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Fox News reports that GM has confirmed Roger Penske’s decision to pull Saturn from the Canadian market. Saturn’s 46 remaining Canadian dealers sold 18,726 vehicles last year. According to GM, “a business case could not be made” to keep Saturn operating in Canada. Sorry Canucks, but there will be no Renault/Samsung loving for you.
Canadian dealers sold 18,726 vehicles last year.
Isn’t that like 50% of the total?
So that’s the new SM3, eh? Pretty nice looking.
Given that South Korea and the United States signed a free-auto-trade pact (which I believe went through), that means no tariffs on imports, too.
Plus, unlike Hyundai, Kia and Ssangyong, Renault-Samsung’s operations aren’t constantly hampered by striking South Korean workers.
So will the SM3 come onboard ships soon, and be sold as the new Saturn (fill in the name for the new car)? I don’t this car would replace the Aura; it’s about the size of a Corolla and is 4 cylinder only. The SM5 is about the size of the Aura, I believe.
I’m going to guess this rig will be the first car to arrive in the states, followed by the SM5, SUV (don’t know the name) then SM7.
Nissan drivetrains (with US emission testing already done) will drop right in….
Unfortunately this probably means CVT autoboxes.
So, what does that leave the Canadian Saturn dealers selling – Saab’s and used cars?
The one and only time I set foot in a Saturn dealer in the GTA was after the wife and I dumped the kids on a Sat afternoon – as she wanted to look at a Saturn Sky (don’t start, I couldn’t talk her out of this crazy infatuation).
As per standard operating procedure, a couple fitting the demographic for a Sky, got ignored for 20 minutes in the showroom – only after I started pulling out the doughnut tire and resting it up against the reception desk.
“No, we don’t do test drives”, “We require a $500 good faith check before talking price on any Sky” so, after an hour we left.
And that is as close to buying a GM as we’ve come in the past 8 years…….
menno: Yep, and the new Renault Megane-replacing “Fluence” as well.
Looks like Renault-Samsung’s name for their SUV is the QM5, as seen here:
http://wot.motortrend.com/6516241/we-hear/report-penske-looking-to-sell-korean-made-samsung-cars-via-saturn-dealerships/photo_01.html
The SM5 mid-sized car may be seen here:
http://wot.motortrend.com/6516241/we-hear/report-penske-looking-to-sell-korean-made-samsung-cars-via-saturn-dealerships/photo_04.html
Actually if they can stuff a V6 under the hood of the SM5, I doubt the SM7 will arrive in the states, but I may be wrong.
If Hyundai can sell Genesis luxury cars….
Here’s the SM7
http://wot.motortrend.com/6516241/we-hear/report-penske-looking-to-sell-korean-made-samsung-cars-via-saturn-dealerships/photo_03.html
Given that rumor has it that the SM3 based Fluence is going to be one of the first electric powered mass-production sedans available for sale, is it too much of a leap to think that the different front clip will enable Saturn to offer the EV2? (My name for it).
http://www.renault.com/en/Vehicules/Pages/Renault_Fluence.aspx?initCO2=239
Ironic considering I found the following recent Saturn marketing slogans on Wikipedia
US: “We’re Still Here.”
Canada: “Rethink.”
To MikeInCanada: sorry to hear of your close call with GM. Glad it turned out well though.
More business for Ford and Chevy, I guess.
So, what does that leave the Canadian Saturn dealers selling
I think the answer to that, in the not too distant future at least, is nothing. They will pack it in.
Imagine the misery…most of the Saturn dealers here were Saturn-SAAB-Isuzu.
I like the way the Sky looks, my neighbour has one. However the interior is a living hell for someone 6’4″.
As for the dealership experience, well, you can wave goodbye to them on their last day. They should have been showering you with rose petals.
Penske may have the idea of stripping Saturn down to a skeleton and rebuilding the muscle slowly. Might not be a bad way to go.
MikeinCanada: Are you sure that you were at a Saturn dealership? The Saturn Sky does NOT have a spare tire, it has an inflator kit instead.
I have been considering buying an Astra as the discounts have increased in the last year. I’d like a sporty hatch back that gets good fuel mileage, and at the current price it’s a bargain compared to Mazda3s. But…
Parts? Opel?
Dealership? Going down.
Brand? Dead in Canada.
Now I’ll keep driving the SVT for another year or two and hope that the VW GTD comes to Canada – if I can summon the courage to risk VW’s reliability reputation.
It still just blows me away that Roger Penske got himself into this mess.
Are you sure that you were at a Saturn dealership? The Saturn Sky does NOT have a spare tire, it has an inflator kit instead.
It would be more accurate to say “the Saturn Sky left the FACTORY with an inflator kit”. Many dealerships toss in a donut tire (with a corresponding markup to the sticker) as soon as the car arrives, to appease customers that demand their vehicle include an actual spare.
Re theo :
There’s an ‘inflater kit’? Is that like the cigarette lighter electric pump I bought at Canadian Tire for $19.99 for blowing up the kids toys for above ground pool party?
There was a tire (sic) in there… and room for absolutely nothing else.
Although we weren’t looking for at them, we could not help but overhear the sales staff treating would be Saab customers with the same ‘douche-iness’ that you would find at a BMW dealership.
