Saturn Archives

September's sales numbers are in Detroit's automakers had a great month with Chrysler up 27.2 percent, GM up 19.6 percent and Ford's sales improving 8.9 percent. Honda and Toyota's production is now back to normal following the earthquake in March, but both automakers still have supply issues, which are hurting sales. Toyota was down 17.5 percent and Honda's sales were off by 8.0 percent. Japan's other big automaker, Nissan saw its sales rise by 23.5 percent last month.

September's Top-10 list remains largely unchanged from the month before it, with nine out of the ten models making it the list again. The only new model on September's list was the Honda CR-V, which had a 9.5 percent improvement over August.

Check out the list after the jump.

Now that GM has officially killed Saturn and Pontiac there is a good chance that you can get a good deal on the few remaining models at your local dealer. According to The Wall Street Journal GM is offering dealers incentives to speed up the sale of the remaining vehicles.

The latest reports claim that GM sent a letter to Saturn and Pontiac dealers offering them up to $7,000 per vehicle that is moved to rental-vehicle or service-vehicle fleets. This means that the remaining vehicles would first be owned by the dealer making them "used", but then the dealer could then sell them at a deeper discount.

The deal has an expiration date of January 4th, the last last day of the December car sales month.

Last week an unexpected announcement from GM and Penske that the pending deal was off, led to the unfortunate death of the Saturn brand. Shortly after the official announcement that GM would be killing Saturn, all production ended.

According to Mark LaNeve, GM's vice president of U.S. sales, GM has about 12,000 Saturns currently in its inventory.

"We sold about 3,000 Saturns last month, so that's about a four-month supply if you maintain that selling pace," LaNeve said. "I don't think [the canceled sale of the brand] will affect our total 2010 production rate at all."

Well for sometime now we've all been under the assumption that Penske Automotive Group was going to acquire the Saturn brand from GM. The deal involved Penske buying the brand and GM would continue to provide Saturn vehicles on a contract basis...well it looks like that deal is off.

GM issued a statement tonight that states "Penske Automotive Group (PAG) has decided to terminate discussions with General Motors to acquire Saturn."

It looks like Penske was having problems finding other products to sell after the contract with GM ended. GM originally planned on only supplying the Outlook, Aura and Vue until the end of next year. As a result of this announcement, Saturn will officially join Pontiac and Oldsmobile six feet under.

In a surprising move, GM has canceled the upcoming Buick crossover that was announced last week.

The Buick crossover would have simply been a rebadged Saturn Vue, but negative feedback from the media, GM employees and dealerships has caused GM to rethink the idea. According to Michelle Bunker, Manager of Buick Communications, the vehicle did not fit with the direction the automaker said it was taking the Buick brand.

Although the rebadged Vue is no longer headed to the Buick brand, the Vue's plug-in hybrid powertrain will continue on in another vehicle and is still on track for 2011.

At least GM is finally responding to feedback and killing vehicles that we simply don't want or need...

The last Pontiac Solstice has rolled off the line at GM's Boxwood Road assembly plant. When GM entered bankruptcy on June 1st, the automaker announced that it would be closing the plant by the end of July that builds the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky roadsters. The announcement at the time wasn't a total surprise since GM had been looking for a buyer for Saturn and since Pontiac had been given a death sentence.

The last roadster produced was a silver Solstice.

Citing increased inventory levels, GM has announced that production of the 2010 Chevy Malibu hybrid have been suspended.

Apparently inventory levels are high enough of the 2009 Malibu hybrid, that GM doesn't need to produce any more at the vehicle's current selling rate. GM's hybrid spokesman Brian Corbett recently told AutoblogGreen that there are no plans to produce any of the mild hybrid models:

"There will be some MY2010 production. We will fulfill some MY2010 fleet orders for the Malibu Hybrid. As part of the Memorandum of Understanding between GM and Penske Automotive Group, Saturn plans to offer the Aura, Vue and Outlook models in 2010. Specific details of which versions (i.e. hybrids) has not yet been determined. "

Days after GM officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the automaker has announced an deal with Penske Automotive Group, which will officially acquire the Saturn brand.

