Penske terminates Saturn acquisition discussions

[Saturn team]

The Penske Autmotive Group has terminated discussions with General Motors to acquire Saturn. You can read the press release regarding the news here.

Saturn Team

[PSVUE]

To add a quote based on a football cheer from my old high school days...

Nuts and bolts.

Nuts and bolts,

We (loyal Saturn owners) got screwed!!!!!!!!

Good night and good bye :-(

[Ernie]

First I want to say how sorry I feel for all the Saturn employees from top to bottom that will be out of a job... my heart goes out to you and your families : (

With that being said I am so sad that the deal fell through.

I found this from an article written earlier this spring from automobilemag.com - quote;

If Penske purchases Saturn and Renault strikes a deal with Penske, the French automaker would gain a significant foothold in the U.S. market, one of the worlds biggest. It would be curious move for Renault, as it already controls a major U.S. player -- Nissan -- and many of the companies' models would compete with each other in the U.S.

-Unquote;

It looks like that is exactly what happened.

I wonder why some of the other offers prior to the acceptance of the Penske deal... are now not being talked about.... being Penske could not find a builder.

Here is another quote from article written earlier this spring - quote;

GM confirmed it had been in discussions with Black Oak and said other investment groups are also interested in taking over Saturn.

-Unquote;

Are those groups off the bargaining table for good? It seems like it is... as GM stated they are shuttering Saturn’s doors for good!

Anyways… no one but us Saturn owners know what the Saturn experience was all about, if the executives running things had known it also... this would have never happened.

From start to finish my Saturn dealer made me a lifelong customer. Their service department was the best I had ever done business with in 33 years of owning cars. I have 3 Saturn’s with the most current being a 2009 Sky and my son is still running my 2003 Ion and my daughter is still running my 2000 L series.

I don’t know what to do now as far as future purchases : (

[Marcus]

I can't believe that this is now a true story. So sad to hear. I love my Saturn and will keep it til the wheels fall off. And even after that, I will still go find another Saturn to drive even if it's not a 2011. Or maybe I'll just build my own damn car and badge it a Saturn! I'd rather drive a Sky than a Corvette any day!

[Sheila M. Kelly]

I have a 2007 Saturn Vue and I really love it. It has 10,000 miles on it, very well maintained, and I would have continued to buy Saturns for their quality, but now what? If the dealers close who will service the vehicles. What about the warranty? My car is leased what happens about that?There are so many unknowns caused by a huge corporation, one that the American people own and are still getting screwed by the. What next? Maybe a miracle will happen and some other responsible company will come along and save the Saturn brand.
Thanks for listening to my rants...Just unhappy about the demise of a great car.
Sheila

[Marc Mazzoni]

I've lost all respect and hope for GM, they've been a part of my family for decades. Not only did they fail us, they've failed the American people by making bullshit deals like this. They can rot in hell with all the money that was thrown at them.

[Christopher Gyure]

When I first heard Saturn was up for sale and was looking at soon being in the hands of PAG, I was a little upset. Then I quickly realized atleast it is not as bad as being down right killed like the recent Pontiac brand. Now today I hear the GM/PAG deal fell through, and I am now deeply upset. I am only 21, but I've owned six vehicles, all Saturns. I do hope some day someone comes along and brings back the Saturn brand. I swore I would always buy Saturn no matter what, now I don't know what I am going to do. I cannot even imagine buying anything else. GMC, I guess. =[

1. 1996 Saturn SL1
2. 1998 Saturn SC2
3. 2003 Saturn VUE AWD V6
4. 1998 Saturn SL2
5. 1999 Saturn SL2
6. 2006 Saturn VUE AWD V6 (current)

[Kevin Keller]

http://www.ksdk.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=186436

[PSVUE]

Rather than simply shut Saturn down, GM should now sell Saturn models through its existing Buick network retitled as GM Stores. There is a huge market gap between Chevy and stodgy old Buick. How difficult would it be to sell a mid range series of models (like Saturn became in the last few years) through another existing retail network? GM probably has quite a few bureaucratic reason to explain why it "can't" do such a thing but I can provide an equal number of better reasons why the average Saturn customer won't be buying Buicks or Chevys any time soon.

[PSVUE]

What is Jill's status in all of this? Rumor had it that she would retire from GM. Is that still the case now that the Penske deal has fallen through?

[Perry Myers]

It's sad to hear about the death of Saturn, but I'm still glad I bought my Astra. I've enjoyed every minute of driving it since I got it in March. It's stylish, extremely well built and I get many compliments on it. I was in Montreal earlier this year and the valet guy at my hotel loved it -- and he gets to drive Mercedes, Audis, etc.
The reason the Astrta was a sales bust is that it wasn't promoted very well. After my VW Beetle was totaled in a Feb. accident, I had to shop for another car. I wanted another VW, but after doing online research, I found them to be a little too pricey. But I also found out about the Astra for the first time. Both owners and car critics had great things to say about it. I fell in love with my Astra on the test drive and took it home with me that day.
The Astra was a case of GM having a great product but not knowing what to do with it -- sort of like Saturn itself.