GM Plans to Eliminate Saab, Saturn, Hummer and Shrink Pontiac

[Blue_Tires]

Source: U.S. News and World Report

Faced with an urgent need to restructure in order to survive, America's largest automaker plans to eliminate three of its brands quickly and shrink a fourth to become a niche brand that will make only a handful of low-volume models.

In a restructuring plan submitted to the federal government yesterday, the automaker announced that it "has committed to focus its resources primarily on its core brands: Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC. Of the remaining brands, Pontiac -- which is part of the Buick-Pontiac-GMC retail channel -- will be a highly focused niche brand."

Hummer and Saab, both of which are typically sold through stand-alone dealerships, "are subject to ‘strategic reviews', including their potential sale."

The company plans to make a final decision on whether to sell or eliminate Hummer by the end of March. The Financial Times notes, "GM said that it was still talking to some potential buyers but that, if these negotiations come to naught, the brand will be phased out. Hummer's US sales have plummeted in recent years, but GM has found sizeable markets abroad, including in the Middle East and Russia."

GM is reportedly in negotiations with the Swedish government about the future of Saab. CNN Money reports that GM "said Tuesday its Saab subsidiary could be forced to file for reorganization as early as this month if the U.S. auto maker and the Swedish government can't come to terms on financial support for the unit. GM, as part of a revamped restructuring plan presented to the federal government to qualify for billions of dollars in government aid, said that it has proposed to effectively cap its financial support for Saab, with the Swedish brand becoming an independent entity by the start of 2010."



Read more: http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/daily-news/090218-GM-Plans-to-Eliminate-Saab-Saturn-Hummer-and-Shrink-Pontiac/

---

sad times indeed...I had a special place in my heart for Pontiac

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

1. I love Saabs

Oh wait, I see they're going back to being Swedish. I'm down with that.

[WriteDown]

4. You know why they call them Saab's?

Because that's what you do when you get the repair bill.(At least when they were Swedish). An oldie but a goodie :).

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

6. Mine's holding up pretty well

*knock wood*

[WriteDown]

7. I used to like them in the 80's

but the basic maintenance costs were through the roof. Even simple things like oil filters were like quadruple the cost of American makes.

[likesmountains 52]

28. no kidding..how about $600 for a windshield wiper transmission! And I think

that was the lowest repair bill I ever had. It was a sweet car though.

[WriteDown]

36. Ha...

Yep. I remember something like a 60(or was it 90) dollar bill for an oil filter. Of course that was 20 odd years ago.

[Oregone]

38. Unless you repair them yourself.

There is great online help for this.

[Submariner]

20. Whatcha got against the Swedish

:hide:

[kirby]

2. Confusing title...

"GM Plans to Eliminate Saab, Saturn, Hummer and Shrink Pontiac"

whereas article says...

"Hummer and Saab, both of which are typically sold through stand-alone dealerships, "are subject to ‘strategic reviews', including their potential sale."

Funny how keeping that god aweful Hummer is even an option. Even if only from a PR standpoint it should be ditched.

[Blue_Tires]

3. Saab will probably survive on its own...

Hummer probably won't...Some Middle Easters/Asian company were interested in buying the name to slap it on an even shittier truck...But Saturn will definitely die, and while the best Pontiac can hope for is to be a narow niche vehicle sold through Chevrolet dealers, i think...

[lithiumbomb]

29. doubtful

Both of the cars that they currently make are based on Opels. They'll have to partner with someone else to share engineering costs or dissolve themselves.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

69. Not necessarily.

They could always license the platform from GM, at least until they can replace it with something that isn't made from glue and cheese.

[ContraBass Black]

5. What about Subaru?

Do they not own it anymore?

[Blue_Tires]

8. GM sold their piece a couple years back

[sinkingfeeling]

9. Sad indeed. I love my 1999 Saturn and adored the process of buying and maintaining it at the local

Saturn dealership.

[A Brand New World]

10. I absolutely LOVE my 2001 Saturn. Best car ever. I'm definitely

upset as that is all I planned to buy in the future.

[WoodrowFan]

11. We have 2

We have 2 Saturns (inlcuding a Green Vue hybrid). love them both. damit.

[Dulcinea]

13. Sign the Keep Saturn petition:

http://www.saturnfans.com/petition-tell-general-motors-keep-saturn

I too loved my 1997 Saturn. I would happily buy another one.

[sinkingfeeling]

18. Done. Thanks for posting the petition.

[poverlay]

46. My '94 Saturn still going strong. It is a GREAT CAR, and a more flexible division than anything

else GM has. Oh I see, that's why they're getting rid of it. It was TOO good.

