The Saturn Astra is a fine car. Too bad the GP doesn’t look at models so much as name plates. I’m sure everyone still thinks Saturns are cheap, plastic skinned drab little cars. I actually think parts of it’s current lineup are pretty nice (Astra XRS, Sky esp Red Line). Oh well, not profitable = bye bye these days.

Not sure why they are deemphasizing Pontiac…… however such a concept, selling “niche” models at Chevrolet dealerships could open the doors for a Oldsmobile Cutlass or 442……..

Solstice, G8, G6?… if the Sky is going to be history, GM/ Pontiac should put the nicer looking/ aggressive shell on the Solstice.

sooooo…. How come GM retains both Buick and Caddilac?

I’m glad Pontiac is gone; I like some of their offerings (keyword: some) and I’m glad certain of them will be retained but there was alot of brand redundancy between Chevy and Pontiac. The way I see it, that same redunancy exists between Caddy and Buick, with Caddilac being the more storied, varied and competitive brand.

Hmm. Just as Saturn was starting to become somewhat decent. Too bad.

I agree, the Astra and the Sky are actually pretty nice cars. Not excellent, but nice.

Quick, someone call Guang Buang Motors- your North American dealership network just opened up.

i read that chevy is sitting on releasing the 556HP Z28 camaro, which would run the same 6.2L and tranny from the CTS-V… maybe they should sell it as a Firebird, since Pontiac’s will be sold at Chevy dealers anyways.

Saturn was an assembly line invented in the 1980’s….it can die.

GM left Pontiac to wither and die…. but is keeping Buick alive for some unknown reason.

Copperbottoms, they kept buick because they sell a **** load of them in china

Most of GMs management decisions is due to unknow reasons..

aha. I have heard that, Andy. I don’t like it, but it makes sense.

Pontiac? It doesn’t make too much sense due to the Buick/GMC dealer kind of lacking in the lower priced-sporty car area. Saturn has been dead man walking for awhile, although the Vue and Aura, along with the Sky, are very good looking and well built cars, What about the next Aura? The Opel is quite possibly the best looking car in it’s class and with it already designed for the US market, it’s a shame for it to goto waste.

How different is this from before, though? I thought GM was going to make the Pontiac brand all RWD and niche vehicles just a couple years ago, so what’s the change? It’s almost as if they are following through, just they are now forced to. Please, I beg GM to not get rid of the G8, it’s so young, don’t give it up yet!

===>>Laugh-freakin-buttox-off johnnycanuck, that was a goodone LOL “Guang Buang Motors” im rollin ova here!

When are they gonna can the third tier luxury brand that is Buick?

WOW we dont see any smart ass comments from need more oil for gm….big surprise.

Wow, I just realized what JohnnyC’s company was. LOL.

It is actually sad they are getting rid of Saturn, those dealers and service people are great there. Helped my mom buy a new Vue from them, she loves it. Oh well. This just means Buicks number is up shortly.

It’s a darn shame Saturn has to go. They were just starting generate some momentum. It had it’s sights set on Japan and competed toe to toe. But it seriously sagged after the SC2 with lame ducks like the ion and when you’re only a couple decades old, you can’t do that.

Pontiac, what the heck is a Pontiac? How much “excitement” could a redressed Cavalier actually be? In the late 90’s early 00’s it had so much molded plastic it became a caricature of itself, you just couldn’t take the brand seriously.

We bow our heads and put our hands over our hearts.

Cadillac is off the charts right now, Chevrolet is a strong brand with some great cars approaching, Buick has always been solid reliable cars and there concepts always out of this world (yeah Buick’s, their cars never looked that great but there show horses did) and GMC, well we need trucks.

This is the right direction for the General, Toyota only has 2 brands (now 3), Nissan 2, Honda 2, Ford 3 (probably 2 soon), Chrysler 3, it’s just unnecessary to spread yourself as thin as GM did, make a couple things and make them great, not a bunch of bologna.

What what what? No!
Dang it. I was hoping GM wouldn’t do it.
I guess I hoped wrong. They always make stupid decisions. But I guess it’s “necesary” …

-eat your cereal

Saturn’s been mishandled from start to finish, it’s a terrible shame to see the brand go but it has to be done.

Pontiac is Chevy with accent stripes, it has to be done.

