Price, Reliability Drive Female Shoppers' Used Auto Purchases

When asked to name the most influential factors in choosing a vehicle, 62 percent of female shoppers claimed either price or reliability as their top motivator.

Specifically, a third of women said that price was their biggest reason in choosing a specific vehicle and 29 percent indicated reliability was most important.

Meanwhile, 19 percent claimed that fuel efficiency was the strongest influence, and 9 percent said the same about safety features.

Space was the most important factor for 8 percent of respondents, and 1 percent claimed convenience options as their top motivator.

For women with children under 18, price (33 percent) was also the top priority, but space (17 percent) was much greater of an influence. Reliability, again, was the No. 2 motivator, as 26 percent of this group listed it as their top factor for buying a vehicle.

Thirteen percent cited fuel efficiency as the biggest influence, 12 percent favored safety features and 0 percent claimed convenience options.

Finding the right car that balances price with reliability is a concern for all car shoppers. Doing your research online and visiting a car retailer that offers a variety of makes and models in all price ranges will help consumers achieve the value they're looking for.

For upfront Value Pricing, and a no hassle environment, shop at Saturn of Greenville SC, and Saturn of Asheville NC. Just visit our website at www.saturnofthecarolinas.com

Penske terminates Saturn acquisition discussions

General Motors Media Statement Attributed To President & CEO Fritz Henderson

Today we learned that Penske Automotive Group (PAG) has decided to terminate discussions with General Motors to acquire Saturn. This is very disappointing news and comes after months of hard work by hundreds of dedicated employees and Saturn retailers who tried to make the new Saturn a reality. PAG’s announcement explained that their decision was not based on interactions with GM or Saturn retailers; rather it was because of the inability to source new products beyond what it had asked GM to build on contract.

As a result of PAG’s decision, we will be winding down the Saturn brand and dealership network, in accordance with the wind-down agreements that Saturn dealers recently signed with GM. Pursuant to the terms of those agreements, the wind down process will be determined and communicated shortly.

Saturn customers and owners will continue to be able to purchase and have their vehicles serviced at Saturn retailers during this process. Once the wind down is complete, Saturn owners will still be able to have their vehicles serviced at other GM dealerships. We will be communicating with our customers very soon to explain the next steps in this process.

Today’s disappointing news comes at a time when we’d hoped for a successful launch of the Saturn brand into a new chapter. We will be working closely with our dealers to ensure Saturn customers are cared for as we transition them to other GM dealers in the months ahead. I’d also like to thank every GM employee and Saturn retailer who worked so hard to try to make this new beginning happen for Saturn.

Congratulations, Saturn of Greenville and Saturn of Asheville; 2009 Summit Award Winners!

Each year we recognize retail performance with the Saturn Summit Award. This award is reserved for those Retail facilities that demonstrate the highest levels of performance, customer commitment and community service. They are truly the best of the best.

Since we introduced the first Saturn model in the early 1990s we have focused on differentiating our brand with an outstanding Customer Experience at every level of interaction. Over the years it has become a hallmark for Saturn.

The dedicated Summit Award retailers and their teams consistently exceed expectations with their commitment to delivering the Saturn Brand Promise to customers, their involvement in their local communities and their ability to maintain a successful business.

This honor reflects the highest standards of performance, including:
 Sales CSI
 Service CSI
 Summit training completion
 Market penetration/sales effectiveness
 Community service
 Saturn partnership

Over the last year, the automotive market has faced significant challenges. This year’s Summit Award winners faced these challenges head-on, continued to set their standards high and worked extremely hard to achieve their goals. It is with honor and gratitude that we recognize their accomplishments.

2009 Summit Award winners:
FACILITY NAME RETAILER
SATURN OF APPLETON JOHN BERGSTROM

SATURN OF ASHEVILLE WILLIAM BRADSHAW

SATURN OF BELDEN VILLAGE RONALD MARHOFER
SATURN OF BROOKLYN PARK RICK LUPIENT
SATURN OF CARLISLE PIKE GREG SUTLIFF
SATURN OF CARY WILLIAM MUSGRAVE
SATURN OF CHATTANOOGA BRENT MORGAN
SATURN OF COLUMBIA MICHAEL LOVE
SATURN OF COLUMBUS JAMES STELZENMULLER
SATURN OF DAYTON GAYLE MARTIN
SATURN OF ENGLISH CREEK JOE HOLMAN
SATURN OF GOLDEN VALLEY RICK LUPIENT
SATURN OF GRAND FORKS WES RYDELL
SATURN OF GRAND LEDGE SHERRILL FREEBOROUGH