Bastards

[snooper2]

47. My '94 Saturn died in 2003

112,000 miles- transmission was slipping then blown head gasket...

dumped it for $500 at an auction and picked up my current 99' S-10


Saturn has a very poor fit-n-finish, and are cheaply put togther. ( Jump in you car right now and see if you can wiggle the center console :rofl: ) I had the SC2 so the pop-up headlights were always cool, and the "performance" switch :) :rofl: 0-60 in 10 seconds

For the most part they are disposable cars....Here's the same year, model and color I had



I give Saturn two thumbs down

Good thing they understand that Pontiac can be a money maker for them in the future....

[poverlay]

49. After walking away from a 45mph head on that only cost me about a grand to repair and abusing the

hell out of that car for 15 years, I don't really care if it rattles or doesn't go 0-60 as fast as you'd prefer. That "disposable" little car has outlasted my friend's Toyotas, Jeeps, Fords, and Hyundais, and it still looks good too.

Two thumbs and big toes UP! :woohoo:

To each his own.

[MrModerate]

23. Most of the cars I've bought new over the last (howevermany years) . . .

Have been Saturns. Liked 'em a lot. Not insanely priced or overfeatured, and reasonable to maintain.

However, the last 5-6 years or so have seen a plummet in quality. I've read that they changed the whole philosophy behind design and manufacture and what they ended up with was a less-than-midrange car for more-than-midrange price.

They've killed the brand, now they just have to bury the body. Symptomatic of how the entire industry has stupided itself into near extinction.

[madrchsod]

12. i`ve owned about 25 saabs

models from 93`s to 9000...the best were the 93-96 monte carlo series. the 99-900 were`t bad and the 9000 i had was a big piece of crap.

saturn has become a hybrid of us and european gm models. pontiac should build niche cars--bring back the 72 trans am!

[alfredo]

53. Loved my Saab 96 V4.

Mine was that mousey blue that never looked anything other than utilitarian. It was fun to drive while screwed up on LSD. The front wheel drive and freewheeling made for interesting sensations. Those abandoned late night country roads passed below as the car sat still.

It was a drunk Louisville (on duty) police officer that taught me how to drive Saabs in the snow. It was a snowy Christmas eve when we met at a traffic light. He asked how I liked the car and he said he could show me how to drive it in the snow. He took us to a Kroger parking lot, moved me to the passenger seat, and he showed me how to use the emergency brake to steer. It was easy to pick up and after he felt I had it down he put me behind the wheel. It was so much fun.

[rox63]

14. Too bad - I love my Saturn :-(

I've got a 2005 Saturn Ion that has never had anything go wrong with it.

[melm00se]

15. Hummer

will become a niche brand (like they were before) for users who need a vehicle capable of going WAAAAYYYY off road:

Oil companies
Mining companies
and the like that need to go where no road has gone.

[Blue_Tires]

17. these current GM Hummers have WAY less offroad capability than

their predecessors due to its underpinnings...They tailored this current Hummer more toward the country club, suburban mom and hip-hop demographics

[Arctic Dave]

37. If we need to go off road we don't use Hummers.

Those are are for little boys. We use Tucker Terras or Rolligons. Them are big boy toys.

[CRF450]

41. My Dodge Dakota would piss on a Hummer H2 in offroad conditions.

And probably still get better fuel milage! Though mine chugs gas like a power boat when offroading... Normal driving, it averages 16 to 17mpg. That hummer H3 truck is the only decent one in the line up.

[happyslug]

54. But those are strictly off road vehicles, you need something that can do both

When I was in the Service, out unit was just getting some Humvees. They did better on the Highways then out old M325 2 1/2 ton trucks, but off road we all wanted the M35s. Why? While if you had to turn around, you could and if a small tree was in the way, while no damage to the M35 (unless the tree was to big, then it stopped the M25, but still no damage to the M35). We still had some then five to ten year old Dodge pickups the army had purchased as part of the 1970s Chrysler Bailout and every so often we had to go and haul one out of the mud with a 2 1/2 ton truck.

The M151 Jeep, which my unit still had in the 1980s, were nice to go, easy to turn around, rarely of ever was stopped by mud and in a pinch could be pushed out of most situations it could NOT be driven out of (The M151 Jeep was 2/3 to 1/2 the size of today's Jeeps, twice as big as today four wheelers, while slow on the Highway (like the 2 1/2 ton Truck) could be used on the Highway and off-road.

