It didn’t take long for Saturn, once the darling of the General Motors family, to morph into its neglected stepchild. The off-beat dealerships, nohaggle pricing, and single product — an unimposing compact sedan — gave way to once-loyal customers wondering if they would ever be able to trade in their cars for updated models.

Jill Lajdziak, Saturn’s new general manager, is on a one-woman mission: to capitalize on what’s left of that loyal customer base and once again make Saturn a distinctive brand.

“We had a rich brand, but we didn’t evolve,”Mrs. Lajdziak told The Sun.”We just didn’t grow the product portfolio.”

Throughout the 1990s, Saturn customers wanted to trade up to newer and larger Saturns. But General Motors had nothing new in the product pipeline. Frustrated Saturn customers began defecting to other brands.

Saturn began as a way to bring in customers who wouldn’t normally consider a GM product. And GM wants them back. Toyota, whose fleet competes directly with Saturn, is on a path to overtake GM in the next three months as the world’s top car manufacturer.

“We’re talking about a vast brand revitalization in a short amount of time,” Mrs. Lajdziak said.

Saturn has unveiled the Sky, a sexy two-seat, open-air roadster, as well as the Aura, a midsize sedan that GM sells in Europe under the Opel and Vauxhall brands. “There’s a lot more to come,” Mrs. Lajdziak said.