Under the proposed deal, Penske would officially own the Saturn brand and GM would continue production of the Saturn Vue, Aura and Outlook on a contract basis. The Saturn Astra and Sky are apparently not part of the deal, which means they will be dead. The deal will save 350 dealerships and approximately 13,000 jobs.

The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of this year.

Well it was Chrysler last month and now as many people expected, GM has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

GM has officially filed for bankruptcy in a New York court citing $82 billion in assets, but an astounding $172 billion in debts. Although GM for most of its 100-year history has managed to hold the title as the world's largest automaker, the automaker has seen its sales drop almost 50 percent this year.

“Today marks a new beginning for General Motors,” GM Chairman Kent Kresa said in a statement this morning. “A court-supervised process and transfer of assets will enable a New GM to emerge as a stronger, healthier, more focused and nimbler company with a determination not to just survive but to excel.”

The process will see GM divided into two groups, good assets and bad assets. The good assets will become part of the new "leaner" GM and the bad assets will be liquidated. To aid in the process the U.S. treasury is going to provide an additional $30 billion to finance GM during the bankruptcy, which brings the total to almost $50 billion.

Just like Chrysler did yesterday, GM has announced plans to close 1,100 of its "underperforming" dealers.

Although GM has identified the 1,100 dealers that will be closed, the automaker is not closing any dealerships today. GM will be working with the dealerships over the next few weeks to come up with a long term plan. It is expected that their will be a wind-down of the affected dealers over the next year. This is in contrast to Chrysler's plans to close its affected dealers by June 9th.

GM likely to announce more dealer cuts in the future since the automaker wants to pare down its network from 5,969 stores to approximately 3,600 by the end of 2010.

GM has announced in its most recent Viability Plan to pull forward the resolution of Saturn by the end of 2009. So even though Saturn will not be a part of GM by the end of the year, the automaker is going to move forward with the hybrid plans that were initially planned for Saturn.

Saturn currently has two hybrids in its lineup, the Aura and Vue. A Vue plug-in hybrid was planned for 2011, but now that the Vue will be dead soon GM has pledged that the technology will be used in one of its other four core brands. In addition there will not be a delay in the introduction of the plug-in technology.

It's still not known, which brand will get the technology. Maybe the new Chevy Equinox or GMC Terrain, since they are built on the same platform as the Saturn Vue...

Following the announcement of Chrysler's bankruptcy yesterday, attention is now focusing on what will happen to GM at the end of this month.

GM has a deadline of June 1st to convince 90 percent of its bondholders to swap $27 billion in debt for a 10 percent stake in the company. If the United Auto Workers and bondholders cannot agree to money-saving concessions by the end of the month, GM could also be forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

"When there is a lot of bluffing going on in any negotiation, this shows the government is serious," said Jeremy Anwyl, chief executive officer of Edmunds.com

Earlier this week GM announced an updated Viability Plan that announced the death of Pontiac, more plant and dealer closures and more job cuts in an effort to qualify for more government aid.

Currently GM and its bond holders remain far apart on an agreement to swap debt for stake in the company. GM originally offered a 10 percent stake in exchange for $27 billion in debt, but the bond holders quickly counter offered with a deal that would give them a 58 percent stake in the company.

GM's current exchange offer expires on May 26.

General Motors has launched a new customer protection package called GM Total Confidence to encourage people to start buying cars again.

The new package is similar to what Hyundai launched a few months ago, although GM's version goes a bit further to help potential buyers. The payment protection plan will pay your car payment up to nine months if you lose your job within the first two years of vehicle ownership ($500 max per month). The residual value of the buyer's vehicle is also protected and one year of OnStar is also included.

The GM Total Confidence plan is available for vehicles purchased between April 1 - April 30, 2009.

GM released its Viability Plan yesterday in which the automaker revealed its plans to return the company to profitability. Today GM has announced that it is disbanding its high-performance unit.

