The Wall Street Journal reports that GM is in talks with Renault over the future of the Saturn dealer network. GM has already given up on the possibility of receiving any kind of cash consideration for Saturn; a deal with Renault would see Saturn essentially handed over to the French firm. According to the WSJ, Renault is considering Saturn as an American-market brand for its Renault and Samsung Motors products. Why Renault wants to compete with its sister-firm, Nissan, in that brand’s biggest market isn’t immediately apparent. Maybe Ghosn doesn’t like Marchionne hogging the spotlight. Meanwhile, Chinese automaker Geely has submitted a bid for GM’s Saab “division” (it’s more at brigade strength currently). Unfortunately, nobody is sure if this bid is for real or if it’s just a gambit to pressure Ford into accepting Geely’s Volvo bid. Or maybe Geely has just fallen for all things Swedish. We’re told to expect a Saab deal in “early summer,” and with bankruptcy looming, look for Saturn to be offloaded post-haste as well. (Thanks to rod panhard and Mr Sparky for the tip.)
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French Saturns and Italian Chryslers… What a strange automotive time indeed.
Heck, once Fiat ends up with Chrysler and Renault with Saturn, we can merge those two and recreate the Chrysler/AMC marriage of the 80s! (I knew the 80’s would come back in style.)
Fortunately for Renault, Saturn Ions paved the way for Saturn owners love of strange little cars.
Bring on the Saturn Vel Satis! :)
Considering Geely is smaller than even Saab in terms of production volume, I don’t think Volvo is a possibility for them.
It has also been reported at a few Saab sites that of the so-called serious candidates the Koenigsegg/Power Circle/Norwegian government group is the most favoured option within Saab management and unions.
We will know soon.
Nobody has any money.
Nissan just went back to the Japan Development Bank for more money, 100 billion yen this time. So Renault is going to buy Saturn with Japanese Govt Money, or are they going to borrow it from the French Govt.?
This is going to be great. The crappiest cars in the US in the 60s are returning.
I wonder for how long?
A renault/saturn tie up would actually make sense, in a sick and twisted sort of way. Renault is still a tarnished brand in the US (as is Fiat), but they can’t afford to continue to ignore the market any longer. (yeah, yeah, they have Nissan, but Nissan is making some very poor decisions) As long as they’re priced right, Renault-based Saturns would do pretty damn well.
On another note, as odd as it sounds, I wish I had the capability to purchase a Saturn while they’re still around. My family has owned five saturns (two of which currently sit in my parents’ garage, and another of which now belongs to my older sister), and I was hoping to make an Astra my first new car purchase.
Wasn’t the last Renault car sold in the US the Fuego????
The Megane wagon looks good!
Considering that Saturn has never made a profit, and the precedent has been established of “Giving Away An American Car Company For Free” (see Chrysler-Fiat deal) then Renault is likely to get Saturn for the price of “Showing Up.”
The problem with the Chrysler-Fiat deal is “no product in the Chrysler pipeline and no Fiats are deemed roadworthy for the U.S.”
Renault/Nissan/Saturn/Samsung doesn’t have that problem. Renault could badge engineer Nissan products (and many are built in Tennessee, just like Saturn is or was) and once the Renault or Samsung products become “safe” and “clean-smelling,” then they’re good to go.
When I think of all the people I know who have bought Saturns, I can definitely visualize them driving Sat-Ren-Sungs. They’re not “car people.” They’re quasi-creative types who are into conflict avoidance (price you see is what you pay.)
It’s a best-case scenario for Saturn.
Now for Saab? Hey, whatever. I think it’s the same sort of deal. Anybody who can show up can have ’em. I still wonder what happens when you take European tooling and designs, export the whole shebang to China, and use Chinese-made steel and materials to build it. Will it still crash out like a EU or US car? Or will you wish you were driving a concrete barrier instead of a car?
Saturn Avantime!!!!!!
I am excited at the possibility of more Euro-cars making it to the states. Hatchbacks, small wagons, small vans and the like are all over the place in Europe. So far, GM and Ford’s efforts to bring these here have been half hearted at best. Ford seems on a path to change that, but we shall see.
Renault could give Ford’s roll out of the Transit Connect a run for the money with Renault’s line up: http://www.renault.co.uk/vans/range.aspx
The Megane wagon would look good in my garage:
http://www.renault.co.uk/cars/model/meganesporttourer/product.aspx
Whether or not the fickle US public would buy enough fun, practical and efficient vehicles to support such an effort is a BIG open question.
Another weird thing is that the present Chrysler/Fiat tie-up looks a whole lot like the Renault/AMC tie-up which went down in flames a few decades ago.
Hmmm, I know that Renault-Samsung in South Korean (with which the US is soon to have a free-trade auto agreement if it isn’t already in place) car lines were moving away from Nissan technology towards more Renault technology (God only knows why…) but as of now, their cars still use Nissan technology with slightly different sheetmetal.
Might work for Saturn.
What about Roger Penske’s offer to buy Saturn (i.e. the dealer network and rights to the name)?
Wonder if he’d bring in Opels (built by Magna-funded-by-Russian-GAZ)?
Reminds me of an old musical chairs game we played when I was a boy….
I really think that once Saab is free of GM, it has the potential to recapture its former glory as a semi-luxury, quirky kinda sporty automaker.
It’s interesting to see Audi’s new marketing approach – i.e. mocking the ubiquity of Lexus, BMW etc. I can see Saab filling a similar niche.
A little bit of Luxury and performance with a quirky edge to it, different from BMW.
No more Saab Trailblazers, Saabarus etc. would be a good start.
I believe the Versa and the Sentra are Renaults. It could work, as Nissan USA has already federalized them.
The only question is why go after Saturn, which is just a dealership network. Isn’t the real deal to get the Federal Government to give you GM.
It’s got a snowball’s chance in hell of actually coming here, but the new Laguna Coupe is very sexy. But otherwise, there’s not really much to be hopeful for out of this *ahem* alliance.
I believe the Versa and the Sentra are Renaults. It could work, as Nissan USA has already federalized them.
They share platforms, but they’re not direct rebadges any more than the Maxima is a rebadge of the Altima.
On that note, I was hoping Nissan would bring over the Vel Satis as the next Maxima. What with the Altima being, effecively, the traditional Maxima and the G35 squeezing in from above I didn’t see much hope for it in it’s current form.
And the Vel Satis is just so lovingly bizarre.
Brilliant commercial, pure entertainment!