Saturn gone?

http://jalopnik.com/5155377/gm-to-officially-kill-saturn-brand-most-of-pontiac

Our sources tell us GM's viability plan set to be released at 5:00PM
will kill the Saturn brand by 2011. Pontiac will also go away as a
division. But the nameplate will sorta live on.

So basically, what we've heard is the brand meant to compete against
the foreign brands is dead — Saturn goes away in 2011. There will be
no new products for Saturn and Saturn dealers are getting a video from
Mark LeNeve at 5:00 PM to inform them. We're thinking Mark should cut
a check to send with it. As far as Pontiac, it goes away as a
division. The nameplate will live on on some vehicles — but we've got
no idea what "niche products" they're talking about. More coming
shortly.

 

paper said Chevy, GMC, Caddy and Buick with Saturn, Pontiac gone

 

the check would bounce

 

I heard a snippet on NPR that GM was axing Hummer (deservedly) and Saturn.
What that means to us remains to be seen. I say, let it go to Opel if they
must cut it loose.

 

Must be true as usually, Marx is the first one to reply that it's not, and
we haven't heard a peep out of him. I'm bummed, but I expected it. They
should just get rid of all the badges and have everything as a GMC...GMC
Escalade, GMC Vue, GMC Malibu, GMC Torrent, etc, etc...

IYM

 

Actually, the official word as of today (02/18/09) is that the date is 2012.

 

The original Saturn S-cars introduced in 1991 were amazingly good cars
considering that they were entirely new and designed and built from the
ground up in a new plant with an entirely new engine. Imagine what
would have happened if GM had not killed off the Saturn Division and the
Saturn manufacturing plant but had stuck with the plan and updated and
improved the original cars? It's hard to have any sympathy for such a
mindlessly stupid and wasteful company as GM is.

 

So I wonder what us current Saturn owners will do for service/parts in
the future? I also assume our resale value will be zilch as well.

I should have paid attention to those hairs on my back when I signed on
to give GM one more chance and bought this car...;-[

 

Parts and service won't be a problem since every Saturn since 2003ish? is
nothing but a mish-mash of generic GM parts, a few plastic panels, and a
Saturn logo.

Steve

 

the plastic won't rust; but they did away with the plastic.

 

I agree,
I often think about how good a 3rd generation S series could have been.
IMHO the S platform would have been a natural for a small TDI diesel. This
would have been a fuel miser and available in a great SW body. GM?
complained that the Saturn division never turned a profit, but IMHO they
should have given the S series (and especially the SW1) a longer production
run to better amortize and lower unit costs. Did we really need ANOTHER
SUV?

RIP

 

Probably rebadged Opel Kadetts.

Valid point. It would be nice to see what could have happened if the
accountants (including Roger and then whats-his-face) hadn't taken over.

OS/2?? I thought that died of ten years ago?

 

I'm glad I have a '06 Vue with 76K already...I figure I'll be ready to look
at cars again in 3 years and by that time my resale will be for crap anyway.
I don't know who the heck in thier right mind is going to buy a 2012 Saturn,
when the dealer will be waiting for you to leave so they can lock the doors.
I'm sure GM will announce the other dealers who will be authorized to
service them, but still.......

IYM

 

Resale value? What is that?

I currently drive an '02 SL purchased in late '01. The same Saturn
dealer that sold me the car invited me back to the dealership in the
fall of 2006 to attend the debut of the Aura. I was impressed by the
Aura. So I asked the salesman how much I would get for my '02 SL on a
trade-in. He told me ZERO.

I reminded him that I bought the car from same dealership (everyone at
the debut event were past customers). He said ZERO again. I'm
thinking, "not even $100 as a token of appreciation for my past
business and potentially more business??"

So, today, I still drive the '02 SL as it continues to run fine and I
figure it will easily last me another 5 years. GM had the idea to get
its past customers into the showroom to do some impulse buying. But
its lousy dealer's attitude just killed it.

I think I'll drive by this weekend to ask how much trade-in value I
would get for my '02 SL. I hope that salesman hasn't lost his job
yet.

 

Guess this means that the Saturn Sky Redline should get cheaper - I was
thinking of buying 2 of them this summer, one in Yellow and one in
Black, so here is hoping they get cheaper.

 

It will be interesting to see what GM will have to pay out to buy out the
dealer contracts. I suspect the 2011 date has to do with renewal dates.

I remember when they dropped Olds. I seem to recall them paying nearly 1
billion in contract termination penalties to the dealers.