Saturn of Charleston hits mark with service award

It was the sincerest form of flattery.

Massachusetts native Brien Joyce bit his tongue and compared the Saturn of Charleston franchise to the New York Yankees a baseball dynasty for sure but not exactly popular with a Boston Red Sox fan.

"If you look at the past five years, I pay a real compliment here. With the customer awards, volume of sales, if this were a sport team, it would be the New York Yankees," said Joyce, quickly adding his hometown football team the New England Patriots, and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

His point?

That Saturn of Charleston has built a dealership winning streak of its own, capped off this week by receiving the carmaker's 2008 Mark of Excellence award.

Joyce, zone manager for Saturn in Atlanta, and regional representative David Orr presented the trophy at a luncheon at the Rivers Avenue outlet Tuesday.

"It seems like an annual thing," Orr said.

The award, which is based on customer satisfaction, sales and service performance, comes at a precedent-setting time for Saturn. Its parent General Motors Corp. has agreed to sell Saturn to Penske Automotive Group, who would distribute the cars and parts. GM would continue to build at least some of the models.

The agreement is scheduled to be completed by fall.

Joyce told the assembled Saturn staff that he understood their uncertainty about the company's future during the past six months. General Motors, which just emerged from bankruptcy protection, "had its issues. I'm sure in the service lane, it's been difficult. I'm sure it's frustrating sometimes," he said.

The linkup with Penske Automotive, headed by former race car driver Roger Penske, brings a note of optimism. But mergers of this size take time. "It's just a big octopus we are looking at," Joyce said. "We are very confident that the transition will be seamless to the customer."

"I couldn't be more excited with the Penske-Saturn union," said Robert Crews, general manager of Saturn of Charleston.

Mark Milroth, general sales manager, urged fellow employees to look forward. He used an analogy from the animated movie classic "The Lion King," where Rafiki the wise monkey counsels young Simba, at one point bonking the dejected lion on the head with a club. "Hey what was that for?" the nearly grown cub cries. "It doesn't matter," Rafiki muses. "It's in the past."

Milroth said the years of record-breaking sales at the dealership have come and gone, and the dealership can't rest on its laurels.

"That's all over. What we need to do is to start selling some new cars," Milroth said. "We need new heroes."

Reach Jim Parker at 937-5542 or jparker@postandcourier.com.