BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Cars Saturn's Closing

The latest in a string of bad news for domestic auto manufacturers is the announcement by GM that the Saturn brand will stop production after a failed ownership change by Penske.
While there may be hope for another manufacturer to make Saturn vehicles for Penske or another buyer, it's dissapointing news.
Saturn was advertised in 1990 as a different kind of car company to compete with the Toyota's and Honda's of the world.
While the brand developed a cult following complete with annual reunions at its Tennesee plant, it never made money and was abandoned in the late 90's by GM as they concentrated on more profitable trucks and SUV's.
By the time GM finally began revitalizing the brand in 2004, it was unfortunately too late as the economic crash last year saw sales drop by 60%.
There is still a chance that a deal is made and maybe getting away from GM will help the company become reborn. If not, it's another failed brand in a domestic auto market that can't afford much more bad news.

Steve

That stinks. I had a Saturn and I loved it. Good gas mileage and easy to maintain. What a bummer!

Well put MelodyFor3; it does stink.

Most people enjoyed their Saturns and as I mentioned, they were on the way back but waited too long. The new Aura and their cross-over Vue were well received in the industry.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Chinese didn't try to work with Penske as a manufacturer of these cars. We'll see!

Sad. Saturn is a good make of car. Plus they tow well. The RV community will be bummed.

We (the taxpayers) are the losers. We will not recoup the money plunked into the car company. They were to sell Saturn. Is that not correct?

Yes Angie, GM was going to sell Saturn. I don't know what the terms would be but, we shouldn't have been expecting much in the way of refundable money anyway. 90% of the non-stimulus money was wasted in my opinioin anyway.