No more Saturn

[daepp]

Fox is reporting that GM is closing Saturn - now that I am finally warming to their looks...

[exc911ence]

I thought Roger Penske had bought Saturn and was to continue building cars.

[Schumi]

I'm not gonna lie, I'm so strung out right now, when I read the title, I thought you meant the planet.



I need some sleep.

[stomachmonkey]

That sucks.

Why not keep GM as the umbrella company and instead of making 3 cars under 3 different marques consolidate the lines. Do we really need Yukons, Tahoes and Escalades?

[jyl]

Looks like the deal fell apart.

GM had agreed to keep making Saturns for 2 more years. After that, Penske would need to find another supplier. Penske never intended to build Saturns or any other cars, they do not want to be in the auto manufacturing business.

The news stories say that Penske could not line up another automaker to supply cars after the Saturn factories shut down.

Maybe that is so.

Or, perhaps as Penske talked to other automakers, they realized they didn't really need Saturn. After all, Penske already owns 160 US dealerships which probably covers most of the major urban areas, and there are plenty of dealerships for sale if they needed to fill in some gaps. So they don't need the Saturn dealerships. They just need a car supplier, and Saturn doesn't give them that as GM wouldn't commit to continuing production for more than a couple of years more.

I doubt Penske is done talking to Tata, Geely, etc.

[Rick Lee]

And here I was so sure the taxpayers were gonna get their investment back. Never saw this coming.

[jyl]

Penske was going to pay GM a pittance for the Saturn dealer network, brand, and spares. Reportedly about 200MM, possibly less. And GM would have been obligated to keep the Saturn plants going, not sure if they actually make any money on the cars. Now GM has to close that plant with whatever costs that involves, but they would have had to do that in 2 years anyway.

Bottomline, the deal happening or falling apart is pretty much irrelevant to GM's future profitability.

It is bad news for Saturn employees, unfortunately. The assembly workers will lose their jobs about 2 years earlier than they were going to. The dealership employees are also toast now.

[Dantilla]

I've driven Saturns. Very little. I won't be sorry to see them go.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Their "no haggle" approach was good. The Sky Redline was moderately cool and had potential. Everything else about them seemed characteristically GM - not well thought through and ultimately unnnecessary and done better by Japan.

[nostatic]

I hear Jupiter is in trouble as well. And don't get me started about Uranus...

[porsche4life]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

Their "no haggle" approach was good. The Sky Redline was moderately cool and had potential. Everything else about them seemed characteristically GM - not well thought through and ultimately unnnecessary and done better by Japan.

The Sky redline was no different than the Solstice GXP. Just a different skin. I never have driven one but I haven't heard of anything it does spectacularly. I have heard of transmission issues though...

[Nostril Cheese]

I had one of the first SL models as a company car. It was a great little econobox. I got a consistent 39MPG in that thing.

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by nostatic

I hear Jupiter is in trouble as well. And don't get me started about Uranus...

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Originally Posted by nostatic

I hear Jupiter is in trouble as well. And don't get me started about Uranus...

I thought Roman Polanski already had that one covered.

[onewhippedpuppy]

They only got decent when they started rebadging Opel products as Saturns. The early ones were absolute crap, some of the worst cars I've ever driven. Good riddance.

[kaisen]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

They only got decent when they started rebadging Opel products as Saturns. The early ones were absolute crap, some of the worst cars I've ever driven. Good riddance.

The only Opels they ever rebadged was the Astra and the new VUE

[kaisen]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

The early ones were absolute crap, some of the worst cars I've ever driven. Good riddance.

I have a friend with a 1996 SL1 with 530K miles and still going strong
The 1996-2002 S-series cars were good little cars, for the money

[porsche4life]

They may run forever. Doesn't change their suck factor. Similar to a Yugo or a Lada.

[kaisen]

Maybe, but suck is a relative term.
In the rust-belt the plastic body is a big plus..... ever seen a 15 year old Honda Civic from Boston or Chicago?
They get great gas mileage, four wheel discs, IRS, timing chain (not belt), and the list goes on.
BUT, not silky smooth or 'fun' to drive from the enthusiast's perspective
For their intended use (and users) they were great, and still are

[tcar]

The SKY is an Opel, too.

Actually they're both Lotuses.