Nashville, Tenn. ? Saturn, once billed as “a different kind of company” making “a different kind of car,” is losing its distinct identity and becoming just another division at General Motors Corp.

GM is forcing Saturn to adopt common practices for design, production and labor, a change that had to happen, analysts say, to cut costs and make Saturn competitive.

Saturn officials are downplaying the changes.

“We simply negotiated a new (labor) agreement,” Saturn spokeswoman Sue Holmgren said.

But analysts see it as the end of Saturn as a separate entity.

The Saturn Corp. was an experiment launched in 1990 to compete with low-cost imports like Toyota, Honda and Nissan. All the cars were made in the small town of Spring Hill, Tenn., about 30 miles south of Nashville, and more importantly, about 500 miles away from Detroit.

The company had its own managers who reported to the Saturn executive board rather than to GM, and the United Auto Workers signed a separate contract with GM to create a cooperative environment between labor and management.

The cars — there was initially only one model — were offered at a fixed price, with no haggling. The company developed a reputation for customer loyalty that rivaled higher-priced brands.

But after a promising start, Saturn let the car’s look and technology get stale, said Mike Wall, an analyst for SCM Worldwide in Farmington Hills, Mich.

“Saturn’s coup and sedan stayed on the market a lot longer than they should have,” Wall said. “Automakers get bursts of activity by tweaking the design, but that didn’t happen with the Saturn S series.”

Operations technician Pat Russell runs through a final inspection of a Saturn Ion. He completed the inspection Jan. 21 at the General Motors' Saturn plant in Spring Hill, Tenn. Analysts say Saturn is losing its distinct identity and becoming just another division at GM.

New models were finally introduced to mixed results, and the company has plans for more, including a minivan, a sport utility vehicle and possibly a sporty coup or roadster.

Production of the new Relay minivan will begin next fall, but not in Spring Hill. Instead, it will be assembled at GM’s plant in Doraville, Ga., using a standard GM frame.

“Flexibility is king,” Wall said. “You’ve got to have flexibility of production in the current market. This isn’t a bad sign for Spring Hill … GM isn’t turning away from the Saturn brand. It’s injecting more flexibility.”

Another sign of change is Saturn’s new contract with the UAW, which was approved last month.

“It’s a major stride for management and the union,” said Laurie Felax, vice president of Harbour & Associates in Troy, Mich., who tracks the auto industry. “Saturn’s plant in Tennessee needs to be as competitive as any in the world — that’s how you secure jobs.”

The contract calls for workers to receive a $3,000 bonus now and a 3 percent performance bonus to be paid next year, in addition to a 2 percent raise in 2005 and a 3 percent raise in 2006.

But the union also agreed to a transition to the national labor agreement with GM that would allow the company to lay off employees for the first time in its history. Workers approved the contract 2,953 to 317.

“I believe the contract will maintain our strength and the future of Saturn,” said Rick Martinez, president of UAW Local 1853 in Spring Hill. “It allows GM to be confident in our structure — it’s not dissimilar how they operate other GM facilities.”

As part of the deal, General Motors promised to invest $90 million in Saturn for capital projects to help boost faltering product lines.

“They committed to seek significant improvements at the Spring Hill facility that will allow us to build multiple product lines, including non-Saturn products,” Martinez said. “We can build other cars if that’s what it takes to keep membership secure.”

GM wants to create a global network of flexible manufacturing plants based on common practices to let the automaker shift production of different lines and models to various factories as needed to match the competitors, especially the Japanese companies, Wall said.

To survive, Saturn had to become part of this strategy. And for the union, it was adapt or die.

“We didn’t want to put all our eggs in one basket,” Martinez said. “I don’t think Saturn is being folded into another brand. I think we’ll continue as a unique facility that allows union participation, but it won’t be the 50-50 partnership we had before.”

Last year, Saturn represented only about 6 percent of the GM vehicles sold in the United States, and it has made money in only one of the past 13 years.

But, said Felax, the analyst from Harbour & Associates, “GM has just as much ability to be competitive in this market as anyone.”