Report: GM Stopped Production of all Saturns Last Thursday

[Charlie]

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[drupal=3394]Report: GM Stopped Production of all Saturns Last Thursday[/drupal]

David Thomas from Cars.com: Current owners' warranties are still fully backed by GM and will be serviced by other GM brand dealerships

[piney]

With people with math abilities like that running the place, it is no wonder there were problems.

[cstack3]

Originally Posted by Charlie

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[drupal=3394]Report: GM Stopped Production of all Saturns Last Thursday[/drupal]

Thanks, Charlie, I was just wondering when that shoe was going to drop!

I think Saturn dealers, who were seduced into hanging on and on with the Penske promise, must now be closing shop left & right....it appears that Saturn of Downers Grove IL is gone from what I can see driving past.

Does GM have to purchase back the unsold stock, or are the dealers stuck with it? There may be some interesting deals to be had, but the whole deal stinks.

[MyTNSaturn]

Saturn of Dundee/Lake Barrington and Schaumburg have the same owner and are all closed now too. I don't know where to have my VUE serviced.

[BobbyP]

Very soon you'll see all the remaining Saturn dealers either close or switch to other makes. This was not a respectable act that GM has dealt to Saturn retailers or Saturn owners.

GM could have given Saturn more time to find another buyer, or more time for Penske to find another automobile supplier.

The only thing GM will gain from these actions is more unemployed workers, and angry customers.

[Bwolf]

We were on vacation in Florida and reports were the Fort Myers area dealerships were all closing and selling at 40% off.

I called my dealer in Lowell, MA and learned they are doing business as usual and believe that 2010 production will continue. They even believe that one of the original bidders for Saturn is back in the picture talking to GM about buying Saturn.

Needless to say, I was a bit disappointed I couldn't buy at 40% off (yet) at my dealership.

[twosaturns]

I'm glad we didn't buy an outlook last year when it would have been $32K or more. will have to call my salesman to see what kind of deals they are running for leftover orphans.

[onefunkar]

if they just stopped building saturns last week there must be some rare 2010 saturns out there somewhere.

[AJR]

Originally Posted by MyTNSaturn

Saturn of Dundee/Lake Barrington and Schaumburg have the same owner and are all closed now too. I don't know where to have my VUE serviced.

Not exactly right, but close. They were all owned by the same people, but only the LB and Dundee locations have closed.

I was at the Schaumburg location on Fri, talked to the salesman I bought my car from, bought some parts, saw some people waiting for service and even saw some cars on the lot.

Now if something I wasn't aware of suddenly happened on Sat, I don't know, but I don't think they can close 'that' quickly, can they?

Andy

[MacTech]

Originally Posted by AJR

<snip>
Now if something I wasn't aware of suddenly happened on Sat, I don't know, but I don't think they can close 'that' quickly, can they?

Andy

Maybe I'm being too cynical, but think back to the EV-1 situation, GM took back a fleet of perfectly functioning, usable cars and simply crushed them, they didn't seem too woried about the financial loss that destroying perfectly good vehicles would put them in then....

what's to stop them from (thinking out loud here) contacting their dealer network and "requesting" that all unsold stock be transferred back to GM HQ, vehicles like the Outlook and Vue could, in theory, be switched to their Chevy/GMC/Buick clones with some minor grille/lights/bodywork changes, the Aura would need more extensive re-skinning to become a Malibu....

....or they could simply strip them for parts, and crush the remaining carcass

[onefunkar]

thats a whole different thing. the ev1 were experimental and the never ever sold any. not one.

[MiSaturn]

Wow. The body wasn't even cold... .

My Saturn parts guy said that they expected GM to buy back their parts inventory, but it would seem unlikely they'd be nice enough to purchase any remaining vehicles (that they would have to take a hit on the prices of).

Pure GM. No wonder that 67% of the people responding so far to the poll about buying GM said no.

[Kimosen]

Originally Posted by MacTech

Maybe I'm being too cynical, but think back to the EV-1 situation, GM took back a fleet of perfectly functioning, usable cars and simply crushed them, they didn't seem too woried about the financial loss that destroying perfectly good vehicles would put them in then....

what's to stop them from (thinking out loud here) contacting their dealer network and "requesting" that all unsold stock be transferred back to GM HQ, vehicles like the Outlook and Vue could, in theory, be switched to their Chevy/GMC/Buick clones with some minor grille/lights/bodywork changes, the Aura would need more extensive re-skinning to become a Malibu....

....or they could simply strip them for parts, and crush the remaining carcass

GM didn't "take back" anything. The EV1s were leased. GM took them back after the end of the lease. Just like if you lease a Mini-E, you'll have to give it back. Because it's a lease. And that's how leases work.

The EV1 battery system (Lead Acid for Gen1, NiMH for Gen2) wasn't robust enough to survive a full car lifetime, which is one of the primary reasons the program was canceled - the technology wasn't there.

Toyota and Honda also canceled their electric car programs at this time, so it wasn't just GM.

If you want to GM bash, feel free I guess, but please stop posting about the EV1. All you're doing is perpetuation lies and misinformation. The EV1 never was a good idea, it never was a functional car, and it was never financially or technologically viable, not in 1996 anyway.

[crystal scan]

sad day for saturn they should of kepted on making them??

[Audi Junkie]

two weeks ago the dealer bawlked at my -$10k off sticker offer on a Vue. I was there today again, should have asked them if they has any bites yet.

[onefunkar]

i dont think that most saturn dealers have enough money left to lose 6000 dollars a car