SATURN OF GREENVILLE, SC WILLIAM BRADSHAW

SATURN OF HOUSTON – KATY FREEWAY DON HUDLER
SATURN OF INVER GROVE DAVID ROEN
SATURN OF MADISON TOM ZIMBRICK
SATURN OF MICHIANA MICHAEL LEEP
SATURN OF MT. LAUREL JOE HOLMAN
SATURN OF OAKLAWN GORDON WALKER
SATURN OF OKEMOS SHERRILL FREEBOROUGH
SATURN OF ORLANDO ROLAND DANIELS
SATURN OF ROCHESTER RICK LUPIENT
SATURN OF ROCKFORD TOM ZIMBRICK
SATURN OF SANTA CLARITA BERT BOECKMANN
SATURN OF TRAVERSE CITY MICHAEL MARSH
SATURN OF TURNERSVILLE JOE HOLMAN
SATURN OF WHITE BEAR LAKE DAVID ROEN

I’m optimistic about the future of our brand – and I know this optimism stems from the tremendous dedication shown by you, our retail network, and your staunch commitment to do right by your customers.

Sincerely,
Jill Lajdziak

For an award winning sales and service experience contact Saturn of Greenville, Saturn of Asheville or Saturn of Spartnaburg today. We look forward to helping you.

Fuel-Efficient Saturn Models included in Cash for Clunkers Law

The Car Allowance Rebate Program – more commonly known as the "Cash for Clunkers" law – goes into effect today.We already told you a little bit about the law, which gives vehicle owners a rebate of $3,500 to $4,500 for trading in their current cars for new, more fuel-efficient ones.ImSaturn members will be happy to know that five Saturn models are among the new cars included in the program. To make it easy, Saturn has created a summary of the models and configurations that are eligible under the program. It also includes a guide to help you calculate your rebate based on your trade-in vehicle and the Saturn model you select as its replacement.The National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration has more information on the program at its web site. You can also get more information at www.cashforclunkerscarolinas.com

Mercedes, Lexus, and Saturn top ranking of U.S. dealerships

Todd Agostini is glad that luxury auto sales are down right now. The sales manager at the Jaguar dealership in Cherry Hill, N.J., Agostini says that Jags take a discerning eye to appreciate. And the heady times before the credit crunch were bringing in too much riff-raff--customers who didn't fully understand the brand or thecars themselves.

"We couldn't stand selling cars to people who really didn't have any business in our car," says Agostini. "Not that we didn't like the people at all, but it hurts the brand."

It sounds elitist, but Cherry Hill is the No. 17 Jaguar dealer in the country, and No. 1 for used Jaguar sales. The dealership has been able to remain profitable, so far, in an auto market with new-car sales down 36% from last year.

It's partly the cars that keeps customers coming, sure, but it's also the experience those customers have in the showroom. While General Motors ( GMGMQ.PK - news - people ) and Chrysler are closing roughly 1,100 and 800 dealerships nationwide, respectively (and surviving dealerships conjure ways to attract their customers), Jaguar joins several other luxury brands in shining through the recession's haze.

Mercedes-Benz, Lexus and Jaguar are the top three brands when it comes to consumer satisfaction at their dealerships. Along with Saturn and Land Rover, they round out the top five in our list of the best dealerships in the country.

Behind the Numbers To generate our list of the best car dealerships this year, we used data provided by Pied Piper Management, a California-based marketing firm. The numbers were collected between July 2008 and June 2009 using 3,531 anonymous shoppers at dealerships of every automotive brand, nationwide. The prospective car buyers were questioned on many aspects of their experiences at the dealerships, from whether a salesperson smiled to whether they were offered a brochure to whether they planned to purchase a vehicle from that particular showroom.

Pied Pier analysts then used that information to evaluate how effectively a dealership sells cars, to compare particular sales processes to industry benchmarks and to identify deficiencies in certain brands. Each brand was then given a score as a factor of overall sales effectiveness, with a higher score meaning better sales rates, as well as a greater likelihood of brand-exclusive dealerships.

Nine of the 10 highest-scoring brands on our list are in the luxury category; Saturn is the lone exception. Only one of the luxury brands, Cadillac, is from an American automaker.

