General Motors Offering Saturn Owners Special Incentives to Test Drive Cars, Trade Up

[Charlie]

A new story entry has been added:

[drupal=3530]General Motors Offering Saturn Owners Special Incentives to Test Drive Cars, Trade Up to a New GM Vehicle[/drupal]

Are you in the market for a new vehicle? If so, General Motors would really like you to take a look at their refreshed lineup of vehicles. As a result GM is inviting Saturn owners to "kick off the new year with a new vehicle that's every bit as impressive as your Saturn." The offer comes in the form of a loyalty rebate that takes an additonal $500 to $2000 off the "purchase or lease an eligible, new 2014 or remaining 2013 Chevrolet, Buick, GMC or Cadillac" now through February 28th.

[flyingj]

Does this seem like a "Let's get some of those pesky Saturns off the road" kind of promotion to anyone else?

Do they think I'll trade in my reliable, fuel efficient ride for large gas guzzling SUV? I'd spend the 2K in 'savings' in fuel in the first year if I traded my Vue for one, let alone the L200!

[APAACARMMANN]

i agree with flyingj! in all honesty, its cheaper and easier to fix the saturn than these so called new cars.

[APAACARMMANN]

the ad says "up to $2000.00.?" that alone says it all.

[APAACARMMANN]

it actually says 500 to 2000 plus the keyword "eligible"?

[XRL]

Actually, I think it's rather a nice gesture. It helps make up for the resale hit that closing the brand gave us.

If you got a vehicle below invoice, with decent money for your car, and then they added another $2000 on top of that, it could be a nice deal for someone looking to trade up. People with the Outlook or Vue looking to trade up into a more modern vehicle could really benefit from this.

I'm pleasantly surprised by GM with this. I'm not going to go out and buy a new car from them, but I am pleased by this.

[Signmaster]

Originally Posted by flyingj

Does this seem like a "Let's get some of those pesky Saturns off the road" kind of promotion to anyone else?

Do they think I'll trade in my reliable, fuel efficient ride for large gas guzzling SUV? I'd spend the 2K in 'savings' in fuel in the first year if I traded my Vue for one, let alone the L200!

It doesn't say you have to trade the car...

From the link:

"Eligible customers must provide proof of current ownership or lease of a 1999 or newer Saturn car or truck. The offer may be transferred to an individual residing in the same household (same address) as the eligible recipient. The transferee must provide proof of address. Additional restrictions may apply."



When we got the Ascender Isuzu did the same thing, even though I hadn't owned my Isuzu truck for 6 or 7 years. The dealership had a record of having done a service on the truck, and we got an additional $500 off the vehicle. It's actually a shame that Isuzu could treat people better with a promotion than GM, considering it was a GM designed and built vehicle.

[NJastra]

Originally Posted by XRL

Actually, I think it's rather a nice gesture. It helps make up for the resale hit that closing the brand gave us.

If you got a vehicle below invoice, with decent money for your car, and then they added another $2000 on top of that, it could be a nice deal for someone looking to trade up. People with the Outlook or Vue looking to trade up into a more modern vehicle could really benefit from this.

I'm pleasantly surprised by GM with this. I'm not going to go out and buy a new car from them, but I am pleased by this.

XRL - I agree with you as seeing this offer in a positive light. I'm currently not looking either for a different car, but if something happened to mine I'd keep it in the "family" (GM).

[linearbit8]

GM just doesn't have anything I like anymore. Maybe the Chevy Sonic, but for the price of the package I want I could get a Scion TC. That's really what I what get if I had to switch. Nothing in GM's lineup speaks to me.

[wlhawk]

I was a SATURN customer, not a gm customer. After giving a grandson one of my Saturns, I have two ford products in front of my home.

[mike08vue]

I really don't want to buy GM in light of what happened in 2009-10 with the "old" GM going bankrupt just to get rid of debt and the subsequent dive in that stock---lost a few bucks there! Of course the demise of Saturn didn't help either. I still think the the government orchestrated most of that too. Good old government motors. Besides, I'm happy with my Volvos anyway.

[M7Mayberry]

I received mailers from Buick/GMC and Cadillac recently. Any dealer is going to make the best deal that he can, regardless of promotions, letters or a customer's current brand.

I usually have two kids and a bunch of toys to haul around. If I were in the market for a new car, my top choices would be: Regal GS, Verano or ATS. The common factor; a 6-speed manual transmission. At least GM offers a manual in cars other than a base econo box or a sports car.

