General Motors Corp. took action last week to satisfy dealers that have long clamored for a larger Saturn. The company said it would build a midsize model at its Chevrolet plant in Wilmington, Del.
The new car, code-named Innovate, will be the first Saturn built outside its assembly line at Spring Hill, Tenn., which has cultivated an image of down-home workers who crafted a car as a team.
It is scheduled to make its way into showrooms in 1999.
General Motors said the car will be based on the Opel Vectra that GM makes and sells in Europe.
Was this a smart move by General Motors? Will the larger Saturn steal sales away from other GM division?
What will this do to the Saturn mystique? Will customers view the new car as a Opel in Saturn clothing? Will this hurt Saturn sales?
Jeffrey A. Legum
President of Westminster Cadillac, Oldsmobile, Chevrolet
It may cannibalize sales from others divisions of GM. But it will get some people who would only have considered buying an import to at least think about buying an American car. I think it was a good move.
They are trying to keep the Saturn buyer in the fold. This will give them a car to move up to after buying the smaller Saturn.
There was a program within General Motors aimed at having the Saturn buyers step up to an Oldsmobile. But this never made sense. The Oldsmobile dealers wouldn't embrace Saturn's one-price selling. Without this, the car-buying experience would be different at Oldsmobile dealerships and Saturn dealerships and the experience was what Saturn was selling.
GM's decision to base the new Saturn on the Opel could hurt sales. Who knows? I don't know. The industry is going more toward world cars. It is going to have to become acceptable with customers at some point. It's the way of the future.
There isn't a need for another mid-size sedan per se. But I think the mind-set of someone who has owned a Saturn and is shopping for a new one is different from what Pontiac or Oldsmobile dealers would attract.
Edward Lapham
Executive editor of Automotive News
There will be some cannibalization, there always is. But there is a better chance that Saturn will get the import buyer this time.
There are several reasons for that. First of all, they can be more cost-effective on the new car because they are using an existing platform. and an existing factory.
So their investment will be less, one-fifth or one-sixth of what it was at Spring Hill.