At least they caught up to the Europeans in one metric.
Good riddance to the local Saturn dealer here. They are by far the most unpleasant high-pressure dealer we have. They live up to just about every negative dealer stereotype you can name.
No wonder I’ve never understand all the Saturn marketing about their better dealer experience.
My local “Saturn” experience with many SAAB’s over the years has been just sickening, from total incompetence and outright lying, to my wife leaving the store in tears, GM never gave a dam what it’s Dealers did to customers….I pray to God that our local Caddy Dealer will be forced to provide SAAB service now…..I have to go now and roll around their parking lot and laugh…mmmm, wonder how cheap I can get one of those left over 08’s now….????
Sorry Canucks, but there will be no Renault/Samsung loving for you.
That’s surprising. Canadians are usually more amenable to this sort of thing.
Hey, Mr Penske? Kill several birds with one stone, and offer up a “Canada only” brand.
How about “Beaumont”? You could sign on the 30 or so Saturn dealers as a starting point, then add the disenfranchised Pontiac dealers in open points if they’d play ball….
Then bring in the already badge-engineered and ready for North America Saturns / Renault-Samsungs….
OK I’m being tongue-in-cheek. I suspect I know why Canada’s being shown the door by Penske.
5mph bumpers required instead of 2.5 mph bumpers.
(Most euro-spec and international-spec cars are 2.5 compliant and it’s a hassle to engineer 5mph bumpers on cars not intended for them originally)
Those stupid permanent daytime headlamps.
Trouble is, I live in Michigan.
Let’s say I decide to replace my Prius with a Saturn at some point in the future, then drive on vacation to Canada.
If the car breaks down, who’s going to fix it?
A spare tire will NOT fit in that trunk, even the smaller “temporary-use” type as the fuel tank takes up most of the space. Are you certain that it wasn’t a glazed donut instead?
menno,
if I’m not mistaking Canada no longer requires 8kph bumpers.
‘Despite opposition from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Canada has harmonized its bumper safety standards with European and United States standards. Specifically, section 215 of the Motor Vehicle Safety Regulations will be replaced with the following:
215. (1) A passenger car shall be equipped with bumpers that conform to either
(a) the requirements set out in paragraph 6, and the low-speed-impact test procedure set out in Annex 3, except for paragraph 4 of that Annex, of ECE Regulation No. 42 — Uniform Provisions Concerning the Approval of Vehicles with regard to Their Front and Rear Protective Devices (Bumpers, etc.), in the version dated June 12, 2007, as amended after that date by any amendment in the 00 series of amendments; or
(b) the requirements, conditions and test procedures set out in title 49, part 581 of the Code of Federal Regulations of the United States (revised as of October 1, 2006).
I couldn’t edit my above comment – my editing was marked as SPAM (thanks TTAC!). But here’s link to Canadian government website: http://www.tc.gc.ca/mediaroom/releases/nat/2008/08-h090e.htm
This just leaves the field wide open for Magna Opel to establish the Opel brand to Canada.
“We require a $500 good faith check before talking price on any Sky”.
A local Subaru dealer tried the same nonsense on us 11 years ago when we were shopping for a Legacy wagon. The other two Subaru dealers in town were more sensible and we bought from one of them.
The way to handle this sort of thing is to tell the salesman that his isn’t the only dealership and that you intend to continue shopping until you find a dealer that actually wants your business.
MikeInCanada :
August 31st, 2009 at 1:07 pm
As per standard operating procedure, a couple fitting the demographic for a Sky, got ignored for 20 minutes in the showroom – only after I started pulling out the doughnut tire and resting it up against the reception desk.
“No, we don’t do test drives”, “We require a $500 good faith check before talking price on any Sky” so, after an hour we left.
This is one of the biggest reasons for GM’s failure.
I had a very similar experience with a P/B/G dealer and then less than a week later with a Saturn dealer. Mrs. Monty vowed never to visit a GM dealer again. I couldn’t even get a price for a Vibe from the P/B/G salesman without tendering an offer. Essentially they wanted me to commit to purchasing without knowing the price. By then end of the ordeal the salesman, finance manager and sales manager were all in the office exerting immense pressure on us to conclude the sale, and not once would they give us the price of the car.
The Saturn saleswoman outright lied about the Vue, telling us it was class leading, and obfuscating about the fact that it had a Honda engine. She totally denied it, then to add insult to injury claimed that the Vue had better interior space than our Voyager van. Even after I explained to her about the amount of research I had conducted prior to test driving any vehicles she still continued with her claims.
GM essentially lost us as a future customer, along with my son and the rest of our family. Not only did they lose a sale, and the service etc., it eliminated GM from consideration for the next several potential sales (between us, my son, my FiL and BiL, we have since purchased six new vehicles).
I won’t mourn the loss of any GM dealer, or even an entire sales channel. I can go to my local Hyundai, Ford or Kia dealer and receive far better customer service.
Where does it leave them? To sell bikes apparently. The “Collins Family of Dealers” here in London used to be Suzuki (cars and bikes), Saturn, Isuzu and Saab. Within the next year, they’ll be Suzuki only. Can’t imagine that works too well for them.
Not sure why Penske bought into this–I’m thinking a Cerberus-style deal where he just tries desperately to turn a profit over the next few years, then sells it off.