Rick says they’re still talking to Hummer buyers through the end of March, but otherwise the brand will be killed. Overdue to be done.

If they had the courage of their convictions they’d do GMC too today.

Buick doesn’t need a big US profile to be successful in China. Opel has no US profile and is successful in Europe. With Buick down to two meaningful nameplates anyway, I don’t see why they don’t sell ‘em through Caddy dealerships.

Finally some action from these people. Need more.

The folks at GM read this blog after all?

Why not Buick? Several reasons 1.) They are the core brand historically. Buick is GM. 2.) As crazy as it sounds Buick is very profitable for GM. 3.) For many years now Buick has been in the top three for quality. 4.) Over seas popularity would be damaged by eliminating the brand in America. 5.) Very high brand loyalty. I whole heartedly agree with the demise of Saturn, it has always been a distraction and revenue sucker. Pontiac despite valiant attempts has never broke out of the Mercury, Plymouth genre and it will be sad to see the Holdens leave our shores after this generation. Get it down to Chevrolet, Buick and Cadillac. Without Pontiac and Saturn what is the need for GMC Truck?

Andy, it will be like this: G8, Soltice, and Vibe. All at your local Chevy dealer. It wont be GM/Pontiac, it will be Chevy/Pontiac, like Chevy/Geo, sort of.

Nice job you sniveling import morons. You just destroyed the US automotive industry and the livelihoods of tens of thousands of families. You caused the collapse of this country and the American Dream as we know it through your years of buying Toyotas, Hondas, BMW’s, etc. You live and work here and spit in America’s face at the same time. You snobs should just pack your bags and move to Europe.

And you spit in the face of capitalism. We like GM – they’re the home team. Restructuring and change is a good thing when you’re on a giant losing streak.

I’m kinda sad that they’re getting rid of Saturn, cause Saturn was getting better in quality, but it doesn’t help that their cars were basically the same as Chevy’s cars. I can say that the Sky was a damn good car though, lots of fun to drive for the money.

Pontiac on the other hand, those guys haven’t made anything special for a long time, so I’m kinda glad that they’re phasing them out.

Also, kinda funny that NMOFGM isn’t commenting on this, guess he had to eat his words.

@iluvamcars: yea i know it will be Chevy/Pontiac, but i would think it would be more so up to the GM brass to ‘ok’ the swap out from Solstice to Sky body for pontaic…. but ya, totally forgot about the Vibe, since pontiac is going to be a niche brand, badge the Vibe as a Chevy, i’ve always thought the rebadge toyota should have been under the chevy name plate… but i guess then the more conservative Chevy styling would make it resemble the slightly boring Matrix

son of a motherf u c king bitch!!!!!!!! its not that big of deal if they kill Saturn, but i still dont like it! but they can not, absolutely f u c king not kill Pontiac!!!!!! f u cking kill GMC if they have 2 kill another company!!!! cuz they dont have any models of their own! i mean i like GMC of course, but they cant kill Pontiac damn it!!!! and anyone that likes that decision completely, can go f u ck themselves!!!

BuyUSA, that’s total bull. You must hate the free market and the basic economic principles America was founded on. You must be in favor of a Soviet-style protected and planned economic system where competition is squashed so the favored State interests can prosper even though they produce junk that everyone hates. GM and Chrysler ran themselves out of business, you dolt. They failed fair and square. This is not a conspiracy, this is the free market talking. Despite voluntary import restrictions, despite a totally irrational / psychotic consumer love affair with SUVs that should never have happened, GM and Chrysler managed to commit suicide. If you blame the rational consumer for that, you must be out of your mind. You’re the one who should pack your bag and move… move to Soviet Russia, where State Factories are coddled and protected just like you want GM and Chrysler to be.

All you GM apologists who think the thinking, intelligent consumer “destroyed” the US automotive industry by supporting superior products would have made excellent Soviet Communist market planners. In a properly free market, loser companies die. They don’t get Strike Six and Strike Seven thrown to them like in a Special Olympics T-ball tournament. Unfortunately the US automotive market now resembles the Special Olympics in far too many respects.

Dante; saturn is more so opel vehicles, and the sky is a rebadged pontiac… not trying to prove you wrong/ shut you down, but just saying is all.

this is f u cking horrible!!!! im hoping they dont go thru with it totally–im hoping sh it gets better eventually for one and/or the decision just phases out eventually or w/e–****ing crappy economy!!!!!!!!

