Last week SaturnFans.com reported about a new effort underway at Saturn to build awareness of the revitalized brand. Today Automotive News provided some additional detail about the changes underway at Saturn, as well as some of the progress that's already been made.

As previously documented, this fall Saturn will take a different approach to marketing its vehicles. Ads will feature the brand's entire lineup of vehicles, instead of individual models. The company will also rely more heavily on digital media and event marketing to reach its target customers: young female buyers. "There will [also] be more marketing efforts early next year when Saturn offers a two mode hybrid version and eventually plug-in technology in the Vue SUV," said Automotive News.

In addition, beginning in the 2009 model year, the brand will put the "Saturn" name back on all of its vehicles. Recent Saturns have only included enlarged, prominently displayed nameless insignias.

All of this is being done in hopes of continuing to build on the growth Saturn has experienced over the past few years. And this year's increase has been the most dramatic. "In a down market, we will drive a year-over-year increase," Saturn general manager Jill Lajdziak told the publication. "We're sitting at about a 15% increase as of today, and we'll see what the market does in the next three months."

While Saturn is seeing its sales grow, retailers the have seen their profits rise – or at least have seen their stores return to profitability. Lajdziak told Automotive News that around 88% of Saturn 440 stores are generating positive revenue. "Our profitability has increased dramatically since 2006," she said. "The return on net assets for the brand has almost doubled."

As the brand looks forward to the future, Saturn will continue to strive to competitively price models to minimize the need for incentives. Competitive pricing will be important because with more standard content than ever before, pricing for new models is higher than in previous generation Saturns. "We're going to do this the right way," Lajdziak said. "We're going to earn our way and bring back the value."

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Source: Automotive News