It seems that Saturn’s days are numbered — Recent reports have let us know that Penske Automotive group has backed out of a deal with GM that would have effectively purchased the entire Saturn brand.

The reason for the backing out is because Penske fears they will not be able to provide the Saturn dealerships with inventory after GM stops supplying them with vehicles at the end of 2010. The deal said that they would have to find their own manufacturers to produce vehicles for the dealerships, something Penske doesn’t think they will be able to do.

So, in lieu of this deal falling through, GM has said they will be phasing out Saturn, closing all dealerships and directing current Saturn owners to other GM dealers for service. Goodbye Saturn, you shall be missed.

via autoblog

Tags: brand, buyout, GM, penske, Saturn

GM has made the move yesterday to stop operation of their Wilmington, Delaware plant. This 62-year-old assembly plant was responsible for manufacturing the Saturn Sky and Pontiac Solstice, which has ceased production.

GM’s ultimate plan is to get rid of the Pontiac and Saturn brand names; Pontiac being discontinued completely and Saturn to be sold to the Penske Automotive Group.

The workers who were laid off had a “celebration” today of their last day of work. One employee, talking to delwareonline, said “It was so quick, you know?” That’s what hurt everybody.”

via AutoEvolution

Tags: assembly plants, delaware, GM, penske automotive group, pontiac solstice, saturn sky

First Hummer, then Saturn, now Saab — GM seems to have found a buyer for their Saab brand in Swedish supercar maker Koenigsegg who has banded together with a group of Norweigen investors.

GM says that while Saab had several potential buyers Koenigsegg made the best overall offer. Unforunately there were no details on how much the deal will go down for but we do know that it will happen sometime before the end of the suimmer.

According to KickingTires, Saab hasn’t turned a profit for GM since they bought a stake in it back in 1990. Worse yet, sales peaked at 133,000 so it’s really no wonder that GM would want to sell off the brand.

Tags: economy, GM, koenigsegg, recession, Saab, Sale, Sweden

Well that was quick, depsite having a reported 16 interested buyers, the troubled GM has already struck up a deal with Penske Automotive Group over the sale of Saturn.

Detailed in the official press release, if the deal were to go down this would give Penske complete control over the 350+ natiowide Saturn dealership along with reportedly continuing the production of the Outlook, Vue and Aura models.

There’s no word on how much the deal will go down for but if all goes well GM is hoping to close it by the 3rd quarter of this year.
continue reading "GM to sell Saturn to Penske"

Tags: aura, economy, outlook, penske automotive group, recession, Sale, vue

GM may be in talks with a buyer for their HUMMER brand but up until now there were no known interested buyers for their Saturn brand.

Well, GM exec Ray Young has broken the silence and was quoted to say that there are a full 16 interested buyers for the Saturn brand. Additionally, there are 3 interested buyers for their Saab brand.

But why would anyone want to buy the Saturn brand? Well, Autoblog points to the fact that they have a close knit community of dealerships who all have a flawless record of customer service. Who exactly these 16 interested buyers are, we have no idea, but we will keep you updated as this story unfolds.

Tags: Bankruptcy, Buyers, economy, ray young, recession

If everything goes well, we may soon see Samsung Vehicles being sold at Saturn stores. That is if Roger Penske gets anything concrete from his initial ice-breaking meeting with Renault executives. For the record, Samsung builds four passenger vehicles, all on Nissan underpinnings.

It’s not known which vehicles would be sold by Saturn or whether they would be current Samsung offerings or new ones based on Renault engineering. Also unclear: the corporate relationship between Penske and Renault-Nissan.

Curiously, it seems that Penske wants to place something new in the market. And with the turn of most motorists towards alternative cars outside that of the usual reliable car brands, you have to think what type of market study Penske saw that opened this all up.

It costs a lot to build cars in Europe, and the Astra, which, while finished more like a premium model inside than most in its class, was also priced a little bit higher and therefore didn’t sell as well as it could have, especially in this down market where price is everything. The new Saturn owner certainly won’t want to make that mistake.

(Source) CNet

Tags: alternative cars, Astra, car brands, corporate relationship, Europe, little bit, motorists, offerings, passenger vehicles, Renault, renault nissan, roger penske, samsung, Saturn, saturn owner, saturn stores

Immediately following the announcement that Pontiac would cease to exist, GM released to the public that their Saturn and Hummer brands are to follow suit.

GM has said that after the 2009 model year, they will not be producing anymore Saturn vehicles meaning. As for Hummer, 2009 will be the last year for the dying brand. However, Saturn and Hummer might not be gone forever as GM has detailed their intentions to sell the dying brands to anyone who wants them.

Sure this is a perfect example of how badly the economy is shafting everyone, but this announcement is no where near as sad as the one about Pontiac. I mean Hummers are just gas guzzlers, right?

Read (KickingTires)

Tags: economy, HUMMER, Pontiac, recession, Saturn

On Thursday, April 16, 2009, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California granted final approval of a settlement in a class action lawsuit against General Motors (Cause No. 07-CV-02142). The lawsuit declared that Saturn VTi transmissions were defective. “This settlement offers more relief to class members, in terms of dollars per person, than any other class action settlement that this firm knows of,” said Rob Schmieder , head of the complex-litigation department at LakinChapman, LLC.

The class consisted of all persons who are residents of the United States and who purchased a new or used 2002, 2003, 2004 or 2005 model year Saturn VUE or 2003 or 2004 model year Saturn ION furnished with a continuously variable VTi transmission. Certain people and automobile dealers who sued GM seeking damages for alleged personal injury or property damage due to a VTi transmission were excluded from the class. Reimbursement for past and future expenses were some the benefits available to Class Members.

Tags: class action lawsuit, GM, Saturn, settlement, VTi transmission

Poor old General Motors has recently issued a recall that will effect 277,000 cars and trucks. Apparantely, the problem is that a clip that locks the transmission in place isn’t functioning properly and could potentially cause parked cars to roll away.

GM says that if you have a 2009 model listed below you should take it to your local deal for inspection.

2009 Models affected include:

• Buick Enclave
• Chevy Cobalt
• Chevy HHR
• Chevy Malibu
• Chevy Traverse
• GMC Acadia
• Pontiac G5
• Saturn Aura
• Saturn Outlook

Tags: transmission

The US economy is hurtin’, and it’s no secret, so GM has decided to do something in an attempt to stir up some sales.

Celebrating their 100th Anniversary, GM has lowered the prices of it’s entire lineup of 2008 models along with a select few 2008 models, this includes Chrysler, Saab, HUMMER, Saturn, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, and GMC, to match employee pricing.

This offer won’t last forever though, as GM has announced it will only run from August 20th – September 2nd so if you’ve been waiting to buy a car from and of the brands listed above now may be your time.

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