Do away with the Vibe, who needs a rebadged Matrix. The Vibe has had far more issues than any other Pontiac according to NHTSA. I am not entirely sure that at the volumes it is even profitable. Solstice and G8 can command premium niche pricing.

the Sky isnt a rebadged Pontiac, u f u cking dumb ass!!! its related to the Solstice, but isnt rebadged!!

yo go **** urself wbent!! ur so wrong!!

With the elimination of Pontiac, the GMC line is actually even more valuable to Buick dealerships as Pontiac has had a lot of profitable models that will soon be gone (G8, Solstice) out of their showrooms. It will allow the dealerships to focus more on higher-end cars by getting rid of the lower priced cars (G5, G6, Vibe) and allow the dealerships to take on a more up-scale ambiance. GMC already has the more luxurious SUVs and I think if they focus on shifting more of the SUVs out of Buick and into GMC that it would strengthen both brands.

Saturn going away has been a fore-gone conclusion ever since the Spring Hill, TN Saturn plan was renamed GM Spring Hill. Fortunately for the locals at Spring HIll, it’s been one of GM’s more modernized facilities and thus shouldn’t be going anywhere, although layoffs are likely.

f u ck urself*

shut the f u ck up! they cannot kill Pontiac!!

Payton Byrd, if you shifted the one and only Buick SUV, the Enclave, into GMC, there wouldn’t be much of a Buick brand left.

I too hate it when historic American brands are lost. America is fast losing its “Americanism” that served us well for over 100 auto years! So Sad….. and once they’re gone, they’re gone for good. Wake up America.

Yeah, things suck without Packard and DeSoto around. This is the way robust economies work.

GM, and Chrysler, are now simply Titanic II & III. I’d rather study the wreckage, and not repeat the mistakes, than to keep bailing while the ships are beyond repair.

Kallen – Really….take a look at the recall’s & consumer complaints on NHTSA under both Matrix and Vibe. You may be shocked. Don’t know about profitability but my suspicions are the business model doesn’t support itself and if it does it is only on the back of the Matrix.

Payton. I do see the GMC Truck line working as a Luxury Denalli type of line in conjuction with Buick. The duplication of work trucks through two divisions seems like a waste.

well, this news sucks and the only one to blame is GM…..there best efforts only came out in at the last second, which was 10 seconds too late…say hello to Oldsmobile and Plymouth for us! who’s next?

wow this sucks! wait till my dad hears the bad news since he drives an aura! I don’t think you should be responsible for the full price of a car if the company goes under like saturn. its resale value will go down the toilet even farther than they already are! it would be similar to the housing market

Bummer! They’re closing down the only two divisions I had any interest in!!

I don’t understand why they are keeping GMC. Please, someone explain to me why they need GMC around when they sell the same vehicles under Chevrolet floors.

FleminginTennessee- I would fully agree with you, if it wasn’t for Saturn being around for just twenty years. Pontiac yes, but their not out of the picture… yet.

I see we’re all upset about the strife here, but as I see it GM will come out stronger than before, with more money to invest in their brands. We should see some neat things come from Pontiac, and if not then they’re just another walking dead man.

The bare minimum would be Chevrolet. Their still carrying a little baggage with Buick, Pontiac and GMC, but for the most part I see it as positive. Cadillac is extra.

Well, Pontiac was the only brand that offered something I was interested in. I don’t want a stupid Camaro – I need 4 doors. And I want something that is RWD. Not to mention GM has killed the two brands of cars I have owned.

My first car was an Oldsmobile, my second car a Pontiac (’93 Cutlas Cierra S & ‘98 Grand Prix GT). I guess my next car will be a used BMW or Lexus since I can’t get what I want from GM.

GM viability plan:
Begging for cash in December, more begging in January, more begging in Feb, further begging 2009, with additional begging 2010, 2011

Well best news from GM so far. This should help them clean up their mess if it isn’t too late already.

Uh……..why wait 2 years to shutter Saturn?
Now that people know it’s dead, why would people buy a Saturn NEXT YEAR?

