Former Saturn president and marketing boss Don Hudler has passed away at his home in Charlotte, North Carolina at the age of 87. He is survived by his wife, Dannielle Colliver Hudler, a former General Motors advertising executive.
Per a report from Automotive News, Don Hudler’s career at General Motors spanned some 42 years before he retired to become one of the nation’s top Saturn dealers.
Hudler’s career with General Motors began in 1956, when he became one of the youngest advertising managers in the company’s history. In 1980, General Motors repositioned Hudler in Madrid, where he served in regional marketing. After his stint abroad, Hudler was brought back to the U.S., where he served GM as the director of marketing policy and dealer relations.
Hudler’s involvement with the Saturn brand began with its launch in 1990 and continued through its dissolution in 2010 following GM’s bankruptcy. Hudler helped to promote Saturn as “a different kind of car company” and created Saturn’s product distribution system, which divided the U.S. into specific territories that were covered by retailers with salaried salespeople and the promise of no-haggle pricing.
During his time at Saturn, Hudler served as the GM division’s first vice president of sales, service, and marketing. Hudler would eventually go on to succeed Skip LeFauve as the brand president in 1995, and would later become chairman in 1997.
Hudler is also credited with establishing Saturn as an industry leader in customer service and brand loyalty. Part of this was with the creation of “homecoming” events wherein Saturn vehicle owners were invited to the GM factory in Spring Hill, Tennessee, where tens of thousands of customers would converge for concerts, fireworks, and a tour of the factory.
Hudler retired in 1999 to become chairman of Saturn Retail Enterprises, selling his GM stock in order appease Texas regulators and buy six stores around Houston and Dallas.
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Comments
I had a love-hate opinion of Saturn as a company when they were around. I loved the value but hated the cheapness. Looking back now, I think I was frustrated with the things that led to its demise. Would’ve been nice to have seen them thrive in this era.
when saw the picture … came immediately in mind :
A. Saturn will be reborn …. > no, frustration, it is about an oldery… no one cares anymore, maybe in asylum somewhere
B. Another SUV maybe ? Electric ? > let’s finally see the dead Brand > no, again, it is about something dissolved in museum
ah …. they made a sedan … can someone explain me what is a Sedan SL1 or 2 or 3… ?
The first Saturns were SL1 and SL2 sedans and SC1 and SC2 coupes, all variations of the same small car with a 1.9L engine. The 1’s meant lower trim with a single cam & two valves per cylinder. The 2’s were the upper trim with dual cams and four valves per cylinder. As far as I know there was no SL3.
1991 was Saturn’s first model year. The sedan had 3 trim levels, SL, SL1, and SL2. The SL2 having the DOHC, and the others the SOHC engine. The coupe was only known as the SC and only had the DOHC engine for 91-92. In 1993 they added the wagon with two trim levels SW1 and SW2 as well as a an SC1 trim with the SOHC engine. That is when the SC2 was used as a differentiation for the trim that was originally the SC. In 1993 there is reference to an “SL3” in the owners manual, and that model was rumored to be a sedan with a V6 and the SC2 front clip, however no such model ever made it to production.
I’m glad someone cleared that up. I forgot about the wagons. Almost had an SL1. If GM builds a US compact car again, they should go with an kammback hatch body, with & without hybrid. Damn the cafe footprint and emissions credit EV scheming.
Condolences to the Hudler family.
guys, know all that of course, the irony with SL3, SL4, SL5 are generations would like to still see today…
Instead of starting the new Saturn brand, GM should have kept the two iconic brands, Pontiac & Oldsmobile. Such a shame they’re gone.
Saturn was supposed to go under a sub division of Oldsmobile after MY 2001, imagine if that happened
… well … but then miss many projects of those, many concepts it could have been produced and made success, but not
La Salle, McLaughlin, Oakland … mainly,
Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn,
Daewoo and Holden
of course cars for riches, but cars are for riches… rare to see a good individual transport for poors
Initially Saturn was a great company with a mediocre car. Unfortunately when Saturn was integrated back into GM, the only good part of Saturn was lost.
