Kiss Saturn Goodbye: Dealers Ponder Plan to Sell Chinese or Indian-Made Cars
After General Motors made it clear in its viability report submitted to the U.S. Treasury that the future of Saturn was uncertain at bes t, it appears as though Saturn’s network of dealers has its own plan.
Dan Januska, owner of Saturn of Scottsdale, told the Wall Street Journal that the dealers have been in talks to work with a foreign automaker from either China or India. The deal would see Saturn dealers keep their dealerships and retain the Saturn brand, and sell vehicles badged as Saturns, but made by another manufacturer, possibly Chery, Tata, Geely or Build Your Dreams (BYD).
“There are not a whole lot of alternatives,” said Januska to the Journal, “Someone is going to see the value of us and I don’t know who it will be.”
GM’s CEO Rick Wagoner commented on the possibility of the sale of the Saturn name (something General Motors would certainly like to see happen), stating that, “It’s a good distribution network. If someone comes up with an offer, we’re very open to that.”
As we already reported, General Motors stated in its viability plan that it will continue to produce and deliver vehicles to Saturn dealers until 2012, after which GM has no plans for the brand.
[Source: LeftLaneNews via the Wall Street Journal]
Comments
Join the conversation
Who willingly buys Saturn?
For one I have friends that own one and I just bought my first Saturn and love it. Actually it is an 2003 and I get great gas mileage out of it. So, for the rest of the story. I own 2 fords. They are my favorite, but I needed to down size the 3rd vechile and it was a Ford, I couldn't find anything in my price range.