Saturn Enters Deal to Sell Cars in Japan

Saturn is hoping that helpful, no-haggling dealerships will win over Japan’s notoriously finicky customers.

Saturn, a General Motors Corp. division, signed an agreement Monday with six Japanese companies, including Honda and Nissan dealers, under which each will open a showroom next spring devoted exclusively to Saturns.

Monday’s agreement marks a departure from the way GM has sold cars in Japan in the past, which was mostly through a major import distributor that carries other brands in the same showroom.

And like Saturn’s U.S. outlets, which sold 286,000 cars last year, the dealers in Japan plan to offer the fixed pricing and friendly service that have become a Saturn trademark.

But will Saturn’s reputation for friendliness really stand out in a society where first-class service is taken for granted?

The Japanese auto makers have a tightly controlled network of outlets with courteous salesmen who sometimes even drive the latest models to customers’ homes.

But Brian Heywood, managing director of marketing firm R & D-J.D. Power & Associates in Tokyo, says Japanese drivers may be outgrowing the old-time dealers’ more ritualistic style of service, such as greetings accompanied by energetic bowing.

“That’s not what the customer is looking for, from our point of view. It’s that the dealers treat them as an intelligent person,” Heywood said.

In the United States, Saturn tied for top place with Toyota’s luxury brand, Lexus, in last month’s customer-satisfaction study by Agoura Hills-based J.D. Power & Associates.

Saturn dealerships will have the same look and feel as their U.S. counterparts, just as McDonald’s stores in Japan and Tokyo Disneyland are near-replicas of the originals, said George Doigami, a spokesman for Saturn Japan, a division of General Motors Japan.

The dealerships will sell right-hand-drive sedans, coupes and station wagons, which, like all Saturns, are built at the company’s Spring Hill, Tenn., plant.

Saturn Japan said the six initial dealerships are limited to the Tokyo and Osaka areas. It hopes to expand to 10 to 15 dealerships by next spring and 20 dealers by the end of 1997.

“We are convinced that the high quality of Saturn cars combined with friendly customer treatment and service at our Saturn retailers will make a difference even for very discerning Japanese consumers,” said Keith Wicks, general director of Saturn Japan.

Saturn will be entering one of the most cutthroat sectors in the Japanese market at a time when sedan sales are losing to the sport-utility vehicle trend.

Cars with steering wheels on the right-hand side developed by Detroit’s auto makers for Japan have had only limited success. GM vehicles, including models built in Europe, make up just 0.6% of the Japanese market.

Saturn Japan executives said they aren’t worried about sales prospects. But the Chevrolet Cavalier, which is popular in the United States, has been struggling since going on sale in Japan this year through Toyota dealers. May sales totaled 472, far below the monthly target of 1,667.