This team was responsible for the development of the V-series Cadillacs and the Chevrolet Cobalt SS, HHR SS and a V-8 version of the Colorado.

"All high-performance projects are on indefinite hold," spokesman Vince Muniga said. "The engineers are moving into different areas of the organization, and they will work on Cadillacs, Buicks, Chevrolets and Pontiacs."

There are currently no plans for high-performance versions of future vehicles.

The team could be reinstated once GM is back in the black.

Just as Chrysler submitted its Viability Plan to the U.S. Treasury Department, GM also submitted its own plan which detailed the automaker's plans to turn the company around. In Chrysler's plan the new Chrysler 300 and Jeep Grand Cherokee were revealed. GM also revealed a new model in its plan as well, the production version of the Cadillac CTS Coupe.

In addition to the CTS Coupe, GM also detailed plans for a new dual-clutch transmission, a new range of four-cylinder engines, a production version of the Cadillac Converj and a third generation hybrid system that will be released by 2015.

GM has already received $13.4 billion in loans from the U.S. goverment, but in its viability plan, the automaker asked for an additional $16.6 billion.

Part of GM's restructuring plan is to focus on its core brands; Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC. GM is going to make a decision by the end of March if it will sell or phase out the HUMMER brand. Saab is currently on the market and Saturn is going to be phased out at the end of the current product cycle.

The fate of GM's Saturn brand has been unknown ever since the automaker sought assistance from the federal government. Seeking to become more profitable it made since that GM would figure out a way to do away with its "less profitable" brands like HUMMER and Saturn.

Well now comes word that GM has funded the Saturn brand through 2012. Which is good news for Saturn dealers, since the brand should be around for at least another 3-4 years. But since GM is hard up for money any further Saturn product development has been put on hold until the fate of the brand is certain. According to Saturn's General Manager, the fate of Saturn should be known in the next three to four weeks.

So at this point the brand could still eventually die.

Everything is in a "state of flux" right now for the U.S. automakers. Even if they manage to secure loans from the U.S. government and possibly the Candian government, there will still be major changes.

There have been many reports and rumors that GM may end up dropping or scaling back the slow selling Saturn, Pontiac and GMC brands. In its plan that it submitted to the U.S. Congress last week, GM stated that it is "exploring alternatives" for the Saturn brand. Although Saturn currently has a strong product lineup, the brand has failed to meet sales expectations.

Many people would assume that GM should just cut its losses with the Saturn brand and move on, but doing so would cost GM at least $1 billion in all the dealer buyouts.

Today Congress is meeting to discuss the details of the $25 billion bailout plan for U.S. automakers. Debates are going back and forth from both sides on how to solve this problem. Some senators are now even saying that the CEO's of the Big 3 should consider stepping down from their positions if that is what it will take for Congress to approve the plan.

During an interview yesterday on NBC’S “Meet the Press”, Michigan Sen. Carl Levin stated I’d be happy to tell (GM CEO) Rick Wagoner that he ought to consider resigning if that is the difference between getting this kind of support and not. If it was the difference between getting this kind of support or not, obviously the management should consider resigning."

GM has put together an informational video of what it predicts will happen if the Big Three automakers all fail next year.

Some highlights:
-If all three fail next year it will result in 3 million U.S. jobs lost in the first year
-Total governement tax loss over three years = $156.4 billion
-The U.S. GDP would drop 4 percent, compare that to the fact that the current economic downturn was caused by a .3 percent drop
-One out of every ten jobs in the U.S. relies on the U.S. auto industry

These past few weeks have been really bad for GM and now comes news that the automaker has canceled all of its press events at the LA Auto Show next week.

It's already been reported that GM canceled plans to unveil the new Buick LaCrosse and the production version of the CTS Coupe at the show. GM spokesman Scott Fosgard told the Detroit News that all of GM's bad financial news and the pending government bailout would have overshadowed the show.

Instead of showing anything new GM is going to bring the Chevy Volt and the Saab 9-4X Air Concept that was unveiled in Paris.