Fran O'Hagan, president of Pied Piper, says luxury brands are more effective with auto sales because their salespeople earn higher commissions per sale and are willing and able to devote more time and attention to individual shoppers.

Longo Toyota, a dealership near Los Angeles, for instance, is the largest dealership in the U.S. It sells more than 15,000 new cars a year, and shoppers there know that if they want to buy a Camry, they can choose from multiple colors and options and drive one off the lot that day. It's all about the transaction, O'Hagan says.

It's not so with luxury dealerships. "They attract a different type of person," O'Hagan says. "The visit may take two or three times longer than at Longo, but the salesperson is happy to devote that time. People who want to make their living selling Jags or Mercedes tend to be a different type than the people who make their living selling something at a higher volume."

Indeed, Agostini says his typical buyer has already bought two or three vehicles at the Cherry

Hill dealership, and routinely invites salespeople to dinner or to week-long vacations at beach houses nearby.

Changing the Face of Car SalesThe industry average for sales effectiveness has increased dramatically across all types of dealerships, according to Pied Piper, thanks to an economy that forces salespeople to be more vigilant on the showroom floor, O'Hagan says.

The nature of what a salesperson must be in order to close a sale, especially in the luxury sector, has changed, too. While it's still true that shoppers buy from people they like, salespeople are facing a much more educated and sophisticated buying public.

It's not enough to know the product--they've got to convince a prospective buyer that a

Mercedes, say, is better than a Lexus, when so much specific, in-depth information is widely available for both types of cars.

"Product knowledge is dramatically less important than it used to be," O'Hagan says. "It's much more [a question of] 'What can the salesperson do for me?'"

Come and experience the Saturn difference at Saturn of Greenville, Saturn of Asheville, and Saturn of Spartanburg.

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Can a billionaire car mogul save Saturn?

Michael Vaughan, Autos.CTV.ca

Roger Penske is an American folk hero. He's the sports car racer who morphed into a billionaire car dealer. He seems to have the Midas touch in auto racing (his team has won the Indianapolis 500 fifteen times) as well as auto sales and leasing (you can rent a Penske truck almost anywhere or you can drop in and buy a car from one of his 250 car lots -- none in Canada).

But now he's taken on Saturn -- not the sixth planet from the sun but a discarded part of the General Motors disaster.

Saturn Corporation was established in 1985 by GM as a "different kind of car company." It was supposed to beat the Japanese at building small cars for the American market. Saturn succeeded in building a small, cult-like following among its buyers for the no-haggle pricing and "Family Reunions" -- but it never made a dime for GM.


The first Saturns hit the streets with dent-resistant plastic body panels. These were supposed to reduce repair costs and let the manufacturer change styles more rapidly. In fact, Saturns almost never changed appearance and the panels were something of a fire hazard.

Since the 2000 model year GM basically gave up on having Saturn separate or "different" and started putting a Saturn badge on cars from their European division -- Opel. They got some pretty good cars this way.


Penske has now waltzed in (financial terms not revealed) and picked up the Saturn brand, parts inventory and the right to distribute vehicles and parts through the Saturn dealership network -- about 350 in the U.S. and 60 in Canada. In addition, GM will continue to produce the Vue, Aura and Outlook for him for the next three years.

So how can Roger succeed where General Motors blew away billions? Well the first point is Penske won't have to worry about the factories that build the cars. This time around Saturn is only going to be a distributor of cars -- other people's cars.

Roger and his team can now shop the world for custom-made cars from other manufacturers that he thinks will fill the bill with his adoring American public.

Sure, he'll make do with the GM stuff -- good stuff by the way -- for the first few years. But in the meantime he'll cut deals with companies like Renault-Nissan to build the cars he thinks will sell.


Nissan has lots of under-utilized manufacturing capacity in the U.S. and it's expected that Roger will wrap himself in the flag and source only "American-made" cars. Flogging Saturns built in China or India wouldn't suit Penske's All American image.

Roger knows how to sell. He started with tires, moved into trucks and now the Detroit-based Penske Automotive Group is the world's second largest automotive dealer group.

Americans instantly recognize him as the serious looking, handsome guy wearing earphones in the pits as his team takes the checked flag. He's the representation of old fashioned American virtues of hard work and team play.


Gearhead blogs since the deal was announced have been overflowing with comments like "We love Roger" and "the guy has a golden touch."

If he pulls off the deal for Saturn, and makes it work, Penske will have caused the biggest change in how cars are sold since the dawn of the auto industry.