GM Announces End of the Road for Saturn

Automaker Will Shut Down Saturn after Penske Walks Away from Deal to Acquire Brand

(AP)  General Motors Co. said Wednesday it would shut down its Saturn brand after an agreement with Penske Automotive Group Inc. to acquire it fell apart.

Penske, citing concerns of whether it could continue to supply vehicles after a manufacturing contract with GM ran out, ended talks with GM Wednesday to acquire the brand.

GM CEO Fritz Henderson said in statement that Saturn and its dealership network will be phased out.

"This is very disappointing news and comes after months of hard work by hundreds of dedicated employees and Saturn retailers who tried to make the new Saturn a reality," Henderson said in a written statement. "PAG's announcement explained that their decision was not based on interactions with GM or Saturn retailers."

In a statement, the Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based auto retailer says an agreement with another manufacturer to continue producing Saturn vehicles after GM stopped making them fell through, leading Penske to terminate talks with GM.

Penske said it negotiated terms and conditions to make Saturn cars with another manufacturer, but that company's board of directors rejected the agreement. Penske spokesman Anthony Pordon would not identify the other manufacturer.

"Without that agreement, the company has determined that the risks and uncertainties related to the availability of future products prohibit the company from moving forward with this transaction," the company said in a statement.

In June, GM and Penske agreed to take over the Saturn brand and related dealerships, although GM would produce the vehicles for a limited period of time.

GM said Saturn vehicle owners can still go to their Saturn dealer for service and would be able to go to a certified GM dealer for service once Saturn dealerships are closed.

It was expected that GM would announce the completion of Saturn's sale to Penske in the coming days.

Share of Penske fell $1.93 to $17.25 in after hours trading. They rose $1.32, or 7.4 percent to $19.18 in regular trading Wednesday.

[psoupy]

Myself and friends won't buy any cars owned by Obama your Mama.

[lileoj]

I remember when Saturn advertised when they first came out as 100% american I researched this. It was actually about 99.9% (turns out the tires were japanese LOL) But i've had two in my past and I loved them both. I'm REALLY pissed at what saturn turned into and how the brand was treated in the end. No longer american made with american parts. It became a bastardized version of it like all the other american cars. Its a shame it started out great and turned into crap.

[bubbadubba]

Sarah Palin did this.
How much more are we going to allow her to do to this country and she isn't even President yet.

[platteman]

All that hope and change is relly working out well. Now we have more people out of a job. Saturn had some nice looking cars and it seemed that they were pretty good. Oh well. Now I have to think about a truck, guess it will be Found On The Road Dead. They didn't take any bailout money and at least Ford has some good things going for them. I don't plan to buy a Government Motors car or whatever that other car company is. I have had 4 Chrysler mini vans, loved them all, but now, well let's say, things change.

[covalentblue]

Hate Cards are still made in the good old USA! :)
www.hatecards.net!

[dahizzle]

Bummer, Saturn is a good car. Obama didn't kill it, pal. No president could do what's been done to this nation in just 9 months. You can look back just a bit farther...

[fedup12]

I bought a saturn back in 1995. We needed a cheap car and we got one.

That car had more problems than any other car we ever had. And Wierd ones too. We got rid of it and never bought another one.

I have to admit though that some of the newer Saturns look kind of cool. But not enough to make me buy one again. Not too sad to see the brand go but I do not like to see the jobs go! Hopefully they will be integrated into the new GM... But I doubt it.

[hungry1968-16]

by woltommel September 30, 2009 11:15 PM EDT
You bought a horizon!






Laugh all you want.

I bought that car for $2,000 when it had 50,000 miles on it, and ran it until it had 130,000 on it, and sold it for $500, and it had NO MAJOR PROBLEMS.

My 1998 S-10 lost it's brakes, and it took FOUR TRIPS to the dealer to get the problem solved. Fortunately, it was 10:30 at night when the brakes failed and I soared through the intersection.

My 2002 F-150 needed $750 worth of brake work done on it when it only had 20,000 miles on it, the computer control module died at 28,000 (and the warranty department REFUSED to honor the warranty), and I finally traded it in and got rid of it at 38,000 miles, when they wanted to charge me $2,300 for "front end work" because it was pulling hard to the right.

FFFF that American junk.

NEVER AGAIN.

[hungry1968-16]

by woltommel September 30, 2009 11:12 PM EDT
A Horizon, I feel sorry for you!
I guess you're buying oil from japan to put in your toyota and honda too.







The Toyota and Honda are BOTH manufactured in America, unlike MOST of the "domestic automakers" junk.

I prefer my money goes to AMERICA'S blue collar workers, not slave labor in Mexico or South Korea.

If you're wondering about South Korea, it's where the Chevrolet Aveo is manufactured - the LEAST American car on America's roads today. It's manufactured in South Korea, and has ONE PERCENT American parts content in it.

