The good news: Saturns will remain in production until 2012 or 2013... at least. The bad news: the Saturns currently being produced might not get any new updates or engineering before then. That's the bitter and the sweet that GM revealed to Saturn dealers at the NADA conference.
On the warm, fuzzy side of things, dealers are -- for the moment -- just happy to hear that Saturn isn't "going away in 30 days." While on the cold, dark side of reality it's clear that GM doesn't have much money, doesn't know how much it's ultimately going to get in loans, and can't fully fund all of its brands. That means that refreshing and re-engineering the current offerings might have to wait until the crystal ball is a little clearer.
It also means that Saturn could still be killed, it simply won't happen for another three or four years. Saturn's general manager said the brand's future should be known in the next three or four weeks and that the prime directive of the future will be to operate with a profitable business model, which has only happened once in Saturn's 20 years.
[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req.]
On the warm, fuzzy side of things, dealers are -- for the moment -- just happy to hear that Saturn isn't "going away in 30 days." While on the cold, dark side of reality it's clear that GM doesn't have much money, doesn't know how much it's ultimately going to get in loans, and can't fully fund all of its brands. That means that refreshing and re-engineering the current offerings might have to wait until the crystal ball is a little clearer.
It also means that Saturn could still be killed, it simply won't happen for another three or four years. Saturn's general manager said the brand's future should be known in the next three or four weeks and that the prime directive of the future will be to operate with a profitable business model, which has only happened once in Saturn's 20 years.
[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req.]
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