Saturn's first plant rolling out its last vehicles for the brand

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SPRING HILL, Tenn. -- General Motors Corp. launched the Saturn brand at its plant in this tiny Tennessee town nearly 17 years ago.

Designed to compete with low-cost Japanese imports, Saturn prided itself on its no-haggle approach to selling cars and initially developed a cult following, which included carnival-like "homecoming" celebrations in Spring Hill for Saturn owners.

But this week, the brand's birthplace rolled out its last models for the Saturn brand as the plant gets ready to reconfigure its production lines to build new GM vehicles.

Close to 2,400 of the plant's nearly 4,700 workers are being laid off for about 18 months while the plant is remodeled, though GM has promised to bring the workers back once the facility is equipped to produce other GM vehicles.

So far, GM has not said what those models might be, but workers say they're confident about the plant's future and that their jobs won't be going away.

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