[hungry1968-16]

by tiredofthebs September 30, 2009 10:37 PM EDT
Good Lord. This has got to be one of the worst business decisions I've seen yet from the auto industry. Your SATURN brand is the ONLY ONE that has been working in this tough economy. Do you really think Americans will by your OVERPRICED brands like Cadillac?! When it comes to quality, your track record ain't the greatest. Good luck selling those other pieces of junk you make in this tight economy.







Who in their right mind would buy a $65,000 Escalade, when you can buy a Toyota Sequoia for $38,000, and end up with a vehicle that's 5 times as reliable, and will be worth the SAME amount of money in 5 years from now?

[woltommel]

You bought a horizon!

[fedup12]

my sister in law bought a Sequoia and it was a terrible car. Electrical problems, transmission out etc... It doesnt have 100k on it yet.

I guess all brands have some lemons.

[tiredofthebs]

Good Lord. This has got to be one of the worst business decisions I've seen yet from the auto industry. Your SATURN brand is the ONLY ONE that has been working in this tough economy. Do you really think Americans will by your OVERPRICED brands like Cadillac?! When it comes to quality, your track record ain't the greatest. Good luck selling those other pieces of junk you make in this tight economy.

[pjk12354]

If Penske can't swing a deal for Saturn........no one can.

Don't bet the farm on GM.........

[timdgrim]

by stuart-johns1 September 30, 2009 6:05 PM EDT
China is not going to be selling any cars in the USA for some time, if ever. I don't know where you get that from, maybe deep in your head somewhere, but anyway, you're wrong.
___________________________________________________

Hey Dillweed stuart-johns1 A$$...you better check you little brain, I have facts...you're a Dillweed!!! that's also a fact! Read Dillweed!
Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- China's BYD Co., the world's biggest maker of mobile-phone batteries, plans to sell hybrid cars in the U.S. as soon as 2010, using its technology to expand into the market for energy-efficient vehicles.

``We are the best in battery technologies, and I am sure we will be the best in the automobile industry as well,'' founder and Chairman Wang Chuanfu said in an interview at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit today. ``Electricity will replace gasoline,'' he added.

[golfered2]

Another UAW Plant bites the dust!!!!! Does anyone see a pattern!!!! Like Unions!!!!!

[incog-nito]

Saturn was supposed to be an import-beater brand, a line of small vehicles that could compete with the imports, an independent, innovative way of manufacturing and selling vehicles.

Then their vehicles of big and bloated and became virtually indistinguishable from other GM brands, except for the badging. You don't need four or five different brand names for essentially the same vehicle. They completely lost or ignored their original mission. Saturn won't be missed.

[pensacola8-2009]

Saturn had a great start for GM and showed some considerable promise for the quality improvements sought by GM in late '70's and early 80's when the factory was first built as robotic experiment for Pontiac Fiero. Quality was the American pursuit as consumers saw the Chrysler Corporation transform itself. The body tolerances were held to a few thousandths of an inch, but Fiero itself suffered from bad engineering on the engine cooling, which was especially a problem in warmer southern climates. Radial tires were just taking over the tire market in those days.

The Saturn designs of the 80's & 90's gave excellent quality, but GM started loosing interest in being the holder of a legacy that resembled America's version of the venerable VW Beetle.

The Saturn car production was an extremely good idea, but it wasn't immune to business problems that caused GM to divert Saturn profits to offset losses on it's sister companies.

Consumers also accustomed to marketing of 0% that rarely was extended to Saturn buyers. By the late 90's Saturn did receive the fatal GM death blow, because GM caved in to the profitable SUV craze and decided to sell gas guzzling giants that were highly profitable when gas was still cheap - under $1 a gallon.

GM's luck finally played out as business models drove the company to cater to credit driven sales and inflate the car sales prices as interest rates became so low, that money itself was so cheap to borrow.

[hungry1968-16]

I wouldn't buy a Ford or a GM, unless they practically gave me a vehicle.

The last four American vehicles that my girlfriend and I owned, were world class PIECES OF SH**, and the last good American car that I owned, was a 1985 Plymouth Horizon.

I've got a Toyota, she's got a Honda, and we ain't lookin' back.

[wilbursandersjr]

You said it. MY toyota is the best car I have ever owned.

[woltommel]

A Horizon, I feel sorry for you!

[woltommel]

A Horizon, I feel sorry for you!
I guess you're buying oil from japan to put in your toyota and honda too.

[frogger581]

the closest thing america had to an energy conscious car company and GM decides to axe them?? who's high here? now were totally screwed. ill start learning japanese tomorrow.

[HGOODGUY]

As a former employee of Saturn I can tell you that they were the only car company that didn't play the "shuck and jive hassle" at the dealers.
Customers were actually treated as if they really had a brain!
I witnessed repeat customers from a sales and service level time after time. If you ask most Saturn owners about their cars you will get positiv feedback the majority of the time.
It was the one thing that GM did right!!!
Too little to late. It really is a shame!!

[mljohns00]

And how was Penske possibly going to build Saturn vehicles once GM stopped doing so? We live in an imaginary world in the U.S., where nobody has any idea how to make things anymore.