GM to Wind Down Saturn Brand, Dealerships on Penske Decision – Bloomberg.com — Some deal’s afoot is my guess. For cheap cars, that is.
Penske Automotive Group Inc. said it has terminated its discussions with General Motors Co. to acquire the Saturn brand. GM responded by saying it will wind down the brand and its dealership network.
Penske said it had concerns directly related to the future supply of vehicles beyond the supply period it had negotiated with GM.
“This is very disappointing news and comes after months of hard work by hundreds of dedicated employees and Saturn retailers who tried to make the new Saturn a reality,” GM Chief Executive Officer Fritz Henderson said in a statement on GM’s Web site. Henderson said the schedule for the wind down “will be communicated shortly.”
This news is out of this world.
Saturn died when the workers no longer owned a substantial or controlling interest in it. They started out like a typical japanese company with lower quality but stood the chance of improving only any small chance of that happening died when GM decided to change the business model Saturn used to the same that was used at all GM factories. The only thing that was different at that point was the way they sold the cars with no dickering but a set price. Since then Saturn has been exactly the same as all other GM models, generally a lower quality car that doesn’t last as long as the average. Check Consumer Reports if you don’t believe me.
I feel sorry for the workers but GM hasn’t cared for them in many, many decades. As long as the rich SOBs get theirs they don’t care about anyone else ever. Same thing in government since the neocons got their grubby hands on government around the time Reagan, that thug, came to power.
OK Saturn was a novel idea. But for me, working for one of Saturn’s supplier’s it was pure hell. Your company didn’t get paid until the Saturn used all of the product from a particular KANBAN. Meaning if there were 100 parts in the KANBAN then until they used the all of the parts you didn’t get paid. They abused that system to the max. It was only a few years ago that GM came in and did away with that system.
To those who think that the unions were any different at Saturn they were not. It was more of the same. When there was a slowdown at the plant ie layoffs they still got those union benefits. In what other successful industry does this happen?
Addressing pride in their plant. Sure you can be proud of a plant that is nice shiny and new. They did not permit any cardboard or paper to be shipped into their plant and they had full time cleaning crews. The people on the line never picked up a broom when the line stopped or was down. I did see when the line was down that several team members played basketball.
I do know that Saturn used prototype parts (interior plastic) on their first 2 years of production cars because they refused to pay for the production tools to be made. We actually had to hold parts until they paid for the prototype tools that we had built for them. Prototype tools are never meant for mass production. So to those who think that Saturn was doing things right well you are mistaken, they were just as devious as their parent company was. They were losing money hand over fist because of high wages and inefficient production. They needed to be closed long ago and GM never should of gotten a bailout.
What Saturn got right ,well more right than GM in general, was the dealerships and thats what Penske wanted to buy I doubt he cared much about the plant other than that he could continue to get product until he setup his own supply plans and those models were approved for US sale.
This was never about the Saturn Plant.
Why doesn’t GM just kill all its brands and sell GMs?
The Sky is a good little car, and the G8 is a beast. As far as I can see the only decent car Chevy makes is the Corvette.
Some markets have special connections to a brand, like the Chinese and Buicks. If that was the case in the states GM wouldn’t be in the toilet.
Just take the best of each product line and rebadge them as GM. If GM is just Chevy that’s stupid.
Oh, and bring me an Opel speedster. They are solid. Why do other countries get good quick little cars that sell, and the U.S. gets gashogs that don’t?
yes this is my car after I hit that Jackalope in Wyoming that Dark night..
Considering what a POS my wife’s L100 was (1st year it was out – never buy a car like that again!) and it’s problems with air conditioning, recalls and clutch (the blown engine I blame the teenaged driver at the time), I’d never buy another Saturn. Ever. Good riddance.
Wait. Doesn’t the government own a majority stake in GM?
Why is the government putting so many people on the street?
What will lesbians drive, now?