[COLOR=blue]* Vehicle designs NOT shared with another GM division.....
* A special UAW contract.....and VERY happy workers.....
* A new assembly plant in the south when only import manufacturers looking to build there...since then, no other domestic manufacturer has followed them
* Headquarters, field offices, white-collar employees separate from the rest of GM and with their own individual culture.
All of which cost GM far more than the mediocre cars actually made. GM lost at least $3 billion on a "different kind of car company"
"Special", "different", "seperate" are fine for Porsche with Porsche prices. But for a entry level car, one dedicated staff, one plant, one specialized are not sustainable.
Actual Saturn quality was far worse than what customers reported since the Saturn dealers take great care of the customers. ( By the way, Saturn dealers are much more closely bound to GM common policies than other dealers, since the Saturn franchise are more legally bound to the centralized GM that so many compalin about. - the crappy dealers exist becasue they legally can refuse to behve like GM prescribes)
The plastic panel flatness and gaps that acceptably large in the Fiero in the 80's and SL1 and SL2 in the early 90's look impossibly huge, especially after a few years of sun and freezing. The Ion now is a new car that has a amateur quality to it, since the panels look like something the neighbor has "restored" with two gallons of Bondo.
GM's current plan is sustainable, and captializes on the all the fine product that Opel makes, but since the late 70's has not come to the US. For relatively little additonal costs, GM has a distinctive looking, high visual quality, high relaiblity car line for the US that finally uses the same engineering and manufacturing methods as their highest quality cars to go along with industry leading Saturn customer service.
With the new strategy, one day Saturn will be able to pay back the $3B with interest and could be considered a good investment for GM,
All of this is over Jerry Flint's head, who is now so lazy, he just mails in "me too" slam of the week. Time to retire. Actual journalism requires homework and critical thought.