Off to car heaven: Saturn, Saab, Hummer (and Pontiac)

Off to car heaven: Saturn, Saab, Hummer (and Pontiac)

blogs.moneycentral.msn.com

Say goodbye to Saturn. And Saab and Hummer, for that matter. Pontiac, too, for all intents and purposes.
Unless buyers (a few million of us -- or maybe just a couple of really adventurous billionaires) step forward, three of General Motors’ eight brands are now destined to join Oldsmobile in the history books. A fourth will be relegated to “niche” status, says GM.

(visit the link for the full news article)

I hate to see Saturn go. I remember when the company first started, before they were bought out by GM. They were the diffferent car company that marketed themself as not hasseling the customer and making different kinds of cars. They did manage to produce some nice looking cars that performed fairly well, but I guess this is the price of the bad economy. As for GM, years and years of poor money management, bad business practices, HORRID product quality and kow-towing to the UAW finally caught up with it.

As for Hummer, I say good riddance to bad rubbish.

blogs.moneycentral.msn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 18-2-2009 by sos37]

Hummer never should have come into existence. Pontiac should have stopped decades ago. I was always surprised that Saturn was doing as well as it was.
I really like Saab though in recent years it has been clear that those in charge didnt care about the make.

Originally posted by sos37

I hate to see Saturn go. I remember when the company first started, before they were bought out by GM. They were the diffferent car company that marketed themself as not hasseling the customer and making different kinds of cars. They did manage to produce some nice looking cars that performed fairly well, but I guess this is the price of the bad economy. As for GM, years and years of poor money management, bad business practices, HORRID product quality and kow-towing to the UAW finally caught up with it.

As for Hummer, I say good riddance to bad rubbish.

blogs.moneycentral.msn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 18-2-2009 by sos37]

Saturn wasn't bought by GM, it was a joint partnership between Toyota and GM...I thought they had already sold Hummer...in fact, I know they did.

If anyone gets nostalgic about the overhyped Hummer, just buy a 1970s-era Dodge Charger or other old muscle car. Same lousy gas mileage but more looks of admiration. Any fans out there?

As you might not be aware of, the SAAB-issue is major news here in Sweden.
Thousands of jobs will be lost in the SAAB car manufacturing plants. Countless others will be lost as suppliers of materials will go out of business. In turn, this will make the vortex grow larger since unemployement causes so many other aspects of the economy to decline...

This is one of the largest lay-offs in Swedish history. It is all over the news, morning news shows, economic news, local news...everywhere all the time. To be fully honest, I am growing pretty tired of it.

I will give you my thoughs here:

Sad thing this whole deal, sure. But anyone, at least a little aware of macro-economics know what is happening. This is just one step down the staircase. If you can't see this coming, you better start removing the blind fold, un-fixing your stare from feet-level and smell the air of today.

Like this lady who has been working at SAAB's biggest plant in Trollhättan for the last 35 years; she was really upset and asked for our government to step in and "save" SAAB.
I'll tell you what is wrong with that:

1. Too bad for you lady, but if you work at the same place for 35 god damn years, basing your entire existance on that life...I can not understand how the hell one could avoid noticing this thing coming your way yeeeaars ahead. That is bad, bad judgement skills. It can almost be labeled "irresponsible".

2. No, no, NO! Our government must NOT step in, not in any way! Leave it be! I am sorry, but SAAB makes crappy cars, at least compared to what they cost, and the business has not gone with profit for the last 15 years or so, and after that it has gone with loss after loss after loss...
I mean, the moment it got sold to GM, one should just know that things did not seem to head in the right direction.
If our government bails SAAB out, with my tax money... I'll give them my passport and say; "no thanks. I will not play ball anymore".

Yeah, it's a tragedy, and yes, this country will face a worsening economic crisis from now on...but hey, who isn't stuck in this mess?

Let SAAB die. To bad they did not end when the ending was good. That was 15 years ago. We do not live in some plan-economic, communist society! We comply to the rules of supply and demand! No demand, no supply. Veeeery easy.

Geez!

We live in globalize world... this is BS... it only to make sorry for the big 3. They are incompetent in the business world and so they most go away.
The other automakers will feel the gap of failed company. they will hire ex-employers of this companies to build cars that the population need. So what's the big deal?

And let's be honest... the big auto makers are ALL open company. you can buy share from them anytime you want. Big corporations don't have nation. there are owners all around the globe.

Good riddance. Now get rid of that murder machine corvette and all the
other "sports-cars" that only psychopaths buy.

reply to post by Make Speed Limit 45


Were you molested by a drunk driver going over the speed limit in something with more horsepower than a toddler on a Big Wheel? The only time I ever see you in any thread is when you're either whining about people driving too fast, whining about people who enjoy an alcoholic drink here or there, or whining about anyone driving anything with the slightest bit of torque to it.

