Saturn Cars: Why did GM s Different Kind of Car Company Fail?
by Kyree Williams CarGurus https://www.cargurus.com
The Saturn was initally developed in the 1980s as a revolutionary new small car that would do battle against Honda, Toyota, Mazda, Subaru, and several other brands. It quickly grew into much more than that.
Back in 1962, General Motors’s share of the US market peaked at 50.7 percent. But, by 1982, that had fallen to 43 percent, and it showed signs of continuing to fall. The market demanded smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, and GM faced an onslaught of foreign competitors who knew how to build them better. In order to solve that problem, GM began what it codenamed the “Saturn” project, and GM’s then-chairman, Roger B. Smith formally announced the project in 1983.