GM had a chance to strike while Saturn was hot, 15 years ago, and blew it.
This should be the last model year for Saturn

I think the Sky and G8 are great
DrFill

I think the 2 year wait is more for the dealers and the problems that will come with closing them / buyouts

“as Pontiac has had a lot of profitable models that will soon be gone” i think that phrase got couple of nuts committed to Bellevue Hospital (hospital specializing in mental disorders for out of towners) in NYC. If Pontiac provided any proftiable cars to GM, GM would not ask for 30 billions USDs, would it?

Nevertheless, it is entertaining reading along with NMOGM. Where is poor bastard?

i think DrFill is right! Who in their right mind, unless they sell their cars for less than half of its price, will buy a saturn????

for decades Pontiac was the downplayed sport divion for GM , the only time I seen Pontiacs successful is in 2000 with the introduction of the re-designed Grand Am, everybody who owned one was happy I remember reading how Pontiac couldnt keep them in stock..GM what a terrible decison to kill that name, GM should have improved on the Grand Am (at the times) its best selling cars and eliminated all the brands that wasn’t selling, for Pontiac while introducing higher quality models like the grand am , but maybe they need a marketing task force to keep up with the specifc needs of the consumer.

Pontiac Division 1985 sales 750,000

Pontiac Division 2007 sales (pre-market collapse) 375,000

What has not worked:

The re-badged Holdens – GTO and G8 – no matter the LS-1, LS-2 engine and how cheap an alternative to a BMW 550i the G8 GT is.

The G6 despite the fraud that Oprah was giving them away FREE on her show – it was Pontiac that donated the cars and the recipients had to pay income tax on the alleged value of $26K.

Rather than waste any time resurrecting the Firebird, TA, Tempest or Bonneville names Pontiac could try numerals for the Pontiac line.

Numerical model names have served BMW pretty darned well.

At least BMW between 1985 and 2007 increased its NA sales 4 times: from 80,000 to over 330,000.

We as AMERICAN’S did the right thing by being capitalists and bought the best products, obviously gm didn’t make them. Hell if GM made every car like the make the Corvette maybe they wouldn’t be in the hole so bad. GM did this to themselves.

I was starting to like the Saturn brand, too bad though they were getting noticeable and their products are decent and have quality. As for Pontiac it is kind of weird seeing that they become a niche type of brand and I am hoping, not a big GM fan, that when those Opel’s are badged Chevy’s that they don’t water it down.

andy
-yeah, I know it’s basically opel there, but saturn wasn’t too bad. And yes, I knew that about the sky, haha. Still, kinda sad to see so much being taken out by the economy.

This saddens me a great deal. Pontiac was such a cool brand to me when I was a kid. I wanted a Fiero so bad, and I always liked the Trans Am / Firebird way more than the Camaro (and both much more than the Mustang), and even the Grand Am USED TO BE an attractive car. I still think the G6 Concept car is one of the best looking sedan concepts ever . . .

As for Saturn, they’re making the same mistake they did with Oldsmobile. They’re giving it a fresh model line which is the best in the company and not giving it time & advertising budget to catch on.

I realize times are tough and this has to be done for the greater good – it just sucks though. I really wanted to be invited to a Saturn BBQ!

yea… thats what pontiac needs is to rebadge all the names to numbers. the stupidity of some of the commenters is unbelievable.

You all are probably tired of seeing me say this, but GM killed Saturn a good decade and a half ago. It was death by neglect. When Saturn first started selling cars, it was selling cars to people who would not normally buy a GM car. The cars were completely different than anything else in GM’s lineup. Unique platforms, unique drivetrains, unique dealerships. Many people did not even realize Saturn was a division of GM.

The first nail in Saturn’s coffin came not from the product, but from the vehicle market in general. Saturn’s sole product in the 1990’s was a small, fuel efficient came at a time when nobody wanted small, fuel efficient cars. Gas was cheap and people wanted big vehicles.

Nail #2 came from GM’s refusal to give Saturn more product. Imagine a Honda dealer selling nothing but Civics, or a Toyota dealer selling nothing but Corrollas, or a Chev dealer selling nothing but Cavaliers. That’s the situation Saturn was in: A decent “loss leader” product to get young new car buyers into dealerships, but nothing for those buyers to graduate into. No larger, more profitable cars for loyal owners to upgrade to.

