Say goodbye to Saturn (the car brand, not the planet)
Danny Tse
Posts: 5,206
And the Saturn Aura was a really nice car too 
DETROIT General Motors Co. says it's shutting down the Saturn brand after an agreement with Penske Automotive Group Inc. to acquire the unit fell apart.
Penske, citing concerns about whether GM could continue to supply vehicles after a manufacturing contract with the automaker ran out, ended talks with GM Wednesday to acquire the brand.
GM CEO Fritz Henderson said in statement that Saturn and its dealership network will be phased out.
In a statement, the Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based auto retailer says an agreement with another manufacturer to continue producing Saturn vehicles after GM stopped making them fell through, leading Penske to terminate talks with GM.
In June, Penske agreed to take over the Saturn brand and related dealerships. GM agreed to produce the vehicle for a limited period of time.
Post edited by Danny Tse on
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That's a shame. The Saturn Ion was a fun little car to drive.I never had it like this where I grew up. But I send my kids here because the fact is you go to one of the best schools in the country: Rushmore. Now, for some of you it doesn't matter. You were born rich and you're going to stay rich. But here's my advice to the rest of you: Take dead aim on the rich boys. Get them in the crosshairs and take them down. Just remember, they can buy anything but they can't buy backbone. Don't let them forget it. Thank you.Herman Blume - Rushmore
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Wow...they had some really nice cars at a decent price point. Too bad.
I do think that there are WAY too many brands and off-brands for vehicles these days though."Dr Dunn admitted that his research could also be interpreted as evidence that women are shallower than men. He said: "Let's face it - there's evidence to support it."
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That's it. Save the gas guzzling lines and ditch the fuel saving economy line. Makes sense to me.....:rolleyes:
Idiots.~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~ -
A sign of the time I guess. To bad, never liked the cars, but the jobs lost will be the real bad news about this.Testing
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That's not set in stone yet. I heard that there are two other buyers still interested. Also, the only reason Penske backed out is because GM couldn't guarantee that product line support would be available for the agreed term. GM can't get any support from investor or lenders to make the promise solid. So Penske, fearing they were going to lose their shirt, backed out. If GM can sure up the support for the full, agreed upon term, the deal could be back on.Expert Moron Extraordinaire
You're just jealous 'cause the voices don't talk to you! -
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We did just fine before Saturn and I'm sure we'll manage without them.CTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint.
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Isn't it just a rebadged Malibu?
No, it's an Opel.
The Malibu is based on the Opel as well.
The Opel platform also shares siblings with Fiat, Cadillac, Pontiac and Saab.Expert Moron Extraordinaire
You're just jealous 'cause the voices don't talk to you! -
No, it's an Opel.
The Malibu is based on the Opel as well.
The Opel platform also shares siblings with Fiat, Cadillac, Pontiac and Saab.
I thought they came from the family tree of the GEO... or was that something else?Testing
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I thought they came from the family tree of the GEO... or was that something else?
GEO was a joint venture with Toyota if I recall. -
GEO was a joint venture with Toyota if I recall.
In a way, yes....and no. The Geo Prism was just a rebadged Toyota Corolla. However, the brand Geo also featured cars from other carmakers like Isuzu.
GM's joint venture with Toyota was at NUMMI (New United Motors) in Fremont, CA. However, GM has pulled out of that joint venture earlier in the year and Toyota just announced it will shut down the factory, resulting in the loss of over 4,000 jobs. NUMMI produced the Toyota Corolla (#1 seller in the Cash For Clunkers program), the Toyota Tacoma pick-up, and the Pontiac Vibe.
NUMMI also designed the Stepside version of the Toyota Tacoma, which may be very rare. -
No, it's an Opel.
Yes, Saturn's have traditionally been based on Opel's platforms like many other GM brands. GM is selling most of Opel so keeping Saturn around doesn't make sense either. Saab is going to be sold as well. to be honest, I am glad to see such traditional brands to get out of GM umbrella.
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/28/koenigsegg-still-aims-to-do-saab-deal-by-october/
Opel will not receive German government loans if GM is the majority owner.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125312628235716793.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
http://www.thedeal.com/corporatedealmaker/2009/09/gm_saturn_sale_nears_completio.php -
In long-ago times, some of the GEOs were rebadged Suzukis.
We lived just 10 or 15 minutes from NUMMI when we were in the Sillycon Valley (Milpitas). -
No, it's an Opel.
The Malibu is based on the Opel as well.
The Opel platform also shares siblings with Great aquisition gone bad, Over priced ****, Neglected brand **** and Over valued and under engineered ****.
Opel is a great brand and pontiac had the opportunity to be resurected, but somewhere GM forgot it while it was sh!tting all over the rest of it's line as well.
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mhardy6647 wrote: »In long-ago times, some of the GEOs were rebadged Suzukis.
We lived just 10 or 15 minutes from NUMMI when we were in the Sillycon Valley (Milpitas).
Isuzu and up until recently Suzuki have very strong ties to GM. And that crappy little brand Daewoo? They were bought up and shipped off shore by GM because the quality and price point of their cars were direct negative impacts on domestic sales.