[VelvetB]

I can't find details anywhere. The President's Day offers are same or better and I'll bet the Saturn offer won't stack. Has anyone seen details of the offer?

[cityhawk]

I have mixed feelings about it... it is a "nice" gesture, though GM's lack of support for my Saturns has been a turn-off and that lack of support has been responsible for clearing the road of many Saturns. If they offered incentives like this, but still treated Saturn owners and their cars with respect in the service departments, I'd feel better about it.

One can't fault them for trying to turn Saturn fans into fans of other remaining GM products. It would have been nice if other GM divisions showed any inclination toward doing business the way Saturn used to.

In any event, while I think there are some decent GM products, none of them fit my needs, so I won't be buying any anytime soon. For my personal transportation needs, I want a small wagon. The Cruze is nice enough, but I need a long roof and a "D" pillar. And I don't want an SUV or crossover. I like small and sporty, but with a long roof so I can carry my bass..... like an SW2 and not shaped like a turd like any of a hundred lookalike CUVs offered in that way-overloaded segment. My wife would like a minivan; though I'd prefer a midsize wagon like our LW300 to replace our LW300 eventually. No wagons or minivans in GM's lineup. About 75 redundant CUVs and SUVs though. No thanks. I plan to keep my SW2 going forever as my personal transportation. If I find it too hard to find parts to keep using it as a daily driver, I'll be forced to find something else to drive, but unless GM offers anything like what I want and need, I'll have to look elswhere.

[Signmaster]

Originally Posted by VelvetB

I can't find details anywhere. The President's Day offers are same or better and I'll bet the Saturn offer won't stack. Has anyone seen details of the offer?

Other than what's in the link, I haven't seen anything. But used correctly, a person could negotiate the bottom line price then apply the discount if they own a Saturn that would make them eligible. We did this on our last GM (Isuzu badge) and the dealer actually offered us the loyalty discount before we knew about it.

Originally Posted by cityhawk

I have mixed feelings about it... it is a "nice" gesture, though GM's lack of support for my Saturns has been a turn-off and that lack of support has been responsible for clearing the road of many Saturns. If they offered incentives like this, but still treated Saturn owners and their cars with respect in the service departments, I'd feel better about it.

One can't fault them for trying to turn Saturn fans into fans of other remaining GM products. It would have been nice if other GM divisions showed any inclination toward doing business the way Saturn used to.

In any event, while I think there are some decent GM products, none of them fit my needs, so I won't be buying any anytime soon. For my personal transportation needs, I want a small wagon. The Cruze is nice enough, but I need a long roof and a "D" pillar. And I don't want an SUV or crossover. I like small and sporty, but with a long roof so I can carry my bass..... like an SW2 and not shaped like a turd like any of a hundred lookalike CUVs offered in that way-overloaded segment. My wife would like a minivan; though I'd prefer a midsize wagon like our LW300 to replace our LW300 eventually. No wagons or minivans in GM's lineup. About 75 redundant CUVs and SUVs though. No thanks. I plan to keep my SW2 going forever as my personal transportation. If I find it too hard to find parts to keep using it as a daily driver, I'll be forced to find something else to drive, but unless GM offers anything like what I want and need, I'll have to look elswhere.

After what GM got in terms of my tax money via the bailouts, I think they owe people more than a loyalty discount. Personally I highly doubt I'll ever look at another new GM vehicle in my lifetime for this reason and support reasons.

[davidsky]

Originally Posted by M7Mayberry

I usually have two kids and a bunch of toys to haul around. If I were in the market for a new car, my top choices would be: Regal GS, Verano or ATS. The common factor; a 6-speed manual transmission. At least GM offers a manual in cars other than a base econo box or a sports car.

Are any of those big enough for two kids and a bunch of toys?

[SL19302]

Its a nice gesture the problem is all the work I put into both of mine, If I traded them in two people would get really nice reliable cars, I like to enjoy the work I put into them and use them as long as I can, I do plan on when the time comes and I have to part with the Saturns to get a Chevy Cruze, I think there a nice little economical car.

[M7Mayberry]

Originally Posted by davidsky

Are any of those big enough for two kids and a bunch of toys?

If the "toys" are electronic, they are. Plus, I don't need to take a stroller very often any more. My 10 year old likes to move the shifter while I push in the clutch.

[Citation84]

I'd be more inclined to look kindly on GM if they had included the 05-07 in their current ignition switch recall of some 600,000 Cobalts and G5s. Same old GM. Just a sales ploy and former customer mining. Nothing benevolent going on here.