Very sad...

Last week GM reported that it lost $2.5 billion in the third quarter of 2008, while spending $6.9 billion. Today General Motors stock has plunged more than 31 percent to their lowest level in more than 55 years after two analysts downgraded GM's stock claiming that it will be worth very little of nothing if GM does receive a government bailout.

Deutsche Bank analyst Rod Lache reduced GM to sell and put a price target of $0 a share.

"Without government assistance, we believe that GM's collapse would be inevitable, and that it would precipitate systemic risk that would be difficult to overcome for automakers, suppliers, retailers, and sectors of the U.S. economy," Lache wrote. "As part of GM's restructuring, we are also convinced that a large number of stakeholders who are senior to GM's equity will have to settle for pennies on the dollar."

GM launched the "Employee Pricing for Everyone" campaign last month to move the remaining 08' models and a few 09' models off dealer lots...well GM has extended the program until the end of September.

GM has announced the return of employee pricing for its 2008 models and the 2009 Pontiac Vibe.

GM’s CEO Rick Wagoner announced today the many new steps that GM is going to take to cut costs by $15 billion by the end of 2009.

It's widely known that GM is currently conducting a review of the HUMMER brand which will most likely result in the brand being sold or eventually killed. GM is claiming that no other brands are currently under review.

2008 is half way over and its been a very difficult six months for most automakers. GM which saw its sales decline 16.3 percent so far this year may be thinking about cutting even more jobs and possibly selling off some of its brands.

Production of GM's Lambda SUVs (Outlook, Acadia and Enclave) came to a halt when UAW hourly workers went on strike at GM's Lansing, Michigan plant.

GM has unveiled the second hybrid version of its Saturn Vue SUV with two-mode hybrid technology.

GM announced today that it is going to increase the prices on most of its 2008 models to make up for the rising cost of steel and other commodities.

According to recent reports, Chevrolet is working on a new compact seven-seater crossover.

The SEMA Show is still a week away, but GM has given us a preview of what to expect at this year's show.

GM has announced the pricing for the second generation Saturn Vue Green Line hybrid. The first of three different Vue hybrids is going to start at $24,795, which makes it the cheapest hybrid SUV on the market.

According to a new analyst report by Goldman Sachs the "Big 3" all had sales declines last month.

GM has been talking about their Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid for sometime, but the first plug-in from GM could be a Saturn Vue. According to Jill Lajdziak, brand general manager, the Vue will be the automaker's first plug-in hybrid and will be capable of traveling 10 miles on a single charge.

The Saturn Astra is one of more of the exciting new GM models that is going to be offered for 2008. Basically because the Astra that we will get here is essentially the same as the Opel Astra sold in Europe. The Opel Astra is one of the most popular small car in Europe.

Or Maybe not... According to BusinessWeek Volkswagen takes the award for having the most recalled 2007 models. VW recalled just over 1 million New Beetles because of faulty brake light switches.

Brenda Priddy & Co. have taken some new shots of the upcoming Lamda-based Chevy CUV. GM currently has three CUVs based on this platform, the GMC Acadia, Buick Enclave and Saturn Outlook. It is up in the air if Chevrolet is going to stick with the Traverse name when the CUV debuts in 2009.

Last month will go down in the record books as the first month that Detroit's Big 3 (Ford, GM and Chrysler) sold less vehicles than their foreign competitors. Sales from Ford, GM and Chrysler only made up 48.1 percent of all vehicles sales in the U.S. last month, while foreign competitors made up 51.9 percent.

Forbes has put together a list of the top 20 most dangerous vehicles on the road. The Buick Rendevous SUV/ Minivan topped their list as possibly the worst car to buy right now in terms of safety. Compared to other minivans the Rendevous is up to three times more likely to cause a fatality.

Toyota for the first time ever outsold GM worldwide in the first quarter of this year. So far this year Toyota is still outselling GM, but only by 46,000 units. In addition GM even outsold Toyota last quarter (April-June). Could GM win back its title of number 1 automaker this year?