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 will be gone by January because inventory is low, according to dealers quoted in the Detroit News.
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 VUE small crossover and the Outlook midsize crossover — all score well in Kiplinger’s Personal Finance’s proprietary rankings (see the Kiplinger Car Center). The Aura XE was Kiplinger’s Best New Car winner for the 2007 model year.
According to TrueCar (www.truecar.com), an automotive-data company that tracks prices, the average transaction prices for Saturn’s most-popular models are within a few hundred dollars of invoice. The average discount from sticker price is close to $1,000 on these models. And more incentives are likely soon. For example, the Aura XE has a sticker price of $23,375. TrueCar reports an average transaction price of $22,506—$869 below sticker.
The front- and all-wheel-drive trims of the Outlook XE are selling for below invoice ($30,414 and $32,432 respectively), as is the four-cylinder VUE XE ($23,120).
GM will continue to honor the warranty on any Saturn purchase after the brand has passed. Vehicles will be serviced by Saturn dealerships until they close and afterward by other GM dealerships.
Parts won’t be an issue, says Kelley Blue Book’s Jack Nerad, because Saturn products share platforms and components with other GM products. Aftermarket parts companies are also likely to step in to fill any gaps.