The last days of Saturn: "A different kind of company; A different kind of car"

Our Saturn retailer will be closing Friday. It's hard to believe J has just two days left. Saturday night as we sitting together it dawned on me that this was his last week. I said "Wow, it just hit me; you only have 5 days left at Saturn." He said "Yeah." and there was a long pause. I said "It's really surreal." to which he replied "That's just the word I was thinking of.".

I know Saturn isn't an American icon that's been around for 75 or 150 years, but it's been a huge part of our lives. August marked 15 years with the company. It is very surreal to imagine such a big change.

I also know that we have had it much better than so many people who have lost their jobs. Not only did J have an offer to stay with the company, but he had 7 other possible opportunities! We were praying fervently for direction and I know we had friends and family praying for us as well. One by one 7 of the 8 possible directions he could go in fell down the list of feasibility then dropped off all together. At the same time, one direction climbed to the top and was left as the only one. We prayed for clear direction and God granted it. We are very thankful for that.

J has offered to help with the closing of Saturn next week if he is needed. He will start his new job Monday, the 16th. It is about 7 miles further and the hours are a little longer. He will also be working on things he hasn't worked on in 15 years and some things he's never really worked on like pick-up trucks and Corvettes. He will bring a large following from Saturn which we believe will help his paycheck. It is a benefit to a GM dealer to be able to advertise they have a trained Saturn tech now. Your continued prayers are appreciated as he begins this new venture. He says he's going to be "stretched" and "out of his comfort zone". At the same time he has been very excited after his talks/interviews with the owner and the service manager.

If he isn't needed all next week at Saturn, J plans on taking a day to ride his dirt bike with his buddy and another to go catfishing with his dad. I'm hoping they don't need him much so he can have some days at home, too. It will be kind of like a vacation. He does have 7 days of vacation left that he will get paid for.

Below is a letter from the owner to Saturn customers (bolding mine): http://www.saturnoflancaster.com/MiscPage_2 What makes it sad, I believe, is that Mr. Sutliff was involved with the development of Saturn, was it's first retailer, and his 5 stores consistently ranked top.

Saturn was "A different kind of company; a different kind of car". I believe they would've remained that way and continued to profit if GM had kept their fingers out of it, but that's another story.

The letter:

GM Dealer of the Year 2007
Sutliff Saturn Inc.
Sutliff Chevrolet Co.

Dear Saturn Owner,

Perhaps you were as disappointed as we were when the news appeared that new Saturn Products were terminated.

Some of us think it was an error of judgement, some might say it was the result of errors in judgement. It is true that over the years, the Saturn product zigged when it might better have zagged.

Sutliff was involved with the development of Saturn. Business practices of Sutliff Chevrolet were, to a certain extent, models for Saturn business practices. When the time came, we were the first signed Saturn Retailer. Our five stores in Central Pennsylvania were arguably the most successful anywhere in terms of market share. Our stores ranked in the top five Saturn retailers in volume. Often when stores were ranked by percentage of objective, Sutliff Saturn stores were 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Our new sales since opening in 1991 will reach 48,000 by this year end.

In 2008, General Motors recognized the best 1% or so of their 2007 dealers at the most recent Dealer of the Year presentation in New York City. Both Sutliff Saturn Inc. and Sutliff Chevrolet Co. were among the honorees.

Nationally, however, Saturn was not able to maintain competitive volume after the Ion was cancelled.

Sutliff Saturn will remain open in the Harrisburg area no longer than October 2010. Lancaster, York, and State College will cease operations as Saturn stores before the end of this year. Saturn technical service and parts availability will continue well beyond that time in our other GM stores in Harrisburg and State College as well as other GM stores possibly nearer to you.

Sutliff Auto Group expects to be operating GM stores in Harrisburg's East and West Shores and State College this fall, all of which will welcome Saturn owners with experienced Saturn service advisors and technicians. Our new automobile portfolio will include Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac as well as other brands.

Greg Sutliff