A Confused Kind of Car Company
Whether you believe the demise of GM's Saturn brand to be none-too-soon or unfortunate collateral damage, its departure marks the end of a unique car-buying experience. (Roger Penske pulled his bid to purchase Saturn earlier this week, citing future production concerns.) As GM prepares to move forward with fewer nameplates, I wonder which lessons learned at Saturn will re-surface at Chevy or any of its cohorts.
GM's foray into "A Different Kind of Car Company" included new labor union agreements, new dealer agreements, new product design, and a much-heralded sales approach featuring low-key showrooms, no price haggling and no pressure. In so doing, the customer experience was designed from the very beginning to separate itself from common car-buying fears, to let the car speak for itself—or restated, ironically, "May the best car win".
Lesson 1: Nothing works in isolation.
OK. Maybe some things do. But the customer experience doesn't. Saturn was born out of market research that practically equated car-buying fears with death. Designing the customer experience to ease those fears is smart business. But if your car is a lemon, no amount of positive customer experience can save you.
Properly utilized, customer experience management is built on both subjective customer feedback and objective actual product experience data.
Lesson 2: A commitment is supposed to be long-term.
Saturn emerged as a beacon of light among US automakers in 1990. It told a different story and did it well. Despite its early success, GM reallocated resources toward truck and SUV sales in the mid and late 1990s to improve margins. And Saturn produced the L300. Yikes.
Customer experience management is about a commitment to consistency. Companies win when they deliver 1) an authentic experience, 2) every time. Saturn nailed #1.
Apparently, the best car did win, it just wasn't a Saturn.
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