Nail #3 came when GM finally did throw Saturn a few product “bones”. Quiite frankly it was far too little, far too late. The LS series was nothing but a reskinned Opel, and not a very good one. It lacked Saturn’s trademark space frame, it lacked Saturn’s unique drivetrains, and it lacked the value factor. Itv was the beginning of the death of the brand, or more accurately, it was the beginning of the assimilation. The GM division created to sell American cars to people that would not normally buy American cars was now selling rebadged European cars. On top of that it was just plain not a very good car. The Ecotech 4-cylinder was garbage in its first few years (google “ecotech timing chain failure”) and the 3.0 V6 was even worse. S-series cars were crap, but at least they were cheap. LS-series cars were crap and were every bit as expensive as their much better competition. Then came the VUE. Nothing more than a reskinned Equinox, but without the fit-and-finish of the Equinox, and it developed a horrible reputation thanks to its VTI transmission. The Relay was just plain bad, a rebadged (not even reskinned) Uplander van, which itself was mediocre at best. The Ion was little other than a reskinned Cobalt, but was not even as good as the Cobalt. With all of these second string products it’s little wonder Saturn floundered. The Sky was a really cool car, but completely out of place at a Saturn dealership. It should have been a Chevy, marketed as a baby Corvette.

Nail #4 was when GM decided to move Saturn upmarket. Upmarket is fine when you’re actually pushing upmarket cars, but in GMspeak, upmarket simply meant “Pay more for less car”. By selling European cars GM had to charge more because of the dollar/Euro relationship. First we got the Aura, which is a nice car but is easily outmatched by any number of competitors (including its sibling, the Malibu) for less money. Then we got the Astra, which is just plain horribly outclassed by just about every one of its competitors for WAY less money. To make things worse GM brought the bottom feeder over the pond and left the good ones in Europe. The S-series was no Civic, but it didn’t cost as much as a Civic. The Astra is no civic either, but costs Civic money, Is it any wonder nobody wants one?

Actually, for the past several years it seems like Saturn was nothing more than a Beta division of Chevy. Develop a new car, market it as a Saturn, observe a sh!tload of complaints, address those complaints and sell the result as a Chevy. It happened with the Ion/Cobalt, it happened with the Vue, it happened with the Aura/Malibu. Beta versions of new cars for more money than the “final release” Chevy version, with the resulting quality and resale value problems and a spotty dealer network. Yeah, Saturn will really be missed…

Kallen33125 calm down whining about it on the boards isnt going to help! Pontiac needs to be droped anyway they had their chance when they redid the GTO that didnt work out to well. Oh well pontiac owners get used to driving the malibu insted of the G8 or who knows maybe they’ll rebadge the G8

Kallen33125, only a true idiot would leave that comment!

IT IS A RE-BADGED PONTIAC!!!

Chopper9

Cannot believe that some posters do not have full command of the English language, sufficient to make the distinction between denotation and connotation. The suggestion of using numeric model names, as does BMW, is a sarcasm, a form of rhetoric. The connotation is that the Pontiac brand name is so tarnished beyond repair that it would make absolutely no difference what model name became attached to the brand’s products.

BuyUSA, I got out of US and changed citizenship. Life there isn’t that good anymore. So yea why should I support GM?

NMOFGM has no comment?

Pontiacs being sold through Chevy dealers makes NO sense whatsoever.. the G3 just arrived and now it will be sitting next to its Aveo twin? It makes much more sense to keep Pontiacs around in Buick/GMC stores.. the G3, Vibe, Solstice and G8 all target niches that Buick and GMC don’t.. and (for the most part) Chevy already does.

P.S. The Sky (and Solstice hardtop) will live on as the Opel GT, and if it survives to a 2nd generation the Pontiac version will likely inherit the same bodyshell.

And ‘Buy USA’ called us a Moron….

Its easy to see why GM has too many brands. Back in GMs heyday, i guess the 70’s and earlier, how many different car brands were for sale in the US? How many in the world? They could afford to have Pontiac, Buick, GMC, Chevy, Cadillac, etc… even adding Saturn was initially ok.

