What next? McDonald's handing out Whoppers? KFC featuring Brown's Chicken samples?
You never know, now that Saturn is launching a new marketing program to play up the fact that its midsize Aura sedan won North American Car of the Year honors, not the Toyota Camry or Honda Accord.
It also will attempt to counter perceptions that Camry and Accord are better than anything the domestics have to offer.
It will do so by making Camry and Accord available for consumer test-drives alongside Aura at Saturn dealerships.
The program to be announced Thursday is called the side-by-side-by-side test drive and will run through July 31 — if it's not extended.
“Those with preconceived notions about domestic cars who wouldn't even stop by a dealer to shop are the people with a mindset we're going after,” said Chuck Thomson, executive director for Saturn marketing. “Rather than default to Camry or Accord we're saying we have a shot if you stop in and drive all three.
“When we get people in the seats, we're very successful, even among people who'd never think about shopping a Saturn,” said Thomson, who noted that when consumers visit a showroom and test drive a car, a sale is made nearly 40% of the time.
Of course, by making the competition available to drive, Saturn runs the risk of shoppers favoring the competition.
“It's a risk we're willing to take. We don't think it will happen,” Thomson said. Sixty percent of Saturn purchasers previously had non-General Motors vehicles.
Chevrolet has been weighing a similar program in which they would make available a Camry for Malibu intenders at their stores, but Chevy said its program is not a done deal.
Saturn, you may remember, began an at-home test-drive program in March.
Shoppers can request a vehicle be brought to their home, workplace or other location by their local Saturn store for a test drive.
