In the Media: Saturn Surge
March 26, 2007
Detroit’s NBC affiliate, WDIV, aired a story on its Auto Insight report on Saturn’s growing success. The 
report stemmed from and included me citing an Edmunds.com’s AutoObserver report on Saturn’s surprising 60-percent increase in sales in February and heavy cross-shopping of Saturn’s new models by prospective Toyota, Honda and Nissan buyers.
An interesting tidbit uncovered by WDIV anchor Guy Gordon was the fact that the Saturn of Troy dealership, the Troy, Mich.,-based showroom where the segment was filmed, has engaged for years in a friendly competition with the neighboring Toyota dealership. Both owned by the same dealer, the two have run neck-and-neck in sales. But the Saturn dealership began pulling ahead last fall, and this month is likely to be 100 cars in front of the Toyota dealership.
Traffic at the Saturn of Troy has been even heavier in March than it was in February. Its manager reports he’s hearing the same from his counterparts in other parts of the country, especially Southern California where the arrival of the hybrid Aura sedan is being eagerly awaited.
Introduced at the Los Angeles auto show in January, the Saturn Aura Green Line hybrid is being shipped to dealers now. Saturne announced last week its hybrid will have a $1,300 tax rebate, making it the lowest priced hybrid on the market. It promises to deliver at least a 25-percent fuel economy improvement over the non-hybrid Aura XE for a premium of less than $2,500.
Edmunds.com predicts General Motors in total will sell 356,000 units in March 2007, down 1.3 percent compared to March 2006. GM's market share is expected to be 24.0 percent of new vehicle sales in March 2007, up from 23.6 percent in March 2006 and down from 24.7 percent in February 2007. Edmunds.com predicted lower sales from GM in February compared with a year ago, but a late-month surge in sales and higher-than-expected Saturn sales, pushed GM to the positive side.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 6:36 AM under GM , In the Media , News | Comments (1) | digg this | Seed Newsvine
Saturn is doing quite well with their new products and I hope the hits keep on coming. That said, I think the report on WDIV's comparison in the Detroit metro area between the Saturn dealer and the Toyota dealer is irrelevant. With all due respect, no s**t Saturns outsell Toyotas in that particular area. It reeks of the local "see, we're kicking some Japanese a**" you see all too often in that insular part of the country. That same attitude -- and the inability to look beyond the metro market/Midwest -- is why the Detroit TwoPointFive are in the predicament they're in today. I live on the East Coast and although I'm seeing a few 2007 Auras here and there, I see way more 2007 Camrys every day (yes, I realize that Toyota's Camry is supposed to outsell the Aura by at least 4:1 based on each company's corporate goals -- but the ratio I see is far higher than 4:1). Saturn's gains are admirable, but I challenge you to find any other side-by-side Toyota/Saturn dealers outside the Midwest (or far enough from a GM plant with the attached employee purchase incentives) where that result is true. I'll reiterate though, I am rooting for Saturn. No one wants to see GM fail. That said, until they fix the interior quality on that Aura -- the one my wife and I looked at had loose trim, more than a few cheap switchgear issues, and some glaring feature deletions like no rear armrest, no remore fuel filler release, etc. -- my wife and I will still primarily shop Honda, Mazda, and Toyota. "Close" isn't good enough. To get someone out of what they're used to, "BEST" has to be the goal -- and it has to replicate ALL of the feature and quality content expected. It drives and rides great though, GM certainly nailed that part of the equation -- that might be why the little flaws stood out, the rest of the car was oh-so-close to perfect.
Posted by: Greg | March 29, 2007 at 12:36 PM