The Silent Saturn Factory: How GM DESTROYED "A Different Kind of Car Company"

Subscribe to the channel: @LostFoundations In 1985, General Motors bet around $5 billion on a brand new car company built to beat Japan, and chose 2,400 acres of Tennessee horse pasture to do it. The Spring Hill plant covered more than 4 million square feet, ran with no time clocks, and built its cars with salaried union teams who took a 20% pay cut for a share of the profits. At its peak Saturn sold close to 300,000 cars a year and earned a loyalty so deep that tens of thousands of owners drove across the country to picnic at the factory. Then GM stopped investing, filled the showrooms with rebadged Opels, and in 1998 the workers who were supposed to have ended conflict voted 96% to strike. By 2009 the brand was dead, killed off in bankruptcy after a French boardroom refused to throw it a rope. In this video, we talk about how General Motors built and then destroyed its most beloved division, including the secret 1985 founding under Roger Smith, the Committee of 99 and the radical UAW partnership, the no-haggle revolution, the Saturn Homecoming, the polymer body panels, the slow starvation of new product, the Opelization of the lineup, the collapsed Penske deal, and what the Spring Hill factory builds today. Subscribe so the next American factory story finds its way to you. Comment where you're watching from and tell us whether you ever owned a Saturn or made the drive to Spring Hill. Share this on Facebook, Reddit, or wherever folks still remember these cars, because viewers like you are the reason this channel keeps telling these stories. Note: We Use Public Domain Photos. Copyright & Fair Use Disclaimer: • We use images and content in accordance with YouTube’s Fair Use guidelines. • Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act states: “Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.” Thumbnail Disclaimer: Thumbnail images are satirical, digitally created graphics. Section 107 of the Copyright Act outlines the principles of fair use and identifies examples such as criticism, commentary, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research as categories potentially qualifying under fair use. Content Disclaimer: This video is created for entertainment purposes ONLY. Nothing presented should be interpreted as factual, verified, or evidentiary. The title and thumbnail may be exaggerated for entertainment value and should not be considered proof of any claims made within the video. All statements reflect opinion, speculation, or humorous analysis and are intended solely for entertainment and comedic interpretation. #documentary #history #gildedage #factories #Saturn #SaturnCar #GeneralMotors #GM #SpringHill #Tennessee #LostFoundations #AmericanFactory #AutoHistory #Detroit #RogerSmith #UAW #CarHistory #AmericanCars #FactoryHistory #Deindustrialization #MadeInAmerica #AutoIndustry #ClassicCars #CorporateHistory #RiseAndFall #BusinessHistory