My wife drives a Saturn. I'd like to say I'll be sorry to see them go, but all the busted knuckles and sliced up forearms I've gotten from trying to do simple mechanic work on that tiny POS make me think different. I'd have mourned the loss of Hummer prior to December when my brilliant neighbor almost took out my Cherokee coming up a snowpacked hill behind him... moron put street slick 12s and spinners on an H2 and then couldn't grasp the fact that the beast was no longer able to be safely driven in the winter. As he came down the hill sideways at me, forcing me to slam into reverse, go over the sidewalk, and then dig myself out of the 5 feet of snow in the ditch, he smiled and gave the "oops" shrug to me through his window. Thankfully, as he slid past, his window was open and he was looking right at me as he got a double barreled middle finger salute and clearly heard me question his sexual orientation, intelligence level, parentage, possible sexual relations with his own mother, and some plain old gibberish that only a seriously angry redneck can properly express. After that, I hope Hummer closes down AND parts for the thing will immediately be impossible to find anywhere, including filters.

Kinda sad: ( When i was 17, in 1992, my parents had bought a 1991 saturn, form local dealer. Only had like 30 miles on it. It was a fun smooth car to drive! Its body was weak as all hell, total fiberglass. I remember the sales guy thier, he was really cool, jumping up n down on a sample door shoing us it was collision proof. HE also told my dad about which oil fitlers he thoguht were the best, the ones that had the correct anti drain back valve loctation I do remember the engine being placed in the car sideways it seems, knida like a toyato eninge. Always thought that was odd, but nonetheless, it was a fun car to drive

Sucks to hear. At least Pontiac will stay around, sorta. I like Pontiac. I own a Grand Prix, which I love, it's a great car.

Hummers should have gotten the chopping block long ago, as I see them as the most worthless vehicles around. All it is, is a Suburban on steroids.

Saturns are GM's Ford Escort. Get it cheap, drive it till it pukes, and be done with it.

Saab? Well, I don't know enough about them to comment.

The layoffs however, are going to hurt the most. It's not going to only affect the manufacturing plants, it will ripple all the way down to the local dealers, and parts stores.

reply to post by Mekanic


Hummer is simply the civilian version of the jeep GM builds for the army.

I was at the Toronto Auto Show this past weekend.

The ominous feeling that the companies are in dire straights couldn't be avoided. Where past auto shows focused on the art and power in their vehicles designs, this auto show had a overlying theme of a different sorts.

They focused on telling the patrons about the workers and the families involved and dependent on the production of these cars. Referring to them as family quite frequently, and making sure the patrons understood that these families rely on us to continue purchasing vehicles.

It's not the type of rhetoric I was used to at auto shows.

The companies are indeed focusing on alternative technologies now, but I got the feeling they were doing it out of desperation rather than will.


Of course they attempted to mask their fears, but nevertheless, the feeling of desperation was unshakable.

Originally posted by Anonymous ATS
reply to post by Mekanic

 

Hummer is simply the civilian version of the jeep GM builds for the army.

Actually thats not correct. They only build reworked versions of GMC trucks now for Civilian use. The H1 is no longer made for the general public.

My second car was a 1964 Pontiac GTO. 4 spd, tri power, posi traction.

GTO by Ronnie and the Daytonas




One of my favorite spoofs was this 1984 VW Rabbit GTI spoofs using the GOT song

reply to post by Raud



In understand that 50% used to be owned by the wallenberg family is there a possibility they can buy that back[although for a much lesser price?IMO i think the government should otherwise, that brand is an institute and your government has a surplus in the balance[of payments]
Cant those people also work at other Scania or aircraft plants?
It really saddens me to see this brand go[if so], I really like the new 95 series, not to mention the AeroX



[edit on 18-2-2009 by Foppezao]

Too bad. Saab makes some great cars and for affordable prices. They make BMW-like cars for half the price.

It would be a shame to see them go.

Originally posted by burdman30ott6


Were you molested by a drunk driver going over the speed limit in something with more horsepower than a toddler on a Big Wheel? The only time I ever see you in any thread is when you're either whining about people driving too fast, whining about people who enjoy an alcoholic drink here or there, or whining about anyone driving anything with the slightest bit of torque to it.

Criminal driving is by far the biggest crime problem we have, and the most correctable. Most americans can't see that because they've been brainwashed by the media and auto industry into thinking speeding and drunk driving and red light running and cell-phone-driving are cool and if you kill someone, it doesn't count!!!

The auto industry wants more car crashes. They make a fortune off car crashes.

reply to post by Make Speed Limit 45


Have you ever been to Europe? Lowering the speed limit won't change anything, and I can't even see how you could crack down on DUI's more without ruining innocent people's lives.

What are you on such a crusade for?

Will this make my Solstice a classic before 20 yrs pass?

That would be a plus for me.

But seriously, if all the big 3 ended up merged, and started building cars that were really top of the line for a reasonable price, it would be a good thing in the end.

cheap parts inside and outside for ridiculous 5 figure prices for our autos has got to stop