeeeeeere" 🤣🤣 He was the face of many a car dealerships advertising back in the 80s.😊
Yes he was, for a long time I thought he just did car dealership commercials for Memphis dealers but found out later he was all over the country.
My family had 2 saturns a 94’ SW2 and a 94’ SC1 we liked the buying experience so much we got 2
My first new car that I bought entirely myself was a 2008 Saturn Sky Redline when I was 25. I had so much fun in that car. It started having mechanical issues around the time Saturn closed down and I was told to start taking it to a Chevy dealership for service. They claimed to have a lot of difficulty finding parts and working on it and always trying to sell me a Chevy, especially a Camaro. Eventually I sold it to a Subaru dealership to buy my second Subaru, and second new car I bought entirely myself. Since then I’ve only ever driven one other GM car, the Chevy Malibu as a rental, which would die at stop lights despite having an automatic transmission (ie. it wasn’t me dropping the clutch). Although I loved that Sky, it convinced me to swear off all American cars, especially GM’s, as I could never be sure if they’d break and/or be discontinued with little or no support.
I bought an SL2 in '99. I was pleasantly surprised at the package it had. Power everything, including traction control. It was easy to fix and maintain. Loved that car.
Even though the ION shared its platform with the Cobalt and G5, the ION was introduced 2 model years before the Cobalt and G5 as they were still selling the J-body Cavalier and Sunfire. GM also made the ION the guinea pig for the VTi CVT and Aisin 5-speed automatic, before opting for GM's 4-speed auto unit in the ION the same year the Cobalt and G5 were released.
Until it became just a rebadged Vauxhall/Opel car company. The last Saturn's were literally just Vauxhall's.
Except for the vue. I get your point tho, it's a shame really. I loved saturn. If I could.bring back a car company I would pick saturn (or pontiac and/or Saab if I could pick multiple).
Pontiac for me. It always bugged me Saturn got a badge engineered Solstice in the Sky.
The L series were also Vauxhalls and Opels. It made sense perhaps, I kinda wish we had Saturn (the first models) in Europe.
@@MaximilianvonPinneberg I agree and all the other US brands that were only sold in the US. As a child I never understood why we couldn't buy Knight rider in the UK.
Yep. We got the Saturn Astra but is known as the Opel Astra.
I was the General Manager at a Saturn dealership from initial opening until the day we had to shut it down. I loved every minute of it. The cars were good but not spectacular and lagged behind our direct competition. Saturn was doomed when they started sharing platforms with other GM cars. unfortunately, GM made money selling these vehicles for only 1 year. They needed to get to 300,000 units to make money and they only got their once. The magic of this brand was the customer experience and not the vehicle. Aura was a great car as was the Ion Red Line. The base Ion not so much. Sky was amazing.
I loved my SL2. Great MPG and fun to drive.
Still have an '08 Saturn VUE, bought new, still my daily driver, still runs great, 157800 miles!!!
Around 1994 I met a girl in a bar. I asked her where she worked, and she said Saturn. I replied "that must be a hell of a commute!" She laughed and I got "lucky" that night.
Good for you young man.
Damn can’t used that joke anymore
You gave her the Frankfurter?
You should have went one step further and asked “can I see Uranus”?
@@tnzdad LoL!
My parents had a 96 SL1 they liked but head gasket blew at 102,000--just out of warranty. My mother wrote the company a letter and they covered the repair. #3 cylinder started burning oil around 40,000. The end of the shift cable broke off in 2012 and that set of cables was expensive and about the last set in existence.
My first car that I bought in 2002 was a 1997 Saturn SL2. Ran for 10 years and I still miss it.