Saturn dealers must be feeling pretty unloved by their parent company right about now. Yesterday, General Motors announced as part of its updated restructuring plan that the interstellar brand would not be getting any new products, meaning that it's left to die on the vine when the current range reaches the end of its lifespan. GM has experience with this routine, having euthanized Oldsmobile earlier this decade, spending enormous amounts of money paying off franchised dealerships along the way.
Understandably then, both GM and Saturn dealers have a vested interest in keeping the brand alive. According to GM CEO Rick Wagoner, "[Saturn has] a good distribution network. If someone comes up with an offer, we're very open to that." Dealership owners are reportedly also interested in exploring that option. Dan Januska, owner of Saturn of Scottsdale and member of the Saturn Dealer Council says, "There are not a whole lot of alternatives. Someone is going to see the value of us and I don't know who it will be."
This may or may not be the best time to launch an offensive on the U.S. automotive market, but it would seem that any foreign automakers (China, India...) that are looking for a way to distribute their vehicles in America now have a extremely intriguing new option to consider.
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