But look at Edmunds now to see just how many brands are on sale now: 48. That is way too many choices in one market. Whenever this happens in any industry, attrition and consolidation occur. GM has to consolidate some brands. Some brands will go under. Others will go under soon, as we see Hummer going and Saab possibly. Daewoo disappeared a few years ago. China decided not to even enter. Isuzu is now gone. Oldmobile. Plymouth. I don’t see Mercury or Scion lasting. And others like Jaguar, Rover, Mazda, Mitsubishi have been on the brink of collapse so many times.

We have a way to go I think before this is all settled.

Well I have mine ..
Pontiac………> 72′ Grand Prix ‘SJ’ with a 455″, ‘SD’ motor ….. They don’t make em like that anymore.
Oldsmobile…> 48′, ‘98′ Futuramic ‘Fastback’ Coupe.
Saturn……….> Guess I better go by the ‘Sky’

20 years without a profit from Saturn. That tells you something about the business acumen of the folks involved on that project and the GM board of directors.

calm down Kallen you crazy ****, the Sky rides on the same Kappe platform and runs the same 2.4L and 2.0L T engines, they are essentially copies of one another, and the solstice concept hit long before the sky ever did

i just hope they find other ways to bring us opels… i love opels

Son of a B. I liked the old Saturns, the Saturn-Saturns, not the Opel Saturns. The plastic (no dent) ones that got 40 mpg. What a shame, but, if they’ve never made a dime, that’s not good business.

Can I go get an Aura cheap now?

Suck it NMOFGM. This is a good move for GM. As people have stated, GM changed Saturn too radically and forgot what made them a successful niche player. I just wonder why GMC is still around. They only really need Buick, Caddy, Chevy (and maybe Pontiac for “high-performance”).

Packard was a great world class premium brand that had a difficult time changing from war production back to civilian production with all its plants worn out…..US should have helped them restructure….maybe we’d still have them instead of all those unAmerican brands! DeSoto was a hugh success in its early years and those ‘57 & ’58’s were absolutely beautiful. There are several Packard and DeSoto fan clubs who do indeed miss the brands. Most Packards are considered classics in every way. Real Americana is fading away fast…..!

Saturn was an experiment that went wrong, GM’s original intent was to circumvent both the UAW and the Dealer. First they built a plant in Tennesee that was non union (at least for a while) and instituted a one price system with no rebates. Sounds great until a guy with negative equity comes in to trade. Granted GM caved in to divisional preasures as far as product, those preasures came from the fact that even at the start Saturn never showed itself as a viable division. A two year kill off is pretty dang quick given contractural commtiments

I guess its two more beers tonight the normal, for my dead homies.

Well I cant say Im surprised or upset about the brands dying. More just disapointed that GM sucked balls for so long that when they finally do get it right, it is too late, the image is tarnished for a generation. And with the market as competetive as it is, with more brands and models then ever it is harder then ever to turn around said image. And all brands that are not in extremely strong economic postitions are in dire trouble today. I would put all but BMW, Porsche, VW, Ford, PSA, FIAT, Toyota and Honda in the “hope you make it through” category.

I am upset that the present world economy is becoming less and less condusive to supporting a middle class economy in developed countries. The middle classes of NA, Australia and Europe are being squeezed by the wealthy of their own countries and the emerging masses of developing countries.

zoomzoomer: they wont keep the G3, Pontiac with be a ‘lean’ niche brand, and i dont think the G3 falls under that niche they are going for… its going to be the Vibe, Solstice and G8, if they had to choose between the G3 or the G6 as a 4th car to keep, i sure as hell hope they would keep the G6.

Haha we arent doing our duty as americans and buying junk. Long live european cars!

unless this crisis ends quickly, gm will become chevy/caddy. you can say buick all you want but they are relevant in name only……china doesnt count for sales here. its baffling that a proven seller (pontiac) could just be dismissed. i understand the rebadge complaints, but with good advertising they have always been one of the top five car sellers. it appears chevy finally will have its way and be the last bully standing on the block. caddy can never be a volume seller, so that “world largest” moniker gm used the last century will be destroyed forever…..

murphy1 is correct:

Caddy passenger car and truck sales hit 180,000 in 2007 (the last of the good years). Buick sold even fewer products, Those are lower sales numbers for either Infiniti or Lexus. In the mid 1970s Cadillac offered three models: The Fleetwood Brougham (Sedan DeVille, the Coupe DeVille and the Eldorado. With those models alone Cadillac division was selling 300,000 cars per year.

