GM was having quality problems and started Saturn in Springhill, TN. They use to brag the labor contract would fit on a card in your shirt pocket. GM took a hands off approach, and it showed up in a team between all parties, including customers. Hell, they always had a Saturday clinic where customers could come in and learn how to change their own oil!
Car owners were very loyal, I've owned two of them. They made three models, a two door coupe, a four door sedan, and a wagon. Consumer reports had Saturn on top of every category except maybe noise. (The noise was due to a metal timing chain, you never had to change it unlike a lot of the other four cylinder cars using a nylon belt, and the valve train required no adjustment, just gas and oil and new plugs every 100k)
Now they make umpteen models, the quality sucks on all of them, and the posters bragging about Saturn are gone from the dealership walls. Some of the Saturn models are just relabeled GM models. In December 2004, the Saturn plant in Spring Hill became a GM plant, building other models in addition to Saturns, and the existing Saturn/UAW contract went out the window to be replaced by the current GM/UAW contract. |
