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The SL1, starting $600 above the SL, swiftly became the volume seller. Saturn sales officially began on October 25, 1990. Advertising never mentioned a GM connection — arguably wise, considering GM’s sullied reputation among the targeted buyers, though also appropriate for Saturn’s freewheeling status. The SC2 topped the line at $11,775 and, like most other small coupes, was a tougher sell than the sedans. The SL2 listed at an attractive $10,295, but could be optioned up to around $14,600 — a bit steep for the class, though that included antilock brakes (ABS) with rear discs (an $895 option) and CD player, features Civic and Corolla didn’t yet offer.

Traction control was now available with either transmission as part of the ABS option. California and other states had enacted laws requiring automakers to sell a percentage of zero-emissions vehicles (ZEVs) as a condition for doing business in those states. And it wasn’t just for fun. Despite the restyle, calendar-year sales slipped 2.5 percent to around 278,600 — not a good sign. A widely hailed sign of the future arrived at select Saturn retailers in December 1996. The EV1 wasn’t GM’s first battery-powered car, but it built on decades of company experiments with electric vehicles. Prices had been creeping up, ranging now from $9995 for the basic SL sedan to $12,695 for the top-line SW2 wagon.

It was just as well, for troubles were mounting at home. Retailers soon found themselves with more cars than buyers for the first time, yet Saturn’s one-price policy precluded rebates and other incentives to trim the backlog. The problem, many observers felt, was that Saturns hadn’t changed much and the competition had — and not just import-brand rivals. The only thing left was to trim production, and the Spring Hill, Tenn., factory scaled back in September 1997 by about 17 percent to some 275,000 cars a year. Meanwhile, the ’98 Saturns appeared with only re-tuned suspensions, for a smoother ride, and more powertrain refinements — an almost yearly ritual — aimed at reducing noise, vibration and harshness. Calendar-year sales fell nearly 10 percent in 1997, another 7.7 percent in ’98.

Saturn by now had a capable new leader in Jill Lajdziak. Lajdziak enjoyed rather less freedom than her predecessors, however. She reported both to G. Richard “Rick” Wagoner, named GM chairman and CEO in 2001, and to the celebrated “product czar” he quickly brought aboard, former Chrysler Corporation president Robert A. Lutz. But tightening Saturn’s orbit was necessary in light of a worsening financial crisis that would have GM on the brink of bankruptcy by 2006. With Oldsmobile already being phased out as a recovery measure, Business Week wondered whether struggling Saturn might soon be dumped, too.

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