Saturn: The Latest GM Division to Bite the Dust

While General Motors appears to be trying to re-tool and re-build the company and its image upon what it considers its "core" brands, I think it is more than a little scary that Saturn is now the latest component of GM to disappear.  While I am sure there were probably many loyal Oldsmobile customers who might disagree with me, at the time of its dismantling its cars probably offered little to no appeal over Cadillac, Buick, and even more fully-loaded Chevrolet products.  Therefore, its demise was easy to project.  Pontiac, with its arguably unique "sporty" focus, was a little less obvious.  Upon reflection, however, Pontiac also failed to distinguish itself with an attractive niche in the hearts of enough automotive consumers.  Saturn, however, was to be a "different kind of car company".  Certainly GM could, and to some extent, may have already transferred some of the innovative ideas behind the launch of Saturn into their remaining product lines.  To a large extent, however, this demise of Saturn indicates the end of an experiment in building cars to order, establishing no-haggle policies for its dealers, focusing on customer service, and treating labor and management as partners instead of adversaries.  For the sake of our nation, I hope that GM can soon return their remaining product lines to levels of profitability and quality that permit our shrinking role in the automotive industry to stabilize.