April 2008 Sales Figures

[Charlie]

A new story entry has been added:

[drupal=2260]April 2008 Sales Figures[/drupal]

While Saturn's overall sales were down 15.5% to 16,888 units last month, sales of the brand's Aura midsize sedan and Vue sport-utility saw healthy increases from a year-over-year perspective.

[BobbyP]

The reason behind the good sales.... Incentives.

$3000 2008 VUE - no hybrid
$2500 2008 Aura V6 - no hybrid
$1500 2008 Outlook
$1000 2008 Astra and SKY

Saturn didn't have incentives this high in 2006...

The 2008 VUE has consistently had high incentives. Saturn must have realized they overpriced it after the redesign...

Maybe I'm looking at the glass as being half empty, but the Astra seems to be in trouble.

[K-1]

Originally Posted by BobbyP

Maybe I'm looking at the glass as being half empty, but the Astra seems to be in trouble.

Reminiscent of the AURA's launch, no? Few retail outlets + zero advertising = low sales. It's a simple equation.

Contrast that with the new Malibu. Lots of dealers + lots of advertising = lots of sales.

[irish56]

Originally Posted by BobbyP

Maybe I'm looking at the glass as being half empty, but the Astra seems to be in trouble.

I think you're right. 909 Astras sold? Ten years ago, Saturn was selling 20,000+ S-series per month.

GM couldn't have picked a worse time to import a small car from Europe, given the weak dollar. They can't afford to offer incentives on the Astra or they'll lose their shirts.

[BobbyP]

Originally Posted by K-1

Reminiscent of the AURA's launch, no? Few retail outlets + zero advertising = low sales. It's a simple equation.

Contrast that with the new Malibu. Lots of dealers + lots of advertising = lots of sales.

Apple to apple... Not pulling up the old sales reports, but on the worse months the Aura was selling 3-4k units...

GM cannot afford a large advertisiing campaign on this car because they're most likely selling the car at a loss because of the value of the dollar. Having incentives on this new of car is a SOS signal...

I was behind a Malibu yesterday, Chevrolet has done a good job with the Aura.

[davidsky]

Originally Posted by K-1

Contrast that with the new Malibu. Lots of dealers + lots of advertising = lots of sales.

The Malibu should be higher but the economy went to pot just as the car came out. Killed the Outlook sales too.

[BobbyP]

Originally Posted by davidsky

The Malibu should be higher but the economy went to pot just as the car came out. Killed the Outlook sales too.

The Enclave has been breathing life into Buick dealers, the Acadia has been doing great (even with the funky tail lights).

The Outlook would be doing better, but GM has two competitors to it. GM is just competing with itself.

Considering the direction that Bob Lutz wants Saturn to go, IMO the Outlook doesn't fit into his business plan. It's not an Opel import, or unique model. This month it's only representing 18% of Lambda chassis sales...

Do you think GM will eventually cancel the Outlook?

[L100andSW2]

I don't think they would cancel the Outlook yet but that is a good question. Maybe more Euro Vue looks when time for restyling...then see how it goes.

Don't forget about the Chevy Traverse coming out later this year, ironically from Spring Hill. Assuming this will be the lowest price volume leader, I could see many consumers forgetting that Saturn also has the Outlook.

[titan12]

Originally Posted by BobbyP

The reason behind the good sales.... Incentives.

$3000 2008 VUE - no hybrid
$2500 2008 Aura V6 - no hybrid
$1500 2008 Outlook
$1000 2008 Astra and SKY

Saturn didn't have incentives this high in 2006...

The 2008 VUE has consistently had high incentives. Saturn must have realized they overpriced it after the redesign...

Maybe I'm looking at the glass as being half empty, but the Astra seems to be in trouble.

Living in a college town, the youngsters are all over my Astra...They come up and ask me about it all the time, most know its a rebadged Opel... I'd just give it alittle time, if you have the younger crowd interested the Astra should be fine...

[John10]

I think it would be a major mistake for GM to cancel the Outlook. The new VUE simply isn't big enough for customers who need a larger vehicle and want to remain with Saturn.

I believe Astra sales will eventually increase based on the car's attractive appearance. I do wish however that Saturn would have engineered the Astra to have greater fuel efficiency. For a car whose performance emphasizes handling over power, it's current MPGs are not good enough with gas at $4.00 per gallon.

[BobbyP]

Originally Posted by L100andSW2

I don't think they would cancel the Outlook yet but that is a good question. Maybe more Euro Vue looks when time for restyling...then see how it goes.

Don't forget about the Chevy Traverse coming out later this year, ironically from Spring Hill. Assuming this will be the lowest price volume leader, I could see many consumers forgetting that Saturn also has the Outlook.

You're very right. The Chevrolet Traverse will most likely reduce Outlooks and Acadia's sales.

GM anticipates large sales because they did not try to share or enhance Lansing Delta Townships production line. They dedicated Spring Hill to build it.

