Investor Group Interested in Buying Saturn

Neither did Mullally.

From what I understand, Saturn is determined to be around for many years to come. They're ready to kiss GM goodbye and do what they need to do.

People keep talking about Saturn like it's a separate company. It's just a name GM made up in the 90's to sell a new line of cars.

Now it doesn't even have a unique line up. Just some reskinned GM products.

If GM couldn't make it successful, how will these guys? What are they getting? A name that doesn't carry much weight anymore and some retail space that is such a bad deal that GM wants to unload it.

Selling cars from other manufactors is not as easy as it sounds. You are expected to support and service the cars you sell. Keeping training and parts stores up to date is tough when it's just one manufactor. Imagine if it was from a "range of companies".

It is an interesting prospect, and Firstwagon brings up a good point - dealers have a contractual commitment to train up and offer services to keep their specific cars maintained and on the road. I assume it takes some time for the independents to get data and know-how of specific fixes, and a lot of that may come from dealer mechanics (just speculating here). It's easy to think of dealers as expandable, but they are a key part of keeping these engineering marvels practical for common use.

The sad thing is that Saturn has ALWAYS been rebadged cars from other GM brands. The S-Series was a reskinned Cavalier/Sunfire, the L-Series was a reskinned 9-3, and the Vue was a reskinned Equinox/Torrent. There has never been a Saturn vehicle that wasn't available somewhere else under GM.

What sold Saturn cars was their dealerships. The quality of sales reps and the willingness to "make it happen" for the customers was what made them successful.

If the dealers are adamant about continuing their jobs after GM lets them loose, I think they'd be very capable of handling their networks on their own... however, finding someone to build cars so they can sell them will be the problem.

"The sad thing is that Saturn has ALWAYS been rebadged cars from other GM brands. The S-Series was a reskinned Cavalier/Sunfire,"

Nope. The S series was built on a dedicated platform called the Z-body and had a dedicated engine, the 1.9 L. It even had a dedicated plant to build them in Springhill.

You're right about what sold them though. Great marketing and dealers that didn't make you feel like you've just been sucker punched.

Up until a few years ago, Saturn was a different (mostly) company. They had different corporate management and management style. Ask a Saturn General Manager about why they are locked into a single DMS while the Chevy dealer across the street isn't, why they can't put their name on the store while the Pontiac dealer down the road can, why their techs can't go union while the techs at the Buick dealer can, etc. The list goes on.

When Saturn started badging GM vehicles a few years ago, I saw more than one Saturn General Manager declare it the death of the Saturn brand. They just didn't realize it would be this quick.

The good/bad news is that much of the old structure is still in place. They're more capable of separating from GM than any other division.