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Jim MacPherson from the Chicago Tribune: One ironic aspect of the pending sale of the Saturn Division by General Motors to Roger Penske has received little, if any, media attention. In one fell swoop, General Motors will create what automakers have spent decades trying to avoid: a significant independent dealer group that can negotiate with automakers from a position of power on matters governing pricing, vehicle features and design. How appropriate, as the history of Saturn is full of ironic tw...

Jerry Flint from Forbes: In order to appease Congress, General Motors executives have said their new "return to prosperity" plan involves saving Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC and "dumping" (selling, downsizing or closing) Pontiac, Hummer, Saab and Saturn. Does this plan make any sense? Buick had sales of 121,000 units in the first 10 months of 2008; Pontiac had 239,999; Saturn had 167,000. Pontiac outsold Buick 2-for-1, and Saturn sold four vehicles for every three Buicks. Where is the logi...

G. Chambers Williams III from the Nashville Tennessean and USA Today newspapers: Whether or not General Motors receives emergency federal loans, it may have to sacrifice its iconic Saturn brand, which got its start in the mid-1980s. GM's (GM) sales pitch to win billions in federal assistance includes the possible sale or shutdown of the once-promising Saturn brand. Many observers, including a longtime Saturn dealer who owns three Nashville-area outlets, said they think Saturn will survive as a b...

G. Chambers Williams III from the Tennessean: An Oklahoma City investor group that includes some dealers today said it has made an offer to acquire the assets of General Motors' Saturn brand, with plans to operate it as an independent company that would sell vehicles from a variety of manufacturers. Telesto Ventures, which includes the private equity firm Black Oak Partners and other investors such as Bob Moore Saturn of Oklahoma City, is the first suitor for Saturn to announce its intention to ...

Richard Truett from Automotive News : General Motors spent billions in recent years developing terrific new vehicles and impressive new fuel-saving technology. Now much of this effort will be wasted -- before it even had a chance in the market -- with the closing of Saturn and Pontiac. Big mistake. General Motors' new CEO Fritz Henderson and his lieutenant, global product development chief Tom Stephens, still have a chance to salvage something from this mess by making a few tweaks to GM's viabil...

Jessica Anderson from Kiplinger's Personal Finance: If you're in the market for a new car, GM's loss could be your gain. Saturn's dealers have until the end of October 2010 to close, now that a deal has fallen through to sell the car line to the Penske Automotive Group. But many showrooms could close by January because inventory is low. That means the sooner you shop, the better your choices. And there are good reasons to consider a Saturn. Its most popular models — the Aura midsize sedan, the...

Each of General Motors' 350 U.S. Saturn dealerships will receive offers to continue selling the vehicles under a tentative deal announced Friday to sell the brand to mega dealer Roger Penske. Penske, who runs the Penske Automotive Group (PAG) chain of dealers, will take over the brands, trademarks, service and parts operations and distribution operations related to the Saturn. "We will have a completely independent company, and it will be lean," Penske said in a conference call with reporters Fr...

Steve Finlay from Ward's Dealer Business: The GM-Penske deal that saves Saturn is considered good news for an industry seeing too much unpleasantness lately, from vehicle sales in a free fall to auto makers in bankruptcy. But few people realize the full implication of the reprieve. One who does is Jack Nerad, Kelly Blue Book's executive market analyst and editorial director. He calls the arrangement "one of the most significant developments" at a time filled with them. Here's why: "The proposed ...

From the Hub magazine: Between the time we spoke with Jill Lajdziak and the publication of this interview, General Motors announced plans to close Saturn. Well, here’s another news flash: This doesn’t necessarily mean the end for Saturn. And it certainly does not change the enlightened view Saturn brings to automotive retailing. Saturn was never designed to be a "luxury" automobile, but you’d never know that while visiting one of its state-of-the-art showrooms. The approach is almost maje...

Jill Lajdziak at ImSaturn: Over the past several weeks, I'm sure many of you have seen the continued speculation in the media about the future of Saturn. As I mentioned in a earlier post, we are examining various alternatives for Saturn including potential new business models for the brand. While this is a sensitive process, I assure you that we will keep you as informed as possible with updates on this site. Even in these uncertain times, however, a few things are very clear. Saturn still is ve...

John McElroy from Autoline Detroit via AutoBlog: In the early 1980s General Motors launched a top-secret program to figure out how it could build a small car to successfully compete against the Japanese automakers. It was called the S-car program and the results of this study shocked top management at GM. It conclusively proved General Motors could not profitably build a small car in the United States that was priced against the Japanese -- at least not under the current GM system. And that laun...

Andrew S. Ross from the San Fransisco Chronicle: For East Bay Saturn dealer Inder Dosanjh, it finally is the end. As the franchise representative for dealers in 15 Western states, he pushed as hard as anyone to keep Saturn alive. But GM's out-of-the-blue shutdown announcement Wednesday ended all hope. "I was very surprised. I was shocked," said Dosanjh, who always believed the brand would survive even as its parent shriveled. I'm told it was Nissan's board of directors, which refused to sanction...

Michael Bettencourt from Globe and Mail: The Saturn brand's lack of a profitable small car and its pairing with another ailing brand in Saab in Canada helped prompt the decision to close all Canadian Saturn and Saab outlets in the next few months, according to the company that will keep the brand alive in the U.S. Tony Pordon, senior vice-president for the Penske Automotive Group, said there were various roadblocks to a distribution deal for Saturn in Canada, but the primary one was that neither...

Robert Snell from the Detroit News: General Motors said today the Saturn brand could survive a broad restructuring plan being developed that involves selling, shrinking or killing half of its eight brands. All possibilities are being considered but the options will be narrowed next month when the cash-strapped automaker submits a restructuring plan to Congress, said Mark LaNeve, GM's vice president for North America sales, service and marketing, while talking to reporters during the National Aut...

Kelly Pedro from Canada's London Free Press: Saturn's future in Canada may be uncertain, but it's business as usual at the Saturn Saab Isuzu of London dealership. Penske Automotive Group bought the Saturn brand from General Motors and has decided not to sell the vehicles in Canada. GM is building the Vue, Aura and Outlook for Penske until 2011 - all mid-sized or sport-utility vehicles. But since 42% of Canada's car market is made up of small-car purchases, the company said there wasn't a busines...