[BobbyP]

Originally Posted by John10

I think it would be a major mistake for GM to cancel the Outlook. The new VUE simply isn't big enough for customers who need a larger vehicle and want to remain with Saturn.

I believe Astra sales will eventually increase based on the car's attractive appearance. I do wish however that Saturn would have engineered the Astra to have greater fuel efficiency. For a car whose performance emphasizes handling over power, it's current MPGs are not good enough with gas at $4.00 per gallon.

Maybe the next VUE redesign can cut the weight and put back the space and more. i.e. The Ford Escape was always smaller than the VUE, but had more room. It can be done.

The Outlook was in the pipeline before Bob Lutz redefined Saturn's new direction. Saturn needs to focus on their core business, and not try and be the car company for everybody. It's spreading Saturn too thin and not providing results.

The Astra would have been better with two powerplant choices. Performance and economy. It worked very well with the s-series. The one size fits all philosophy is going to disappoint buyers and doom the car to fail.

[John10]

Originally Posted by BobbyP

Saturn needs to focus on their core business, and not try and be the car company for everybody. It's spreading Saturn too thin and not providing results.

The Astra would have been better with two powerplant choices. Performance and economy. It worked very well with the s-series. The one size fits all philosophy is going to disappoint buyers and doom the car to fail.

Quite frankly I have no idea what Saturn considers to be it's core business in 2008. Given the fact that they retired the ION before they had sufficient production capacity for another large sales volume small Saturn to replace it, they certainly can't believe that their primary product is still a sub-compact.

I agree that they should have several power plant choices for the Astra. I would think however that the current 1.8L Ecotec should be set up to be the economy choice. It certainly isn't gaining a reputation for power performance. I just don't think Astra's current fuel efficiency is good enough to attract the driver looking for high fuel economy. Economical highway mileage for a small car with moderate power should be 35 mpg at the very least IMO.

[piney]

The all-new compact Astra also had a good month, showing its fourth consecutive month of increasing sales with more than 900 vehicles sold.

909x12= 10,908, if this "good month" trend continues, they'll break 12,000 units...

[BobbyP]

Originally Posted by John10

Quite frankly I have no idea what Saturn considers to be it's core business in 2008. Given the fact that they retired the ION before they had sufficient production capacity for another large sales volume small Saturn to replace it, they certainly can't believe that their primary product is still a sub-compact.

I agree that they should have several power plant choices for the Astra. I would think however that the current 1.8L Ecotec should be set up to be the economy choice. It certainly isn't gaining a reputation for power performance. I just don't think Astra's current fuel efficiency is good enough to attract the driver looking for high fuel economy. Economical highway mileage for a small car with moderate power should be 35 mpg at the very least IMO.

At times you wonder if Saturn is making it up as they go along. It's been mentioned that they want to go upscale, be like a SAAB like company using Opel imports. Saturn took a leap of faith and dissolved almost everything that the original company stood for.

IMO the good that came from this leap of faith was the Aura and Outlook. These two vehicles are top in their classes.

The jury is still out whether or not America will buy re-badged Opels. More time is needed to proper judge whether or not it is successful.

[VTHokie00SL2]

What did the S Series sell in its best year, over 200,000? How about this idea - have Spring Hill manufacture an affordable small car for Saturn with class leading features. It could have some unique features like, oh I don't know, dent resistant body panels perhaps. Maybe invite the owners to a "homecoming" of sorts at the Spring Hill plant. You never know, people might just start buying Saturns again!

[davidsky]

Originally Posted by BobbyP

Do you think GM will eventually cancel the Outlook?

I figure no more Outlook in 2010

[davidsky]

Originally Posted by VTHokie00SL2

What did the S Series sell in its best year, over 200,000? How about this idea - have Spring Hill manufacture an affordable small car for Saturn with class leading features. It could have some unique features like, oh I don't know, dent resistant body panels perhaps. Maybe invite the owners to a "homecoming" of sorts at the Spring Hill plant. You never know, people might just start buying Saturns again!

20,000 Outlooks make more money than 300000 S series cars

[davidsky]

Originally Posted by BobbyP

Maybe the next VUE redesign can cut the weight and put back the space and more.

If they can design it so that all versions of the car take similar powerplants it will be easier to reduce weight. I don't think they need to make it any bigger though.

[marx404]

The main reason we are seeing sales go up is gas prices. We are grtting flooded with huge SUVs, people love SUV's but just can't afford to fill the tanks anymore. Suprisingly, they are taking well to our Opel merger, especially when it is explained that Saturn started pairing up with the Opel Vectra (L-series) back in '98. The quality is another factor and the new line has the fit and finish to prove it! These are trying times for Saturn in this economy but things are looking up! While Saturn may have changed thier origin and models, the one thing they will never change is customer service, which is what Saturn is famous for.

I do wish that we kept the 2.2L, the '07 version was the best to date IMHO.

When Chevy was given the Relay it actually helped make more people aware of Saturn, same should happen with the Traverse hopefully, it certainly did with the Acadia. No worries.