GM Offers Fire-Sale of Saturn, Pontiac

By: Daniel Carty
Topics: Automakers

(AP Photo/Eric Gay)

General Motors, in what amounts to a fire-sale, is offering dealers generous packages to unload their inventory of discontinued brands Saturn and Pontiac, according to a Wall Street Journal report ($) Tuesday.

Under the offer, GM will give dealers $7,000 for every Saturn or Pontiac – brands slated to be shelved along with Saab and Hummer – they essentially sell to themselves.

The cars will be moved off the lot to join service-vehicle or rental-vehicle fleets operated by the dealers, where they can be sold for a more attractive price, according to the report. But the dealers will have to market the cars as used since they are technically the vehicles' first owners.

At the end of the day, buyers could see prices slashed on these cars by as much as 46 percent. But, as the report notes, buyers will face certain risks: future resale value might be hurt by the fact that it was bought as a used car. And there may be reluctance to purchase a car from an "orphan" brand, even though GM has said it will honor existing warranties.

The offer, which is good until Jan. 4, will cost the automaker a hefty sum, though it won't disclose the exact amount.

According to Ward's Auto Reports, 14,500 new Saturns and Pontiacs filled dealerships at the beginning of December – about two or three months worth of inventory.

Car data service Edmunds expects GM to sell 3,500 Saturns and 6,800 Pontiacs in the month, which would leave more than 4,000 cars on the lots – cars GM is desperate to get rid of.

As part of its government-sponsored reorganization, GM will consolidate their brands to Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC.

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by apuan777 December 31, 2009 12:55 PM EST: Are these guys really still in business? Let capitalism work and let this company go. If you add up their bailouts, it is enough for every driving America to receive a free 10K car.; Reply to this comment


by ppaulville December 29, 2009 12:36 PM EST: Interesting that the brands GM and Ford are giving up have a FAR better reputation than the ones they are keeping. Saab is a superior car over anything GM produces and Saturn is not far behind. Pontiac has a much better reputation for quality and workmanship than Chevy, and the only thing that kept Pontiac down is terrible styling. What is the Chevy equivalent of the G8? There isn't one. The GTO? Ditto. Even the fugly Aztek is loved by its owners. As for Ford, Volvo is the ONE line that Ford should fold Mercury to keep. Volvos are downright beloved worldwide and have a reputation for quality and safety that is untouchable. Meanwhile, we get more Lincolns (does anybody buy those things?) and Buicks (Funny that Tiger Woods is paid millions to sell Buicks but he drives a Cadillac, as we all learned). Someone could start an auto empire from the castoffs: Saturn, Volvo, Pontiac and Hummer (very socially and politically maligned but the undisputed market leader at the type of vehicles it sells for the purposes they were designed for). Not a bad stable.; Reply to this comment

by infantryman1968 December 29, 2009 11:56 AM EST

GM Offers Fire-Sale of Saturn, Pontiac

No thanks. A Ford or a foreign care from now on.

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by stillunbanable December 29, 2009 1:14 PM EST: ONLY Fords. Buying foreign cars and products is the reason we are still in recession.


by reveal4 December 29, 2009 11:22 AM EST: Great time to buy a new/used vehicle at a substantially reduced price and to support a great American car company in their efforts to regroup and get back on track. This is like an extension of "cash for clunkers" without the government paperwork.; Reply to this comment


by jwesel1 December 29, 2009 11:02 AM EST: Why is GM spending so much money on cars that are essentially same as the models that they will keep, except the front grills? Isn't it much cheaper to "re-grill" them.; Reply to this comment