I think the new Saturn Outlook may just be the most universally appealing vehicle ever made, a true crossover SUV easily beating out every competitor in the class.  At one end of the spectrum, families on a budget choose the $27K Outlook SE because it has more space and more basic features than any 8-passenger vehicle in it's class.  More recently, we have seen customers order handsomely equipped $40,000 Outlooks with every luxury feature imaginable, because fully loaded, the Outlook beats the ride and creature comforts of every luxury SUV out there without paying an extra 50% for just an emblem.

What is a Crossover SUV?  A crossover is an SUV built on car "unibody" frame instead of a truck frame, providing the roominess, commanding seating position, safety, and other features of an SUV with the comfort, fuel economy, smooth ride and handling of a car.  The Saturn Outlook Crossover is the roomiest 8-passenger SUV on the market, and is built in the most advanced and environmenally friendly automotive manufacturing facility in the world.

One to get ready (Saturn Sky)...Two to get set (Saturn Aura)...and Three to Go...

ANNOUNCING THE 2008 VUE

The third car in the new Saturn Brand Revitalization has been officially announced, a 2008 replacement for the incredibly successful Saturn Vue.

A bit of trivia: By the end of this year, with the introduction of the new Saturn Astra,  the oldest car in the new Saturn line-up will be the Saturn Sky.  Never in automotive history has one company entered so many product segments and introduced so many new vehicles in such a short period of time.

Call us at the dealership at 480-922-5200, and will will keep you in the loop on this exciting announcement.

 With great fanfare, the fifth new Saturn vehicle in two years was announced at the Chicago Auto Show last week.

The sporty compact Saturn ASTRA completes the new Saturn model line, and will be the lowest price Saturn when it arrives at the dealerships beginning in early 2008.

Today was a really good day.  I had a consultant in my office for a meeting, and twice we were interrupted by a couple of long-time customers who were there to remind me what is so different about the Saturn brand and about our dealership.  First, I heard some music playing, and I was invited out into the showroom for the delivery of a brand new Saturn Vue to one of our repeat customers.  Yes, we still do all the fuss and noise with our customers new and old, including a cheer and a line to shake the hands of our newest customers.  This is something that happens a couple of times a day in our dealership, but it never gets old for me.  In this case, the car was the EIGHTH Saturn that this customer had purchased, and as I walked back to my office with the consultant, he looked at me and said, "Does this happen often around here, eight cars sold to one customer?"  Well, I am delighted to report that in fact, it does, that Saturn still does have the best brand loyalty of any automaker in the business.

Then, on the way back to my office, we bumped into Les, who is a Regional VP in a national financial services firm.  Les was in for an oil change on his car (pictured above), and he proudly told me that the car now has 204,000 original owner miles.  Again, I got the same does-this-happen-every-day look from the consultant, and I am delighted to report that while it may not happen every day, it happens often enough to remind me what we are all about.

Saturn of Scottsdale has received more than 120 deposits so far for a Saturn SKY, and in recent days, I have been answering some questions in the forums about how allocations work now and how I expect them to work in the future.  What became abundantly clear from this, however, is that there is a great deal of frustration out there among customers who want to get more up-to-date information on their orders, instead of just calling the sales rep and being told "I don't know."

In response to our customer's wishes, we have created a new website which will eventually become a customer loyalty site to better serve our owners (and those with cars on order).  The first order of business for this website was to develop an order tracking system which accurately notifies customers of changes in their order, and equally important, gives them a better sense of how the order process is working with others who have gone before them.

So, please check out www.ILoveMySaturn.com. On this site, our customers will be able to follow their order through every stage of production, more than 60 possible event codes telling them exactly where the cars are in the process.

Excitement was in the air at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit last week as the Chevy Silverado won Truck of the Year after GM invested nearly a billion marketing dollars introducing this new truck.  Meanwhile, a handful of Saturn executives and quality engineers were busy answering press questions about the AURA in the heated competition for 2007 North American Car of the Year.  The competition was stiff, with entries from Jaguar, Mercedes, Lexus, Nissan, Toyota, Honda and Infiniti, but all of us Saturn folks were feeling mighty confident.

In the end, the 49 judges (all members of the automotive press) voted the AURA as 2007 Car of the Year.  In the end, I think it was all about quality, not marketing hype.  We spent less than 2% of what they spent marketing the Silverado, so while most Americans hadn't heard about the AURA, in a side-by-side test conducted by the most experience car reviewers in the industry, the AURA won hands down.  What made the difference for these judges?  Well, they all got a chance to test-drive the AURA, and take her through the paces, to feel the quality and to compare side-by-side.

I said on my first post on January 1st that 2007 is going to be an incredible year for Saturn, and with the Car of the Year announcement, I think we are off to a great start.

I created MisterSaturn.com to express my excitement about some very important changes going on at Saturn starting in 2007.  By the end of this year, our brand will be represented by entirely new vehicles, none of which existing in the 2006 model year.  In the 2007 model year, we introduced the Saturn AURA Sedan, the Saturn SKY Roadster, and the Saturn Outlook full-sized SUV, an incredible trio of stylish, powerful, and economical vehicles.  If the engineers at Saturn would have delivered just one of these new vehicles a year, I would have been thrilled, but all three in one year just bowled me over! But, as exciting as these vehicles are, it doesn't compare to the two more vehicles to be introduced in the 2008 model year, the New Saturn VUE mid-sized SUV, and subcompact Saturn ASTRA.  So, stay tuned as I write about my first impressions on these new vehicles, and as we unveil a new and exciting, entirely refreshed and rejuvenated Saturn brand in 2007.