? Harmon Kardon AVR 55 (dead; replacing with Onkyo TX NR-616)
? Polk RTA 11TL's (FR and FL)
? Polk TSi200's (RR and RL)
? Polk CS10 (Center)
? Polk PSW-350
? Grado SR-60i Headphones
? Fii0 E5 headphone amp
? iPod touch (8 gig)
? iPod Classic (80 gig)
? Mac Mini (as media server)
? xbox 360 -
Seeing as I own GM, I don't recall getting a vote.
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Hehe.~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~
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Isuzu and up until recently Suzuki have very strong ties to GM. And that crappy little brand Daewoo? They were bought up and shipped off shore by GM because the quality and price point of their cars were direct negative impacts on domestic sales.
That's right; Isuzu, too. Forgot that. -
Ugh.
Geo Metro = Suzuki Swift (all years)
Geo Prism = Toyota Corolla (all years)
Geo Storm = Isuzu Impulse (all years)
Geo Tracker = Suzuki Sidekick (all years)
Chevy Malibu was built on the GM N-platform when it was reintroduced to replace the Celebrity. The Celebrity is also an "N-body" car. The Malibu was built on a lengthened N-platform chassis. It was named the GMX130 platform. After the first generation, it was then built on the Epsilon platform shared by many other GM products, Fiat products, Saab products, Opel products and Vauxhall products. It's still built on the Epsilon platform.
Also, GM did not buy Daewoo and ship them offshore for competition reasons.The Kim administration forced Daewoo to sell off it's automotive arm due to gross mismanagement and corruption by Kim Woo-Choong, the Daewoo chairman at the time. GM bought it up and the rights to the designs and now sells them as low end GM economy cars like the Aveo. Daewoo became Chevrolet in Europe in 2005 and Holden in Australia/New Zealand. GM still sells Daewoos as Daewoos in South Korea and Vietnam.Expert Moron Extraordinaire
You're just jealous 'cause the voices don't talk to you! -
Recent news says that Penske is going to buy Saturn, and has also approached a dealer here in MI.
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I'm sad for the workers but GM sucks and there products suck.Dan
My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time. -
I remember when I was a kid I asked my Dad why Ford builds tractors and GM doesn't? He replied "because Chevy hasn't figured out how to build a car yet".
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Seriously, I know you guys like to wax poetic about American cars, but SATURN? The ONLY thing they had going for them is they were cheap. Other than that, ugly, weak, small, unreliable (even for a GM vehicle).
GM obviously needs to do SOMETHING to continue to survive, and if jettisoning one of their MANY brands (and arguably one of their worst) that is not profitable is how they choose to do it, I say go for it.If you will it, dude, it is no dream. -
I totally forgot about the Geo Spectrum!
Geo Spectrum = Isuzu I-Mark (all years)
By the way, the Geo name was dropped in 1998. After that, all Geo models were rebadged as Chevies.
And yeah, not really concerned about Saturn. They are/were junk. Saying a Saturn was a good car was like saying cow poo was the best poo because it didn't stink so bad.Expert Moron Extraordinaire
You're just jealous 'cause the voices don't talk to you! -
And, actually, very early on, some of them were sold as Chevrolets (as I recall), e.g., the Metro.
Good ol' GM... -
Isuzu also had he Hombre, which was an S-10 all the way through.
Suzuki and GM still partner with Daewoo, with Suzuki owning some 30% or so of the company.
Gm doesn't sell Daewoo here in the states because it eats into it's other car brands, thus loses the GM line money, as the price point for a Daewoo is less than that of a GM badged car, but in many instances they are th same build, and sometimes the sheet metal.
Also, Saturn-badged cars in the states are sold elsewhere as Daewoo badged cars overseas. (Look at the Saturn Skye vs the Daewoo G2X.)
So while there are 'cheap' cars in GM's line that are Daewoo builds, GM still rebadges some of the mid-level GM cars over seas badged as Daewoo and Opel because people won't buy a GM-badged car or they can't afford one.
Weird how many American's have an issue with Korean-car reliability, but we are the "Korean-car" for the rest of the world...
? Harmon Kardon AVR 55 (dead; replacing with Onkyo TX NR-616)
? Polk RTA 11TL's (FR and FL)
? Polk TSi200's (RR and RL)
? Polk CS10 (Center)
? Polk PSW-350
? Grado SR-60i Headphones
? Fii0 E5 headphone amp
? iPod touch (8 gig)
? iPod Classic (80 gig)
? Mac Mini (as media server)
? xbox 360 -
Uh... i would rock the HELL out of a Saturn SL2 or SC2 with the 1.9 litre DOHC and a 5-speed manual. Surprising little cars. Great gas mileage, not terrible slow (outperformed most other "hot" economy cars) handled well, and the motor was bulletproof. As a bonus, that motor LOVES boost.
Yeah, it's a plastic car, but who cares! Tons of fun for the $1000 it MIGHT cost to pick one up these days.I don't read the newsssspaperssss because dey aaaallllllllll...... have ugly print.
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It's a shame, they finally were coming around."He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Friedrich Nietzsche
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Nothing like confusing the consumer.
I had a couple of Geos as rentals in the early 90's. Complete crap.
I took a Saturn out for a drive a couple of times, also crap.
Nobody is going to miss that poorly run division.
Until a couple of years ago, there wasn't a GM vehicle worth owning
unless it was rear wheel drive. And we paid to keep these guys
afloat? It's the reason I stopped buying GM and went to Ford."The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." --Thomas Jefferson -
screw GM. I hope they die from ghoneria
