The original founder was GM, and I credit it's death due to the dealership networks.

GM could not shut down both Pontiac and Buick. If you think about it Caddy dealers were almost always connected to Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, and GMC trucks not to mention Hummer and SAAB. With Olds gone GM could not leave the Caddy dealership network with only GMC. To many would have faultered already loosing Pontiac, Hummer, and SAAB. With Buick gone GM would have had to move Saturn upscale into the Buick slot or close to it. So while Saturn still outsold Caddy, Buick, Pontiac, Hummer, and SAAB they didn't need a second brand selling in the Chevy slot. Thats my take on it after working for GM for 30 plus years and Saturn for 18 of them. So Saturn is gone never to return.

 

Well said I think that answers the question.

 

Seems to sum it up.

 

They went the way of all the other American car companies in the past. They were just another re-badge manufacturer with nothing really making them stand out in the end.

 

You now own a S series and you'll find out how much of a GM rebadge it is.

 

The S car of course is not a badge engineered corporate platform car. It established the name Saturn and for some reason it took a fair amount of heat from the corporate car testing crowd. As I remember anyway. Noisy, under powered, not competitive. These are things I remember from the time. My personal experience? Expensive. In 1991 or so I was looking to replace the car I was driving and Saturn was one I was looking at seriously. In the service business my self at that time you run across service oriented people at road stops and many were driving the then new Saturn. It was not un-common in that industry to buy a a new car and discover you were wearing parts out faster than they were showing up in the replacement market and that happened on the Dodge Aries K car I was driving at the time. So along with reading not really good road tests on the Saturn I was asking drivers who were racking the miles up on them using them as a service car and there was nothing but positive things to be said about the initial S car. But the bottom line still was it was expensive. And the competition was in many cases equally as good. I ended up by a Mitsubishi that frankly I did not particularly want but it suited my purposes equally as well as a Saturn would have and for exactly the same reasons, but rather than the roughly $16,000 for the Saturn, out the door with the title in my pocket for $11,000. I drove that car 300,000 miles and for 11 years. I am equally sure a new Saturn would have done the same and I probably would have enjoyed it more. But the Dealer One Price did not give me wiggle room to buy the car with and frankly it was not worth the extra money out the door to drive it that way. And 11 years later Saturn was well into the process of becoming a badge engineered "Me To" automobile that offered little appeal over the competition, some of which were the same car with a different name. And still a Dealer One Price sales net work.
When I bought my Van new in 2007 just before Saturn quit I could buy a Chrysler town and Country and did for 21,000 or a Rebadged Chevy for $37,000. I think the math explains things all by itself.

 

PARTS of it are GM standard parts but, the Original S cars were what Saturn was all about. I remember going to the opening of the first Saturn dealer in town.

The parts that I'm finding are generic GM parts are many mechanical things, switches and relays which is convenient for a 20-year old out of production car from a shut-down company. It makes finding replacement parts a little easier. OCCASIONALLY I'll strike gold and find a first gen s-car at the junk yard.

I was saying that when they got the ax they were just re-badged GM vehicles. The ION and was the last chassis that was native to the Saturn line.

 

SL Base Manual $7,995
SL1 Base Manual $8,595
SL2 Base Manual $10,295
SC2 Base Manual $11,775

SL1 Base Automatic $9,290
SL2 Base Automatic $10,990
SC Base Automatic $11,775

Transportation
$275

Power Door Locks,
Power Windows,
Air Conditioning,
Power Right Side Mirror,
Cruise Control
$1,430

Air Conditioning
$775

Cruise Control
$195

AM/FM Cassette + Coaxial Speakers
$175

AM/FM Cassette + EQ + Coaxial Speakers
$295

AM/FM CD
$545

Power Sunroof
$530

ABS/Traction Control
$895

I still have the stickers
My wifes 1992 SL2 was $13,780
My 1993 SL2 was $14,030

and I agree the ION was the last SATURN

 

$9220 For my lovely SL sedan. Wish you could still buy a new car for less than 10K

 

Add the options up that Rj listed and add 7% tax it comes to 15777.15 so my memory as old as it is, still basically works. And I paid out the door $11,000 with some kind of extra mileage warranty that cost me a Grand to buy because the cost of the Mitsubishi was comming out of my pocket not some one else's and I knew I was going to rack up the miles. I have no complaints with the Saturn, I like the SC2 coupe I still have which why I still have it. But as a 94 and as 2 year old used car it made a lot of sense to buy it when it was bought. But in 91 a number that adds up roughly to 50% more did not make sense. It is my personal belief the dealer marketing more than anything else drove customers off. The Dealers them self were great to deal with. The dealer the 94 was purchased from here in Southern Phoenix was great. The dealer that is no longer there near where I now live I can not say the same thing about. Going there for service was like playing Gouge for Dollars.
The car when it came out was in my opinion as good as the come. Maybe even better, but today 20 years or so down stream the standard generic GM parts are not a problem, it is the Saturn unique parts that break and can not be found that is. That though is not unique to a Saturn, finding Rambler, Nash, Hudson, Packard, Studebaker, Pontiac, Kaiser, Frasier, Henry J, Oldsmobile, Desoto, Plymouth and even Chevrolet parts that old are a problem. The one that can not be dealt with well is taking back to a dealer. At least one can still find a Chevrolet dealer.