PAG Ends Talks to Buy Saturn

[Big Panda]

Penske Automotive Ends Talks With GM to Acquire Saturn


By Bill Koenig
Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) --

Penske Automotive Group Inc. said it has terminated its discussions with General Motors Co. to acquire the Saturn brand.

Penske said it had concerns directly related to the future supply of vehicles beyond the supply period it had negotiated with GM.

GM, based in Detroit, established the Saturn brand in 1985 as an initiative to reinvent vehicle retailing and manufacturing. Deliveries peaked in 1994 at 286,003 units, according to Autodata Corp.

[JPaul]

Furthermore, it means that

News Alert - 05:11 PM EDT Wednesday, September 30, 2009

GM to Shut Down Saturn - GM to Shut Down Saturn After Penske Walks Away - washingtonpost.com

Decision is reached after an agreement with Penske Automotive Group Inc. to acquire the car brand fell apart.

[forestacademy]

You will be burred next to Hummer, Especialy since the military has moved to Oshkosh for its new vehicles http://www.oshkoshdefense.com/

[rolly]

That is unfortunate, that is the only way we (Canada) got any Opels (German GM) good cars for the price. What happens now? A new "Saturn" dealership just completed construction 3 months ago (about 2.5 million $) here in Edmonton, Alberta.

[Godfather]

Typical GM.......... get something right, shut it down.

[Dunerunner]

There wasn't much right about Saturn. GM could have had a winner with this car but they failed to notice the winds of change. Saturn became just another GM vehicle instead of a progressive eco car company.

[Duckhunter]

Started out fine with plastic panels, no haggleing price, great service. Went downhill to just another branch with clone cars.

[prm1177]

Alas. The departure of an American imitation of a Japanese imitation of an American car.

[driven2succeed]

Next thing you know Saturn will be kicked out of the solar system like another was-but-is-no-more planet!

[Terry Stibal]

One thing only touched upon was their "One price" policy. This went from a system whereby the overhead was cut down in an attempt to sell cars the easy way, to something quite different. The one time that we priced Saturn vehicles, we noted that they were priced much like a full price Buick or Pontiac, only with an equivalent price that was totally non-negotiable.

Saturn's "slippage" reminded me of the little trick pulled by American manufacturers when President Reagan put import quotas on Japanese vehicles, thus effectively increasing their price relative to the American product. Instead of holding prices at the lower price point, the Big Three (and Little Number Four - I think that AMC was still hanging on at that point) instead increased their prices to match (at the start of the new model year. Way to go, Big Three!