Editing Saturn Corporation (section)

===1990–2000: "A new kind of car company"===
[[File:Saturn-SL2.jpg|thumb|1990–1995 [[Saturn S-Series]]]]
On July 30, 1990, the first Saturn was built, a red 1991 model-year Saturn SL2. The first Saturn dealership opened in Memphis, Tennessee. Saturn Corporation was launched as a "different kind of car company", and Saturn even had its own unique car models (although later models shared platforms with other GM vehicles to be more cost effective in the market), and their own dealership network that was separate from the rest of GM.

Results at Saturn were more doubtful than positive. According to ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', the project was too ambitious, as "everything at Saturn is new: the car, the plant, the workforce, the dealer network and the manufacturing process. Not even [[Toyota]], a highly successful and experienced automaker, tackles more than two new items on any single project." While Saturn cars proved popular and successful in forming emotional connections with buyers,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Saturn: A Wealth of Lessons from Failure |url=https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/saturn-a-wealth-of-lessons-from-failure/ |access-date=2024-10-03 |website=Knowledge at Wharton |language=en-US}}</ref> actual sales never met the optimistic projected targets, in part because of the [[early 1990s recession]]. It also proved cannibalistic, as 41% of Saturn buyers already owned a GM car. Its separation from the rest of its GM parent, plus the fact that it drained $5 billion from other car projects, stirred discontent within GM's other divisions. Also, Saturn opened at considerably higher cost than the Japanese transplants (factories that Japanese automakers established in the United States).<ref>{{cite book | url = http://www.ragm.com/books/corp_gov/cases/cs_gm.html#_edn45  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080623201420/http://www.ragm.com/books/corp_gov/cases/cs_gm.html#_edn45  | archive-date = June 23, 2008  | title = Corporate Governance | year = 2005 | publisher = Blackwell Publishers | author = Robert A. G. Monks | chapter = Corporate Governance case study: General Motors | access-date = May 17, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Greenwald |first=John |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,976990-1,00.html |title=What Went Wrong? Everything at Once. |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=November 9, 1992 |access-date=October 1, 2009 |archive-date=March 24, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100324172012/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,976990-1,00.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The brand was immediately known for its "no haggle" prices. 
The first Saturn model, the [[Saturn S-Series|S-Series]], was initially quite successful, selling its highest recorded number of annual units in the company's history just three years after first starting sales.<ref name=":0" /> 
A year later, Saturn entered the Canadian market. In 1993, Saturn's 500,000th car, "Carla", was built. In May 1995, Saturn's one millionth car entered the market. In 1996, Saturn dealerships distributed the [[electric car|electric]] [[GM EV1]], the first electric car released under the [[General Motors|GM]] brand. In 1997, Saturn became the first General Motors North American vehicle to be fully built with right-hand-drive on the same assembly line as the left-hand-drive vehicles (the previous right-hand-drive GM North American vehicles were built in countries with a left-hand road rule using a [[knock-down kit]], customized dashboard, and steering components) as it entered the Japanese market.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2007-06-13 |title=How Saturn Cars Work |url=https://auto.howstuffworks.com/saturn-cars.htm |access-date=2024-10-08 |website=HowStuffWorks |language=en-us}}</ref> 
In January 1999, Saturn rolled out its two millionth car. Also in 1999, Saturn began production of its all-new [[Saturn L-Series|L-Series]] for the 2000 model year.

By the time the Saturn brand was launched in Japan, the [[Economy of Japan|Japanese economy]] was [[Lost Decade (Japan)|already in a sharp decline]] following the 1990 collapse of the [[Japanese asset price bubble]]. Resultantly, the surplus was mitigated with the retooling of the right-hand-drive SW models into SWP, or station wagon postal, models, which were then sold to the United States Postal Service.