tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780236463293911208.post8692895336674432281..comments2009-09-14T08:31:31.923-04:00Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09365867649035611248aferreira@local-motors.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780236463293911208.post-74152838203076378812009-09-14T08:31:31.923-04:002009-09-14T08:31:31.923-04:00Saturn certainly had its ups and downs, but I think Nyko is right, the strong brand and customer connection established during Saturn&#39;s heyday should not be overlooked. <br /><br />The analyst also didn&#39;t understand the niche focus of LM and even mentioned that LM was &quot;building cars for the masses&quot;. This is practically a 180 degree turn from reality.Arihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09365867649035611248noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780236463293911208.post-35993635715063376162009-09-14T04:00:21.287-04:002009-09-14T04:00:21.287-04:00I just watched the PBS story and thought it was well done, except for what they analyst said regarding Saturn and how it was &quot;ultimately a failure&quot;. If I am not mistaken, I thought that Saturn was a huge success-- it had an extremely loyal customer base, a great way of selling cars, and when GM declared bankruptcy and news broke that Saturn was going to get the Axe, from what I read in various news reports, dealership owners, and loyal Saturn Owners talked about buying the company to keep it alive--- ultimately Penskee purchased Saturn, and the brand lives on. I am not exactly sure that the current situation of Saturn constitutes a &quot;failure.&quot; What Penskee bought was not the car, but the brand, and the rights to the brand. From here on out, Saturn will be the brand used to sell cars made by other companies, possibly Renaults, or future GM products. If what has happened to Saturn is a failure, than ultimately Land Rover, Jaguar, and Aston Martin qualify as failures as well--- but they seem to still be creating and selling cars on a relatively large scale. With a loyal community base of over 3000 members already, before the first LM vehicle has been built, I feel that Local Motors is hard to compare to other brands and companies in the past. I agree with Jay that healthy criticism and skepticism is a good thing. But I also think that it is hard to compare such a revolutionary creative, business, and networking model to past closed private companies that worked in secrecy. Anyway, I&#39;m sure I&#39;m probably preaching to the choir here, but I just wanted to say this.Nykohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14585954321959233697noreply@blogger.com