Saturn Teams Up with Penske

[Saturn team]

ImSaturn members, we wanted you to know as soon as we could: This press release about Saturn and Penske Automotive just went out. General Manager Jill Lajdziak will be posting soon with her perspective as soon as she gets a minute to write it down. Stay tuned!

[George L. Miranda]

Looking forward now to buying another Saturn. Thank GOD Government motors is out of the picture. Long live Saturn!

[Dante]

While I'm happy that an American is taking over Saturn (and not a massive Chinese conglomerate, as is the case with Hummer), I am still afraid that the spirit of Saturn will be betrayed when, after GM stops building the Vue, Aura, and Outlook for Saturn at the end of 2010. My prediction is at that point, the "new" Saturn lineup will consist of imported, rebadged Chinese cars. Where else is Penske going to get entirely new models? Maybe Saturn will do better and they'll convince GM to keep building the current 3 models longer, but by that point, they'll be getting long in the tooth.

I am sad to see the Sky (and Solstice) go, but the Wilmington plant is closing very shortly.

If Saturn becomes an outlet for Chinese or Korean imports I will surely advise everyone I know to run the opposite way. If the new models are rebadged domestic, or even European (*ahem* OPEL???) cars, I'll reserve judgement. The Japanese wouldn't dare dilute their brand by sharing an entire model with Saturn. Fiat is already infiltrating Chrysler, the Germans, Brits, and other Italians wouldn't have anything to do with us either, unless the US market just EXPLODES, which I don't see happening at all. We'll be LUCKY to be back at the same sales volume as we saw 10 years ago in 2010 and 2011 calendar years. Most likely, we will be at 75% of last year's volume at best by then.

[Pat Lynch]

In 1991 I bought my first Saturn, an SL 2, to compete with LA freeway traffic. It had better pickup and speed than my Corolla. My 2nd Saturn was a 2001 300L. 3rd Saturn a 2004 Vue to handle the snow and ice in Oregon's high desert. I love my Saturn and the dealers and service guys. Most of all I chose Saturn for their MO. Their early ads about customer service were outstanding. I did not have the same impression about ANY other car manufacturers or dealers. It was sad when we thought Saturn would be no more. I hope they can disassociate themselves totally from GM and be their own company.

[Lisa Gilpin]

note for Charles - you would still be able to take your SKY to Saturn retailers for service, parts, etc. They would be more than happy to take care of you.

[Bonnie Morris]

This is really great news. Penske is a winning company and makes a great combination with Saturn. I am certainly glad that the Saturn brand will continue. I really love my Saturn Vue Hybrid and was very worried about its future. I am certainly looking forward to hearing more news. During the General Motors shake-down, one of the more local Saturn dealerships in Holland MI was shut down. I will be very curious to see if Penske re-opens this particular garage and dealership. Saturn is a great company; its future looks bright!

[Bonnie Morris]

This is really great news. Penske is a winning company and makes a great combination with Saturn. I am certainly glad that the Saturn brand will continue. I really love my Saturn Vue Hybrid and was very worried about its future. I am certainly looking forward to hearing more news. During the General Motors shake-down, one of the more local Saturn dealerships in Holland MI was shut down. I will be very curious to see if Penske re-opens this particular garage and dealership. Saturn is a great company; its future looks bright!

[BES4Saturns]

I would encourage Roger to persuade the various parties to continue to offer Astra's and continue the overall linkage to Opel products.

[Laurie Dunfield-Baker]

I'm very happy about Saturn continuing on. But, I'm with Charles and Anne. As a Sky owner who loves her Kappa roadster, I want to see the Kappa platform continue under Saturn.

[carcass]

I hope this link with Penske will mean more performance oriented vehicles and backing for us who want something more than just a grocery getter or soccer mom vehicle out of our Saturns.

Q.

[Thomas]

So who covers the warranties, GM or the "new" Saturn? And my Astra is really an Opel so who covers it? Where will Penske source the cars from? I know GM for now, but in the future will we be driving Chinese built Saturns? Or Renaults built by Ssayong in Korea? See, just because it's been purchased doesn't mean everything is good. They will sell cars built by whoever, where ever. Will have to wait and see, in the mean time does anyone want to by an Astra with low mileage? Never buy a GM or Saturn again. This is what you get for loyalty to a brand.