GM Will Market Saturns on QVC
General Motors Corp. said Monday that it would market Saturn models on the television home-shopping channel QVC next week to try to attract more women to the unprofitable division’s vehicles.
The 55-minute advertising program will air the evening of Aug. 5 and will offer incentives to buyers, said Chuck Thomson, the division’s executive director of marketing. He wouldn’t disclose the incentives or cost of the ad, which he said is the first by an automaker on QVC. He expects it to draw 15 million to 20 million viewers.
“It provides us a perfect venue to talk about all of our products to a female base that we’ve done very well with,” Thomson said. Women represent 60% of Saturn buyers and about 90% of QVC’s audience, he said.
Detroit-based General Motors wants to almost double Saturn’s U.S. annual sales to more than 500,000 vehicles by 2005 and is counting on new models and promotions to win back customers from Japanese competitors such as Toyota Motor Corp. Saturn sales fell 20% in June, worse only than Oldsmobile’s 33% among the company’s divisions.
“They have to cast a bigger and bigger net just to reach their sales goal,” said Art Spinella, president of CNW Marketing Research, which surveys vehicle buyers. The QVC commercial “might get them on more consideration lists.”
General Motors introduced Saturn in 1991 to try to halt market-share losses to small cars from rivals such as Toyota and Honda Motor Co. The automaker, which has said Saturn is unprofitable without providing figures, has sought to stem losses by adding models such as mid-size cars and sport utility vehicles.
The addition of the Vue sport utility vehicle helped Saturn boost first-half U.S. sales by almost 1%, as the company’s total sales fell 5.4%. The division plans to add a minivan next year.
QVC, owned by Liberty Media Corp. and Comcast Corp., features programming for products ranging from celebrity-endorsed jewelry to Dell Inc. computers and Sony Corp. electronics. Saturn might air more ads on QVC, Thomson said.
General Motors shares rose 41 cents to $37.25 on the New York Stock Exchange.
