Archive for the ‘Saturn’ Category

Saturn fans are an exceptional bunch. Despite recent surveys showing brand loyalty to be a thing of the past, Saturn owners' passion for their rides is the stuff of legend -- so the fact that slowly dying Saturn recently sent "Dear John" letters to its customers seems oddly appropriate. The one-page missive has all the hallmarks of a breakup note, including the requisite "It'll be tough, but I'm sure you'll struggle through" lingo. Ordinarily, we'd write this off as GM's desperate, schmaltzy attempt to retain customers, but the tone is so right, so fitting for Saturn, it seems on-point -- possibly even poignant. Cynics, enlarge that image...

Last week the sudden breakdown of a planned supply agreement between Penske and Renault/Nissan led to Penske's cancellation of its purchase of the Saturn brand from General Motors. That, in turn, led to GM's immediate start of winding down the brand. Now a time frame for the brand's departure has emerged: four months.

That's how long GM expects it will take to sell off the remaining stock of Saturn vehicles now that production has been halted. Once the vehicles are sold off, the rest of the brand will likely be shuttered quickly, with other GM-brand dealerships taking over the service and warranty duties.

The remaining supply of Saturn...

General Motors will shut down the Saturn brand after Penske Automotive ended negotiations on an agreement to buy the brand and dealer network.

Penske was unable to find any global automakers to supply him with cars. The agreement between GM and Penske had been under negotiation since early June, and was expected to close today or tomorrow.

GM's chief executive officer Fritz Henderson issued a statement of deep regret today, saying:

Today we learned that Penske Automotive Group (PAG) has decided to terminate discussions with General Motors to acquire Saturn. This is very disappointing news and comes after months of hard work by hundreds of...