In a press conference to explain GM's plan for profitability, CEO Rick Wagoner said that without outside investment, Saturn would be phased out in 2011.
Saturn's dealers have a different plan. In a story in the Wall Street Journal, Dan Januska, a member of the Saturn Dealer Council, said they were considering a plan that would spin Saturn dealers off from GM.
In that plan, Saturn dealers would continue to buy vehicles from GM until the current product lifecycles run out. After that, the dealers would consider buying vehicles from third parties and rebadge them as Saturns. "There are not a whole lot of alternatives," said Mr. Januska, who is on the Saturn Dealer Council. "Someone is going to see the value of us and I don't know who it will be."
WSJ: Saturn Dealers to Spin-Off From GM Into New Company
lenoroc says:
06:04 PM, 02/17/09
What value? One decent car that barely matches up to an Altima, Camry, Mazda 6, or Accord?
brn says:
10:39 PM, 02/17/09
I'm looking forward to the Saturn Routan. ;)
cah11705 says:
04:23 AM, 02/18/09
So what happens to people who buy saturns now? do the warranties stay in effect but just go to other gm dealerships?
joefrompa says:
10:42 AM, 02/18/09
GM never gave Saturn the chance it deserved. They had such bright possibilities.
Kinda like what they did with Saab, except Saab was brought in and destroyed and Saturn was home-grown.
Joe
firstwagon says:
12:06 PM, 02/18/09
"Kinda like what they did with Saab"
And Isuzu.
cwc1 says:
05:41 PM, 02/18/09
Saab wasn't exactly doing well when GM bought them, but later did turn profitable for a period of time under GM's ownership. They did lose some of their Saabness though, which in some aspects, was probably a good thing.
And a seldom told story is that after Roger Smith retired after Saturn's launch in 1990 (Saturn was his baby), there were few left who supported it. Infighting within GM proceeded to starve it of additional development dollars, as heads of other divisions resented it and felt that Saturn had gotten money that otherwise would have gone into their budgets. This is why Saturn's product line became so stale during the '90s. Finally, with Bob Lutz's arrival in 2001, GM attempted to revive Saturn. Saturn has since lost most of what made its original models unique. I don't think its new identity as an American version of Opel was a bad stategy, but it was too late, as consumer perceptions don't change that quickly and GM was running out of time.
It's a sad, although interesting story. It reminds me of Oldsmobile a bit too, as it was killed after GM's attempt to revive it was showing signs of success. But again, GM decided they weren't willing to spend any more time and money on it. It takes years to build up goodwill in a product, brand name, or company, and even longer to rebuild it after it has been lost.