The renewed hopes of Saturn for a life without General Motors were dashed today with the announcement by the Penske Automotive Group that it has canceled plans to acquire the division. The decision appears to mean the end for Saturn.
Penske says it had an agreement to source vehicles from another automaker to sell under the Saturn brand, but that the automaker's board rejected the deal.
“Without that agreement,” Penske Automotive said in its statement announcing the decision, “the risks and uncertainties related to the availability of future products prohibit" moving ahead with the deal.
A statement from GM said, “This is very disappointing news and comes after months of hard work by hundreds of dedicated employees and Saturn retailers who tried to make the new Saturn a reality. We will be winding down the Saturn brand and dealership network.”
The failure of the Penske deal is a blow to the plans for General Motors to recover from bankruptcy, which included sale of three of its brands and shutting down the Pontiac brand.