Killing a brand…. Saturn

General Motors in announces a bailout plan that reduce their brand portfolio without Hummer, Saab and Saturn. GM said that they plan to sell or discontinue the number of brands in order to focus on Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC and Buick. This put in serial problems brand as Hummer, Saab and specially Saturn. The first two brands were acquire by GM during the 90’s and GM are planning to sell both. But Saturn was a GM project and announced that they are planning to ends the production by 2011.

Saturn brand born in 1985 as a respond of the Japanese-German car industry and try to be a “different kind of car industry”. At the beginning Saturn showed a difference among the other GM products, but with the time lost the differentiation and erode its brand equity.
Saturn tried to change the experience of being a car company.

They focus in customer service; Saturn carefully selected dealers who agreed to build separate showrooms and service facilities and to operate under strict guidelines for customer treatment. Sales personnel were trained in "consultative selling" to replace hard-sell tactics. A "retail associate" would sit down with customers, discuss their needs, explain their options, and arrange a test drive. Buyers were given a tour of their dealer's service area and met the mechanics who would work on their cars.

New pricing strategy; Saturn strongly urged its dealers to avoid the usual haggling, saying no customer should ever wonder about paying too much. Dealers agreed, and Saturns sold at full retail price -- no more, no less. Suddenly with the years Saturn converge to be a General Motors brand with all the lack of innovation and creativity and spoil the good quity of the brand.

Conclusion, today we are looking how important brand like Merrill Lynch or Lehman Brothers are disappearing. Saturn one of the brands of General Motors was a star in the dark sky of GM, but the managers decided that it was only a shooting star. Long live the Saturns ”a different kind of company”.