Nailed it Bob. Once they stopped being “A different of company” and just another mediocre GM brand all was lost.
And btw, Don Hudler was a great guy, excellent leader and a visionary on the marketing side of the house. He was a joy to work for.
My condolences to his family.
I own two Saturns (The SL1 and Sl2) I have been fortunate enough to keep these cars alive due to fab work. I could drive to Japan if the continent’s where still together.
keep them… do not invent to change to Suvs, which colours ? unfortunate here in this blog we can not post photos to see, but maybe you describe… regards for your time
Saturn was the Ultium of it’s day. A new GM not unlike Cruise and Brightdrop minus the technical innovation but nonetheless a disruptive force in US auto landscape apart from the low quality and bureaucracy of what was them GM
Saturn was a wasted opportunity if nothing else because of the fantastic dealerships that could have sold Opel and Saab cars once it became clear GM had given up on the Saturn experiment.
RIP–GM needs innovators like this NOW!
I have 2 L series that we still drive. Sadly the 3 was the VUE with the bad CVT trans. Will keep the L series as long as they can be repaired. Still see many Saturns on the road. Just glad my 2 car had a different trans. Love the power of the 2.2 liter 4 cylinder.
I sold Saturns for 12 years. Of all the brands I have represented in 21 years of the car biz, Saturn was the best, by far. Name a brand, I probably sold it. When I toured the Saturn plant in Spring Hill Tennessee I met Mr. Hudler. So down to earth, an amazing man. A great loss.
This is Dr. Robert Matthews and my wife Vicki is Ishler Matthews
Well together we have owned(6) Saturns
We owned our first Saturn in 1994 SL 2 then then a SL 1 , an L 100 sedan we still are driving to Al 100 series as I speak today getting Christmas ornaments , 2003 Saturn Vue a 2009 Saturn XR and a great Saturn 2007 Red sky roadster
The SL 1 had 287,000 miles on it not ever a problem.
The SL 2 was at 263,000 miles it was running like a top as we gave it to our younger sons girlfriend
As to the. SL2 some crazy kid in the neighborhood with his friends vandalizing cars smashed the windshield and the support post with an industrial building block as they sped down the road hurling i into the parked. S. L-2 at night. Thankfully they loat their home due to aledged criminal activity so our USAA Insurance . Co said they will just total it. The frame the engine and transmission were perfect is the upper wing shoe post it was enough with the labor and all that to exceed the value .
So my wife loved that car as it had an adjustment switch for the transmission to change the gearing …it was a twin cam multi port fuel injected -engine -1.9 ltre -ran like a banshee!! Well I had 60 series tires on it and my wife drove it up to Lake arrowhead 5,00 do, ice sleet hail rain fog snow never faltered never slow down never got stuck ever never She is to drive our son figure skating up there to train with Michelle Kwan and Frank Carol their coach for six years.
Also she would drive iat 03:00ues Zulu..3 o’clock in the morning to take him down to San Diego 120 miles round-trip at 3:30 in the morning to train with his two Russian coaches for six more years -off of Black Mountain Rd., Mira Mesa San Diego California area.
The 2003 Saturn. VUE had a 6 cyl Opel twin cam engine with 178,000 miles and we traded it in for an upgrade to 2009 Saturn XR all wheel drive
I also have a Saturn 2007 sky roadster with 222,000 miles on it . I’ve driven that car on sonmany California freeways the I -15 the i-5 the infamous 405 the 91 freeway I-15 Rt#74
I would take a tWo Lane Mountain Rd. 3000 foot mountains state rt.74 I’s take this dangerous highway daily . In California it is know. as death Aalley with 640 accident /133 fatalities /29 miles of road from Riverside County to Orange County back-and-forth to Orange County -laguna Hills then back to San Diego /Chula Vista /. La. Mesa I also drove several times a month to San Marcos /Escondido March Air Force Base/ Naval weapons base North Island Naval air Station .
