A once bright light in the automotive sky has gone dark. Saturn, a company that gave us an extra reason to feel proud and confident about American cars at a time when they were getting clobbered by imports, will soon be no more.
It was announced yesterday that a deal to unload the struggling GM badge to auto icon Roger Penske's group had collapsed and GM was moving to a 'Plan B' to wind down the brand.
The reported snag was the lack of a deal with a manufacturer to take over production of Saturns from GM. It was assumed by many that an agreement would be reached between Penske and France's Renault or another maker, and the collapse seems to have come as a shock to many analysts and GM itself.
"This really stunned many people on Wall Street (and) also in the auto industry," analyst Greg Miles said on Bloomberg News. "Roger Penske gets stuff done, this deal did not get done."
Saturn dealers already had signed a "wind-down agreement." Under terms of a wind-down agreement, all Saturn new-car sales operations must cease by late 2010.
The decision to eliminate the Saturn brand impacts approximately 350 dealerships and nearly 13,000 employees.
Introduced by long-time GM head Roger Smith as an almost covert operation to win back American drivers, Saturn's brand was distinct and separate from nearly everything else at GM. It went through a separate marketing agency better known for its political ads. Dealerships operated differently. And Saturn's dedicated plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee came complete with more generous labor agreements and an annual picnic that became a cultural phenomenon for a few years in the 1990s, with Saturn owners driving in from all over North America.
But Saturn fell on hard times long before the recent economic catastrophe. As Detroit shifted its focus to SUVs and bigger cars, the brand was left behind, and recent efforts to re-package past success in the form of new, sporty hybrid crossovers have fallen short.
Plans were in the works for a plug-in Saturn, but in a sign of the brand's place in GM's pecking order, it had received little attention thanks to the long shadow cast by the hype of Chevy's Volt.
Saturns haven't been made in Spring Hill for a while now, and there are no more annual reunions, just outstanding warranties that will soon be honored by other GM dealers.
So rest in peace, Saturn - we'll miss you, your indestructible plastic doors and feel-good commercials like this one: