Saturn dealers shifting gears

When the first Saturns rolled off the assembly line in 1990, Dave and Rick Parker were intrigued.

It didn’t take long for the brothers to act on their fascination. They opened the first Saturn dealership in Arkansas in 1991.

“It was an extremely innovative company,” said Rob Parker, the general manager of Saturn of Greater Little Rock, whose father, Rick, and uncle took a chance with Saturn. “What GM made Saturn was - very genuine. Therewasn’t another car company around like it,” Rob Parker said.

That was the idea. General Motors Corp. created the Saturn brand in 1985 to help the U.S. automaker tap into the market for small cars and compete with Japanese imports.

Though Parker said ...