The Humvee, from my units review of it, was to small and to large. It could NOT haul as much as the 2 1/2 ton truck, in fact its hauling capacity was less then 1/2 the volume of the 2 1/2, through theoretically it could haul up to 2/3 of what a 2 1/2 ton could haul. Given that meant you had to split a 105mm Howitzer from its crew or ammunition, or split a 12 man infantry squad into to vehicle instead of one, it was just to small (and afterward even the Army admitted this, admitting the plan to replace the 2 1/2 ton truck with the Humvee was a failure, and designing a new 2 1/2 ton truck to finally replace the old M35s my units was still using in the 1980s and 1990s).

The Humvee is also to large. The M151 (the other major vehicle the Humvee was to replace) was light weight small could run people from one place to another quickly and did NOT take up much room and the road it operated on did not have to be wider then most goat paths (With just limited exceptions it could go almost anywhere four wheelers can take their four wheelers). The Jeep's purpose in the Military was to drive people to meetings (Generally officers to meeting with other officers), to provide other people who were NOT hauling anything a light vehicle that could go almost anywhere (In fact when the US agreed to patrol the Macedonian BOrder with Kosovo in the 1990s, the Military had to bring back the M151, for the roads in that area were to narrow for the Humvees, Jeeps could go over those glorified goat paths called roads, the Humvee could not).

The main reason the Army wanted to get rid of the Jeep was to get rid of Gasoline. Once you drop the size of a diesel engine below the size of a 300 ci Diesel, the torque get to low to effectively pull vehicles out of mud (In fact this is why most small cars had gasoline engines, better torque at low speeds). Large Diesel provide the power needed at such low speed by sheer size, thus the Humvees and M35s had enough power from their diesels, but the Jeep engine (if you wanted to keep it light enough) if you wanted it to be a diesel would be to small to provide the power needed OR if large enough you end up with a vehicle the size of a Humvee (which is what the Army opt for the Humvee, to eliminate gasoline). Now, a third option exists and experiments were made in the 1990s, but the Army and Marines (Both did the testing) dropped the idea. The idea is what we now refer to as a hybrid, i.e. an electric vehicle with a battery that is charged by a diesel engine. The Diesel can be small for it is NOT providing the power to propel the vehicles, instead it is providing electrical power to electric motors on all four wheels. Electric engines provide even better traction then four wheel drive via a conventional transmission. The US Army had experimented with such electric drive in tanks during WWII, but decided to drop them given the proven reliability of the conventional drive system used at that time (Electric drive kept coming back but given the great weight involved the research seems to die do to a lack of funding). The Hybrid tested by the Military (I can not remember if it was the Army or the Marines, I believe it was the Marines but I may be wrong) had an option of going electric only by push of a button by the operator (if a silent approach was deem needed), as long as the battery had power OR the engine was working, and electrical power was connected to as least one wheel, the vehicle could move. The engine and battery NOT needing to have a direct connection to the wheels EXCEPT by electrical cable, could be put anywhere on the Vehicle, to act as protection in case the Vehicle hit a mind (and if the Engine is knocked out you still had some battery power to get out of the situation). Furthermore since the engine would be providing no torque load just running a generator, a small diesel is all you need, it could even by smaller then the 2.3 liter engine in the M151.

More on the old M151 (Designated the M.U.T.T. while it was in the design stage, the term NEVER became common among the troops, in fact forgotten till the 1990s, long after the M151 was removed from service. The widespread use of the Term MUTT for the M151 corresponds with Chrysler take over of Jeep in the early 1990s. Unlike AMC, Chrysler is very protective of its trademarks, thus also in the 1990s Topographic maps STOPPED calling unimproved dirt road "Jeep Roads" and started to call them "4 wheel Drive Roads". Chrysler wanted the term Jeep for its exclusive use, thus it did something to get both the Federal Government (as to Topographic maps) and most commentators on the M151 to stop using the term Jeep for Jeep Roads and the M151. People being creatures of habit wanted to call the M151 something, but no longer could call it a Jeep (I suspect Chrysler sent out warning letters to anyone who used the term Jeep in reference to any vehicle other then a Chrysler or AMC Product) reveled the term MUTT:

For more on the M151:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M151_MUTT
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/m151.htm
http://www.them151mutt.com/

More on the M35:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deuce_and_a_half

[tabasco]

64. As long as there's no trees there.

Hummers don't fit between trees and most of them never go off-road.

[ElboRuum]

16. Dear GM...

Get rid of Saturn and you'll never get another dollar from me.

Besides, this is the only brand showing profit of late. Man, these jerks just do not have a right effing clue.

[FarLeftRage]

19. Same Here!

I currently own a 2007 Ion... provided that I can keep making payments and if they go the way of Edsels... then I'm f*cked.

No more or my $$$, if gm does this.

[TommyO]

22. I like the Saturn Aura much more than it's sibling, the Chevy Malibu

The car just looks better!

