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Robert A. Lutz, GM's charismatic vice-chairman of product development, doesn't know the meaning of "no comment" — one of the reasons he's so popular with auto journalists, who are fed everything the companies want them to say about the positive aspects of their cars, but often get stonewalled when questions turn to less-flattering subjects. This is not the Lutz way: very few companies have as blunt a corporate leader willing to provide a small window into the inner workings of the company. Alt...

Jamie LaReau from Automotive News: Bob Lutz says General Motors' struggling Saturn brand probably won't survive. "My personal favorite would be to see Saturn survive and prosper," GM's vice chairman told Automotive News. "But frankly, the reality is that that is probably not going to be the outcome." He added: "We spent a huge bundle of money in giving Saturn an absolutely no-excuses product lineup, top to bottom. They had a better and fresher lineup than any GM division, and the sales just neve...

Tom Walsh from the Detroit Free Press: GM's share of U.S. car and truck sales has fallen from 28% to 21% since 2001 and the company still has too many brands (eight) to support in a brutally competitive market. Lutz acknowledged as much in a telephone interview Monday when I asked him about the Saturn brand, which GM has placed under what it calls "strategic review," with killing the brand as an option. "The sad fact," Lutz said, "is that we made an enormous bet on product in Saturn ... We gave ...

Chris Reiter and Matthias Wabl from Bloomberg: Magna International Inc, one of at least three competing bidders for General Motors' Opel unit, aims to join Russian partner OAO Sberbank in investing as much as 700 million euros ($981 million) in the deal. German state leaders said today that they'll focus on working out government backing for the offer by Magna, Canada's biggest car-parts maker, which would give the manufacturer a 20% stake in GM's Opel and Vauxhall divisions in Europe. Sberbank...

Katie Merx and Jeff Green from Bloomberg: Magna International, Canada's largest auto-parts supplier, is in talks with General Motors about acquiring the Saturn brand as the automaker shrinks operations, people familiar with the discussions said. Magna hasn't made a bid under GM's June 1 deadline to accept offers, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because negotiations are private. The partsmaker, which also is vying for GM’s Opel in Europe, is studying who might be named to...

Paul Wyche from the Michigan Business Review: The Great Lakes Bay Region's sole Saturn dealer sits - and waits. "That's about all we can do," said Pete Serra, owner and president of a Saturn dealership in Saginaw, as well as Flint. "In the beginning, a group of dealers may have been talking about buying the brand from GM, but we're talking about multiple big players now." In fact, General Motors has had to retain a former company advisor to help sift through the numerous suitors looking to purch...

Robert Snell from the Detroit News: Two local car dealers are in talks about partnering with Detroit auto tycoon Roger Penske to acquire Saturn's distribution network, according to people familiar with the discussions. The dealers' involvement emerged as General Motors Corp. has narrowed the pool of Saturn bidders to two or three, from about a dozen, a source confirmed. The remaining bidders are interested in the Saturn distribution network and are looking for manufacturing partners. Canadian au...

West Michigan television station WZZV Channel 13 spoke to Ron Macearn, General Manager of the Suburban Collection, owner of all the Saturn retail facilities in Michigan, about General Motors' to plans to possibly sell or close the once independent Saturn brand. WZZM 13 News reports that Macean told the station that they find the development "very disappointing. It's a very successful brand for us and we remain optimistic." The TV stations says that Saturn retailers "have no official word from th...

Jamie LaReau from Automotive News: Talk about pressure. Just a couple of weeks before General Motors has to submit a detailed plan proving viability, GM executives have no idea what to do with their losing brands. GM asked various companies to run Saturn and absorb the dealerships, provide product lines and perhaps rename the brand, says a source. But no one was interested. GM never tried to sell Saturn outright because it is so entrenched in GM's product and manufacturing system that it would b...

The study of Saturn involves about 20 options, he said. GM is trying to find a way to make the brand profitable. It has lost money in all but one year since its 1990 debut. "I would hope by the next three or four weeks we will have a line of sight on what makes sense for this brand," Jill Lajdziak, general manager of Saturn, said. LaNeve said Saturn has improved, but not enough to allow GM to tell the government it's viable in the current sales climate. "We don't have the luxury of 10 years to i...

Lindsay Chappell from Automotive News: French automaker Renault could become a source for Saturn vehicles and parts for the brand's proposed new owner, U.S. auto magnate Roger Penske. Renault confirms that it has been approached by Penske, chairman of Penske Automotive Group, about a deal to supply vehicles and parts. Frederique LeGreves, spokeswoman for Renault in Paris, declined to elaborate on the proposal. But she said today that any agreement between Renault and Penske would be uniquely a R...

In Mr. Penske's view, however, Saturn is a potential jewel to be plucked from the scrap heap of GM's bankruptcy. By early next month, his company, the Penske Automotive Group, is expected to complete its acquisition of Saturn from GM. After that, it plans to try to reinvent the brand as an independent chain of dealerships. That experiment hinges on attracting a foreign car manufacturer that will supply Saturn with vehicles after G.M. stops producing its current line of Saturns in 2011. The foray...

Micheline Maynard and Mary Chapman from the New York Times penned what is probably one of the most thorough analysis of Saturn with a historical perspective in recent memory (another article in the Tennessean also comes to mind). The article talks about significant events from Saturn's past that ended up ultimately transforming the company into the brand you see today. One interesting fact mentioned: "unless Saturn sales rise sharply in December, this year the division will sell fewer than 200,0...

Andrew Ross Sorkin from the New York Times: GM expects to have a buyer for Hummer but will not build its vehicles past 2009, Mr. Henderson said. GM anticipates it could be building Saabs for whoever ends up buying the Swedish brand. Saturn production will be phased out by the end of this year unless there is a successful offer on the table that might justify assembly beyond then, but right now "that offer isn't on the table, at least one we would consider successful." It's worth noting that Satu...

William J. Holstein, Op-Ed Contributor to the New York Times: Mr. Wagoner has allowed his designers to recapture car design leadership with products like the Cadillac CTS, the Saturn Aura, the new Chevrolet Malibu and the revived and visually dazzling Camaro. The cliché that GM makes only gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles is years out of date. He has reversed management's long practice of meekly going along with the demands of the United Auto Workers, notably with a deal to transfer health ca...