DTS and STS are being discontinued after 2010. Originally Holden was to engineer a Zeta full size platform to be used by the STS replacement but GM has axed that platform. The Vette based XLR will be gone before years end. Amazingly the XLR sold no better than the Allante did back in its day.

Even GM must have doubts on the value of its prestige line when it starts taking its unique platforms away.

New SRX is not Sigma II based but a rebadged Chevy Equinox (Theta platform)

Chevy in 2007 sold something on the order of 875,000 passenger cars per year so they are still pretty large.

Could it be that Caddy and Buick will merge into some sort of GM premium line with the Caddy name on the luxury passenger cars the Buick name on Luxury Crossovers and Corvette doing high-end specialty sports cars?

gugy ur gay

idrinorbarsaku, ur the idiot and u obviously don’t know what rebadged means cuz its not a rebadged Pontiac!!

Andy, i know they run on the same platform but i wouldn’t really call them copies of 1 another….

I hate to see any car brand go down. but i thing the saturn should have been killed before oldsmobile.

Let’s see…

Make a decent car (mechanically), and put on a plastic body that never rusts, fades, dents, or peels paint. Then let GM completely take over the brand, change all the “unique” style vehicles and make them match existing Chevy, Pontiac, and Buick models (even remove the Saturn badge and put a standard GM logo instead) – oh, and while your at it, make them out of metal just like their other GM counterparts…

…and GM executives wonder why Saturn sales haven’t improved in the last few years????

Every loyal Saturn owner (like myself) bought the darn things because they WERE unique and plastic. I had a 1997 SL2 that I drove until just this past Dec 2008. It still looked like new everytime I took it thru the wash (no rust, no door dings, no fading). No one is saying it was perfect, but see how many 1997 Dodge Neons or Chevy Cavaliers you could find that you could say the same thing about after 12 years on Ohio roads and snow.

I simply love how most of the ads in the sidebar are for Pontiac and Saturn vehicles. GM sure has its priorities straight. Whya re they advertising for a brand they are about to kill? Wait… its GM…

^great observation. I second that.

Saturn lover,
I have an 02, S2, 3 door, std. tran. with 100K miles. I got 42.6 MPG, If I stay under 70 I’ll get 40MPG and you are trying to make one, you already have one, HELLO. THE BEST CAR EVER BUILT.

Saturn, same here. I have an ‘02 SL-1 with a 5-speed and I routinely get 40+ mpg, to a high of 44 on a 55 mph highway (going 60). 41 mpg going 70 every day of the week. It’s a GREAT car and have only had the starter go out and it’s got 160,000 miles on it. And, smooth, with no door dings. I love it.

Sad.
GM blew the mission on both divisions

andy.. I agree with your sentiments about the G6. The logical solution would be to keep Pontiac in Buick/GMC showrooms to offer a few niche products that neither of the other brands have, such as the Vibe, Solstice and G8.. but instead of making the Opel Insignia a G6 replacement, they’re now planning to market it as a Buick Regal, causing the very same wasteful overlap with the similar LaCrosse that the Century and Regal had for years.

HI, I read about Saturn and Pontiac going. I had cars from the big 3 and they are very similar, what they need is to improve quality, Everything is so cheap that they give problems too soon. I bought a Saturn SL1. in 2001 and the car’s quality is very cheap, no problems at this time and great gas milage.
In my opinion domestics had to improve the quality to compete with the japanese brands but they had their chance and now are in serius problems.

My first car was a Pontiac and my recent one is Pontiac; It is a great car. Pontiac sold many Sunbirds during its years and then sold the many Sunfires which is the substitution of Sunbird. This were the time when the company was at its peak. Pontiac screwed every thing up when they changed Sunfire for G5, GrandAm for G6, and Grand Prix for G8. These car were not to be replaced because they sold very well. This is one mistake in my opinion. Second, when the gas started raising people were buying cars that were economical and that will consume less gas… bam, Pontiac( GM) never worked with the issue, and when they did, other cars were sold. Last, where are the performance( Muscle) cars? People liked a lot the Trans Am. Its dead. How about a SS GTO, not sold any more. They had a coll edition recently, but nothing else. I think GM needs a reconstruction stating from the president. Last thing I really want to say is, buy American cars this prevents unemployment and at the time it helps U.S. economy.