Penske Pulls Out Of Saturn Deal
The Wall Street Journal reports that Roger Penske has pulled out of a deal with GM that would have kept the Saturn brand in business. Per the WSJ report:
The deal called for Penske to initially acquire vehicles from GM but eventually branch out to sell products from Renault SA (RNO.FR) and its Samsung Motors unit, which is based in South Korea. Penske Auto said Wednesday that it negotiated a supply agreement with “another manufacturer,” but that company’s board rejected the deal.
“Without that agreement, the company has determined that the risks and uncertainties related to the availability of future products prohibit the company from moving forward with this transaction,” said Penske Auto.
Reuters confirms the story, adding “GM said in a separate statement it would wind down the Saturn brand and its dealership network.”
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JPSNYDER: I'm there with you, although I own an Astra. At least your car was built here in KC and shares many components with the Malibu. Keep it. Drive the sh** out of it. Its a good car and worth what you paid for it. eThink: I've been beating that bandwagon for ten years now. GM has tried (in the 70s selling Opels through Buick) and tried (in the 80s the Pontiac LeMans was a rebadged Kadet) and tried (in the 90s, the Malibu was a redo of the Vectra) to sell Opels to the American public and failed miserably until selling through Saturn. Saturn was the perfect platform to sell the superior Opel product. For that matter, Pontiac looked like the best way to sell the Aussie Holden brand to Americans. Real shame GM couldn't keep their head out of Wallstreet's ass long enough to see it through.
@romanjetfighter : September 30th, 2009 at 6:33 pm "What happens to replacement parts? Will they continue to be in production for only a few years?" and @JPSNYDER From your friendly GM employee, GM's standard practice for any car line ending production is to have service parts on hand for about ten years. Actuarial tables are used to determine the inventory level based on the specific part. As with most OEMs, tooling is moth-balled for a set time frame based on policies, so replacement parts are not scarce. Service for Saturn vehicles can be performed at any Mr. Goodwrench service department for many years into the future. GM will honor Saturn warranties. I have lots of empathy for the estimated 13,000 people who will lose their jobs related to the dealerships closing.
"dolorean23 : October 1st, 2009 at 4:26 pm JPSNYDER: I’m there with you, although I own an Astra. At least your car was built here in KC and shares many components with the Malibu. Keep it. Drive the sh** out of it. Its a good car and worth what you paid for it. " I have been driven in 90s astras in Europe, while they looked good from the outside, the interiors were poorly fit and finish-ed. A friend there always got Company Cars, the next one was a Vectra (a Saturn Alpha clone) that attempted to have some upscale interior, but I could see terrible, huge gaps between interior trim (and at an angle too), really unacceptable. As far as the US version Astra, I have not bothered to look at it, but I heard that Bob Lutz himself said that its two major problems are that: 1. It is (way) overpriced for its size in the US, and 2. GM did not put any Ad millions$ behind its launch, so few have a clue what the hell an Astra is. This is not necessarily bad for you, since in general when you buy a car, you pay for all its costs, including Marketing, and for top luxury cars this is a huge per vehicle cost..