DETROIT GM to replace slow-selling Saturn L-300 models

KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
DETROIT -- The midsize sedan General Motors Corp. had hoped would be a hit with Saturn lovers is instead on the automaker's hit list.
GM will kill off the slow-selling Saturn L-300 sedan and wagon in the summer of 2005, say suppliers, auto insiders and GM officials. The plan is to replace it later in 2005 with a four-door hatchback that some insiders call the Saturn Sportsback. It would be built on the same structure as the new Chevrolet Malibu and the Saab 9-3.
The Saturn L-300, called L-Series when it debuted in 1999, was GM's long-awaited attempt to create a midsize car that satisfied buyers of the original, compact Saturn would want to move to. Instead they just moved on, say auto-sales experts.
GM poured hundreds of millions into producing a first midsize for Saturn and hoped to sell 200,000 of the L-Series a year. It topped out in 2001 with sales of 98,000, and a few years ago GM cut production from two shifts to one at the L-Series' Wilmington, Del., plant.
"It just had price, styling and size issues from the beginning. It's really a pretty boring car," said Rebecca Lindland, senior analyst for Global Insight, an auto-research firm. "GM suppliers were told to expect it to sell 200,000 a year, but it's never come close."
Asian competition
Lindland said competing Asian vehicles such as the Hyundai Sonata and Nissan Altima are faring the best in the competitive midsize-car segment. Sonata sales are up 20 percent for the year and Altima sales basically are flat.
L-Series sales tumbled to 81,000 last year and are down 16 percent in 2003. The L-300 is on pace to top 70,000.
GM has put heavy rebates on the L-300. They increased from $1,400 per vehicle in January to more than $3,400 in October, according to the vehicle-sales Web site www.edmunds.com. The vehicle's suggested retail price is between $16,000 and $24,000.
Sales have driven into a ditch the last two months. They fell 37 percent in September and 40 percent in October, compared with the same months in 2002. This is despite Saturn's making over the front grille and rear and adding a brushed-nickel trim and silver gauges inside.
"You go into a Saturn dealership and you can just see the L-Series isn't doing well. It's been a bit of a dog," said Mike Wall, analyst for the forecasting firm CSM Worldwide. "Coming out, Saturn hoped people would want to graduate to the L-Series from the small Saturn, but they go on instead to a Toyota Camry."
Large supply
Wall said GM has about a 116-day supply of unsold L-300 sedans and wagons, well above the 60-day supply automakers prefer. That number remained high despite a supplier strike that halted L-300 production for three weeks in late October.
The Saturn L-300 will be replaced by a car off the so-called Epsilon platform for the 2006 model year. Epsilon is a global midsize car platform, a basic architecture from which a number of different-looking vehicles can be built.