These cars have never failed us on the road they ran flawlessly
All you had to do is just change the oil /timing belts for some of them ,, Maintain fluids and routine maintenance on all of them as i use Z-Max as an additive in the crankcase and in the fuel tank never a problem with any rings being burned everything is tight.
Remember the Z max brand is used by a JFoyt-racing team ,by Carroll Shelby racing team I’ll leave that with your understanding that using this Additive makes a big difference.
So many of you may know that General Motors had a significant partnership and ownership of OPEL motors -a German company
So if you look at the Saturn sky roadster then google Opal GT (2nd) second generation it is the same car !!
The only difference is. OPELhas a lightning bolt and Saturn has the Saturn logo that’s it as I invite you to look it up !
As the Volkswagen people used to call it Fahrvergnugen “the pleasure of driving “
Well the sky has Bielstein suspension/ 10 headlights and light configurations in the front independent rear wheel drive slip inferential not front wheel drive / a 2.4 L twin cam multi port fuel injected Ecotec engine with 177 hp or others came with the 260 hp turbo 2.0 L
I love my 2.4. Convertible rag top a beautiful car sexy German design with American ingenuity! The best of both worlds “My opinion of course”!
So one can surmise after putting in just over 1,000,000 miles ..yes that’s M for million on these Saturn they have “never failed us “we’ve always had good mileage at approximately 30/35 miles to a gallon excluding the Saturn Vue they get about 22 mph because they’re a big six banger SUV’s
So that’s not a hybrid that’s not electric that’s plain old fuel injected fuel !
So if t is regrettable that the past president of Saturn has passed on as Don was a legacy.
Regrettably” Barak Hussein Obama” was an active participant in killing this independent car company -as they were way ahead of their time
I could go on and give more accolades and kudos for. The Saturn brand but, as you understand this company no longer exists.
Interesting the Captiva aka Chevy model is the same as the Saturn Vue as they made them in Australia and other places in Europe, Mexico Eastern Europe and in South America So. Korea so they renamed the brand but ,it continued on under a different name.
Remember in the early 90s Saturn developed an EV -1 yes!!!.. it was all electric plug-in . !
So remember those days you would go to Costco and you have the plug-in ports as they were so far ahead of the Japanese —far far ahead of Elon musk -any of them!!!!
American innovation -American technology we’re talking the 90s aswe are in the 2020s 40 -+years later and we had the edge back then and we gave it up to the Japanese and tonthe other big tecs as general motors was in partnership with other big tech and petro chemical companies
Truly a very big mistake for Americans.!.
America again was ahead of its time and it was on top of its game. Bu eliminating plug in E. V-1’s we lost a lot such a big mistake for Americans.. that being said we move on.
Saturn ideals will continue in America’s vision and we will keep the dream alive.
I am an old Bobby Kennedy /Martin Luther King/ Jack Kennedy/ Rosa Parks kind of person that having an American company fused with German engineering is a better concept than what we have now.!
Also you can get all the parts for these most anywhere at a General motors facility selling GM products as any reputable dealer will get them for you.
Remember for the value of the money ,for the quality of workmanship and the duration of this vehicle still on the road it was better than a Subaru. Again American made as the German phenomenon called” Fahrvergnugen “
The fun or pleasure of driving
Merry Christmas to all
Commander / decorated Dr. Robert Matthews
former US Marine Vietnam officer
Chief psychologist. Govt. retired
Professor of the year. Saddleback. College
Musk is a modern day Ivar Kreuger pied piper.
How can Tesla be worth more than Ford and GM combined when the company does not manufacture enough vehicles.
I wonder how successful he was as a dealer. Many of the people from the manufacturing side did not make it on the real world dealership side. Though, the factory people were always wanting to tell the dealership how to run their business. Most of the factory people that I met were just rubberback flip boys going which ever way the wind was blowing that day.
Had a Saturn Vue. It was a good concept but the quality was not there. We sold it and bought a Honda CRV, it was light years ahead of the Vue in every way. Today we own a Honda Pilot which has been trouble free at 70,000 miles. We will buy a 2023 next year. gm needs to make quality in design, materials, and production its first priority.