SaturnFans.com Links

As competition in initial vehicle quality tightens, General Motors is increasing its efforts in long-term and perceived quality.

General Motors is on fire, and the heat is threatening to melt its Detroit rivals the way GM's tactic of planned obsolescence once made the car business so expensive that dozens of rivals quit.

It’s been a surprisingly good year for General Motors. True, the market has been in a slump. But the long-embattled automaker has received an array of outside endorsements.

Saturn is bleeding money and is under pressure to shed workers, raising questions about the 11-year-old brand's fate. Saturn's troubles normally wouldn't rate such talk. But GM's announcement in December that it will phase out Oldsmobile made it clear that the once-unthinkable is under consideration.

To sell monster SUVs, GM plans to mirror the 'market area' approach used by its Saturn division. The market area strategy gives dealerships exclusivity in certain regions, rather than having to compete with many dealers close-by.

The Cruze is symbolic of GM's new approach to Japan, the second-largest car market after the U.S. Following a string of embarrassing product flops -- most recently with its Saturn compact -- GM has bought into a number of Japanese carmakers.

Robert Lutz, GM's new and outspoken product development boss, has made his top priority the resurrection of the automaker's car line through improved design. With just a month and a half on the job, Lutz has already refashioned upcoming Cadillac and Pontiac cars expected to debut in 2003.

The most ironic casualty of General Motors's push toward modular assembly and global platforms will be Saturn Corporation.

'Car guy' dismantles automaker's bulging bureaucracy, stifling design philosophy.

Bob Lutz isn’t just General Motors top product development executive and top dog in North America. Now that Ron Zarrella is back to the contact lens business where he probably belongs, it is clear that Lutz will also be top marketer at the General. Let me explain.

Todd Lassa from Motor Trend says that the magazine will report in its January 2009 issue that "Saturn's connection with Opel styling is over. Following the current wave of Saturns, Opel styling will merge with Buick's." Why? The reasons Lassa says make a lot of sense. "First, GM wants to push Opel back upmarket. Buick, which was once a slight step below Cadillac in prestige, has countered Cadillac's edgy Art & Science styling with more rounded, voluptuous sheetmetal... like on the new Opel Insig...

Just one tumultuous month on the job, and already GM's newly appointed product czar, Robert Lutz, is making a difference. But it will be 2005 or 2006 before consumers see in showrooms a vehicle whose design the former Chrysler vice chairman has affected from top to bottom.

GM lured Christopher "CJ" Fraleigh away from Pepsi-Cola, where he spearheaded the "Joy of Cola" effort. Don't look for Britney Spears, Bob Dole or pint-size Hallie Eisenberg to pop up in the next GMC or Buick television spot. Cheeky celebrity ads may work for a 50-cent can of Pepsi, but not for a $25,000 Pontiac sports sedan or $20,000 Chevy pickup.

Bill Vlasic from the New York Times reported yesterday that GM is exploring the idea of "a significant shrinking of its North American operations, including shutting more factories and streamlining its sprawling brand lineup, according to people with knowledge of GM's deliberations. One move under discussion, for example, would have GM buy out dealers that exclusively sell Saturns and market the cars through its Buick-Pontiac-GMC dealers instead." GM confirmed the notion that it needs to right-s...

An influential industry report to be released on Thursday is expected to show productivity rising at General Motors assembly plants and falling at Ford plants.