The Saturn brand will be no more

October 1, 2009 – 8:45 am – No Comment

saturn sky

A few months ago, prior to GM filing for bankruptcy, it tried to sell off a couple of its brands. It was successful at selling Hummer to a Chinese company and Saab to another. Saturn looked like it was going to be sold off to Penske, but as of today that sell is just not going to happen.

The Penske Automotive Group decided not to go through with the deal because a manufacturer it had in mind to build the cars decided that it would not manufacture cars that would be distributed as Saturn.

GM’s CEO Fritz Henderson had this to say, “Today’s disappointing news comes at a time when we’d hoped for a successful launch of the Saturn brand into a new chapter. We will be working closely with our dealers to ensure Saturn customers are cared for as we transition them to other GM dealers in the months ahead.”

The deal wasn’t that great with Penske to begin with. GM would continue to produce three models through 2011, the Aura sedan, VUE SUV, and the Outlook. The other two models, the Sky convertible and the compact Astra would be discontinued. It is kind of sad to know that any dealerships would only be selling three models to choose from anyway in my opinion. Now, they won’t be selling any…

While sales have been dismal for the brand this year, some people have still gone out and bought new Saturns. So, the question now is what happens to the people who bought those cars? GM did say that it will honor the warranties of all the Saturn automobiles with deals with other GM dealerships. So, you may have to take your Saturn to a Chevy dealer to get it fixed.

Pontiac is the other brand that GM is getting rid of in the aftermath of the bankruptcy it filed at the beginning of the summer. I am actually kind of surprised that they did not try to sell of that brand as well considering that it had a pretty loyal following. Saturn also has (or had) a very loyal following. There were many people who would purchase a Saturn and never drive anything else. And for a GM car, it always seemed as though the Saturns lasted. When I was 16 and learning how to drive I really wanted a 2001 Saturn SC2. I had my eye on that car until they changed the body style a couple of model years later, and then just did away with the style altogether.

I feel for you loyal Saturn customers. This is not good news.

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