AP Sources: General Motors to sell Saturn brand to dealer chain...

grab your wallet first. with RP involved and if he gets his way you better grab you ankles too.

reminds me of the movie 'jaws' there's blood in the water and sharks are in circles around the rotting corpse of GM

They gave me the Penske file. I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into that. Wow that Pensky. Well we'll straighten him out.

I transferred the contents of the file into this flexible accordion-style folder.

I've ben told I'm Penske material. Of course, you are aware...

George Costanza wrote:

They gave me the Penske file. I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into that. Wow that Pensky. Well we'll straighten him out.
I transferred the contents of the file into this flexible accordion-style folder.
I've ben told I'm Penske material. Of course, you are aware...

good one!
you beat me to the seinfeld comment.
george, you'll need a much bigger accordian file.

"Initially, GM will continue to make cars for Saturn for two years, Penske said. But he also said he is in talks with manufacturers around the world about building Saturn cars in the future."

That says it all right there! The only way saturn will turn a profit is if they get the unions out. Good for you Penske, you know what needs to be done.

grab your wallet wrote:

grab your wallet first. with RP involved and if he gets his way you better grab you ankles too.

That actually sounds better to me than the government running it because exactly the same will happen and then I'll get hit in the head as well by general incompetence and government stupidity.

Say what you will about Roger Penske but incompetent he isn't.

Of the 6 new cars I have purchased in my lifetime 4 were Saturns. They were/are dependable, low maintenance, good on gas and the dealer service and experience have no match. But last year after comparing and testing the Astra and Aura with the Civic and Accord I chose the Civic and am even happier now. Sad to say but I think the Saturn brand does not have a bright future, it wasn't going well these past few years with GM and don't have a lot of hope with Penske. Oh, well, at least the Civic was built in the US.

It'd be pretty sweet (if not interesting) to see if Penske can create a Saturn car to compete in NASCAR so there can be another make besides Ford, Chevy, Dodge and Toyota. Dodge will probably fold or at least quit NASCAR altogether, leaving Ford, Chevy and Toyota. Ford and Toyota are doin' okay, but Chevy might be on the chopping block with GM's bankruptcy (not probable, but possible). So at worst case scenario, it'll just be Ford and Toyota? No... Penske wouldn't let that happen.

Since Pontiac left (Pathetic Owners Not Thinking In All Clarity) people were like, "Ponti-who?" No exposure!

Saturn could rebuild big time with the Aura or something to replace what was the Pontiac Grand Prix in the Cup Series.
Would finally put a pair of juevos to the Saturn brand...

Isn't selling these cars the selling off of assets? And the people who put up the money to keep GM running are getting HOW MUCH?? Makes my stand that buying stock or bonds is NOT worth the risk since the government can step in and make sure you lose your money..

The beauty of this deal is that once Penske buys saturn, the union contracts are void. Hopefully Penske will move the plants to a right to work state or the south where the unions and their "thats not my job" workers aren't welcome. Saturn can build quality non-union cars in state of the art plants and can compete with non-union Nissan, Toyota and Honda.

Watching the GM bondholders whine is amusing. GM has been losing market share for almost a half century. The bondholders made a bad decision and now want taxpayers' money (they do not say that of course) to partially compensate or in the case of some speculators to provide a profit.
STAY THE COURSE!

wow wrote:

Sad to say but I think the Saturn brand does not have a bright future, it wasn't going well these past few years with GM and don't have a lot of hope with Penske. Oh, well, at least the Civic was built in the US.

They have a great future.. thier hybrids are top rated, and the quality of their cars is stellar.

As for the civic.. it was simply assembled here.. not built.

Independent Voter Joliet wrote:

Isn't selling these cars the selling off of assets? And the people who put up the money to keep GM running are getting HOW MUCH?? Makes my stand that buying stock or bonds is NOT worth the risk since the government can step in and make sure you lose your money..

+

actually, GM is to pay back the government, so it is in yours, mine, and our children's best interest that they succeed.. otherwise, who do you think gets the bill on this one? that's right.. we do..

dblock wrote:

<quoted text>
They have a great future.. thier hybrids are top rated, and the quality of their cars is stellar.
As for the civic.. it was simply assembled here.. not built.

Saturn doesn't have anything. Their cars are from Germany (Opel) and Opel is in talks to be sold to someone. So, when Penske says he's in talks to sell cars produced by other countries....who do you think he's talking about? hint....China...
On the surface, this is a losing deal, but Penske's no dummy. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

liner wrote:

<quoted text>
Saturn doesn't have anything. Their cars are from Germany (Opel) and Opel is in talks to be sold to someone. So, when Penske says he's in talks to sell cars produced by other countries....who do you think he's talking about? hint....China...
On the surface, this is a losing deal, but Penske's no dummy. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

Saturn is built in Tenn. and has nothing to do with Opel

Dave wrote:

The beauty of this deal is that once Penske buys saturn, the union contracts are void. Hopefully Penske will move the plants to a right to work state or the south where the unions and their "thats not my job" workers aren't welcome. Saturn can build quality non-union cars in state of the art plants and can compete with non-union Nissan, Toyota and Honda.

Apparently, someone else with low reading comprehension, and an agenda. Read the article again.

The article says that Penske won't manufacture anything, but will contract first with GM, and later probably with foreigners to assemble Saturns.

Thus, in the short term, they will come from the same GM plants as before. In the long term, they may come from China, India, Poland, Serbia, or Malaysia. In any event, one has to wonder if those foreign manufacturers can meet even GM's quality requirements. If not, good bye, Roger.

Sam Nunn wrote:

<quoted text>Saturn is built in Tenn. and has nothing to do with Opel

You didn't read the article, either.

It says that the Tennessee plant was converted to the Chevy Traverse.

Saturns are Opels, either designed there and built in other GM plants, or in one case, formerly assembled in Belgium, which I don't think is in Tennessee. There was an article in Car and Driver a couple of months ago whether the next Opel will be badged as a Saturn or Pontiac, but since GM won't be owing any of those brands, that now appears irrelevant.

Dave wrote:

The beauty of this deal is that once Penske buys saturn, the union contracts are void. Hopefully Penske will move the plants to a right to work state or the south where the unions and their "thats not my job" workers aren't welcome. Saturn can build quality non-union cars in state of the art plants and can compete with non-union Nissan, Toyota and Honda.

Interesting...didn't think of that angle...

Probably won't be popular with union workers, though...

Dave: I thought Saturn was the only non-union US car manufacturer?

dblock wrote:

<quoted text>
They have a great future.. thier hybrids are top rated, and the quality of their cars is stellar.
As for the civic.. it was simply assembled here.. not built.

Another person in dreamworld.

If you are talking about the "mild hybrid" system in Saturns and Chevys, it is very low rated, at least by Car and Driver. If any of them have the Allison system, that might be better.

Also, basically no cars are manufactured; they are assembled. Why else all the flack about Delphi and Visteon supplying parts? At least Hondas have Honda parts, and mine has 70% US/Canadian content, according to the window sticker.

Maybe this thread proves that you don't have to know anything to have an Internet connection and misuse it.

Saturn taught GM that it's just not possible to make low cost, high value cars with UAW labor. GM has been able to sell plenty of Saturns; it just hasn't been able to sell them at a profit.

It's hard to see how anyone loses here-- GM was going to scuttle the brand anyway, and perhaps Penske can make it work.