[blue_onyx]

25. I prefer the look of the Malibu but I like the Aura too

[blue_onyx]

24. I would prefer they keep Saturn and drop Pontiac but...

I posted this is a early thread:

I'm not sure GM is making a mistake. From what I read, Saturn has been losing money pretty much every year since it started. Many of the Saturn vehicles are almost identical to others GM products: Aura= Malibu; Outlook=Enclave,Traverse,Arcadia; Sky=Solstice. Basically that leaves the Astra which they can't sell and the Vue (the best looking SUV, IMO). They have so many 2008 Astras that GM won't produce any 2009 models. I'm not sure how the Vue is selling but that's one vehicle that could be easily given to one of the other brands. As much as I like Saturn, it may be the right decision to cut it loose.

[ElboRuum]

34. The SKY != Solstice

The SKY is much better looking, IMHO. Saturn, though, since it started to adopt Opel designs has been pretty profitable. The ASTRA was a bit of a mistake, I think. But Pontiac never impressed me as a brand.

[eridani]

45. Ditto. Just got a used one that I am very happy with n/t

[HopeHoops]

21. I OWN a niche Pontiac - a Montana mini-van that can blow the doors off the rice rockets ;}

I have to admit though, it isn't as loud and obnoxious as those go-carts, but it does have that Pontiac "throaty" sound.

[Hugin]

26. As an Oldsmobile person from way back you all have my sympathy.

x(

[Blue_Tires]

40. my mom was an Olds lover, too

she had three of them in the 80s...and most of her friends seemed to drive them too --- when they would visit for a party our house would look like an Olds/Cadillac dealership

[vinylsolution]

27. Keeping Cadillac and Buick....

... but canning the forward-looking Saturn brand?

An example of the 'thinking' that got them into this mess in the first place.

If GM wants to appeal to the new younger generation of car buyers, then it needs to bury the boomers' vehicles instead.

Long live Saturn!

[underpants]

31. I agree. These guys go with one model- mark up per vehicle

They don't see how great of idea (they have them by accident mostly) Saturn is and how old Buick and Cadillacs' demographics are

[REP]

30. Most of my cars have been Pontiacs!

I'd be driving one now, if the Solstice coupe had ever made it out of concept (my brother owns one of the convertibles, so one of the most beautiful autos ever made is at least in the family). I loved (and drove) the hell out of mine.

[NM Independent]

32. I hope the niche for Pontiac will be in performance vehicles.

If they discontinue the GTO before I get the money to buy one, then I will be VERY depressed.

I drive a 99' Pontiac Grand Prix GTP, and my favorite car ever was my '68 GTO.

Damn, this sucks.

[name not needed]

33. Not Likely.

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/02/18/breaking-gm-disbands-high-performance-vehicle-operations/

[CRF450]

42. They better not do away with Pontiac! They got the G8, Solstice, Vibe, and G6

Which are the only good cars. Besides, I'm a Trans Am owner so I cant help but show some love for Pontiac.

[onager]

61. They sure blew it with the "updated" GTO a few years ago.

The basic car was good--the Australian Holden Monaro V8. With just a little more effort, GM could have built a strong rival to those "nostalgic" 2005-up Ford Mustangs.

(On a gearhead forum recently, some young whippersnapper posted that only decrepit Boomers bought the Mustang, and when we all die off, so will the Mustang. A geezer wiseass immediately posted a marketing survey covering 16-to-25 year olds, whose most desirable car is...the Mustang. HA!)

But as usual, GM couldn't be bothered and horked up one of its "neither fish nor fowl" products. GTO nostalgists hated the car for its bland looks. A GTO with no flash, no pizazz? No freaking HOOD SCOOPS? Even the pathetic, Nova-based 1974 "GTO" didn't make that mistake.

Wikipedia sums it up nicely: GM had high expectations to sell 18,000 units, but the Monaro-based GTO received a lukewarm reception in the U.S. In a perplexing contrast to its more modern, sportier design, the styling was frequently derided by critics as being too "conservative" and "anonymous" to befit either the GTO heritage or the current car's performance.

Nostalgia Corner: I also came across this in the Wiki article. It refers to the media road tests of the original 1964 GTO, in which the car got some unbelievable 0-to-60 and quarter-mile speeds with an allegedly bone-stock 389 CID engine:

Later reports strongly suggest that the Car and Driver GTOs were equipped with a 421 CID (6.9 L) engine that was optional in full-sized Pontiacs.

It's been more than a "suggestion" for years. The truth came out from one of the people who created the first GTO, Jim Wangers. (Though John DeLorean hogged all the credit, as usual...just like his Corporate Evil Twin Lee Iacocca did for the Mustang.)

Wangers provided those first GTOs for the road tests (he was in charge of marketing the car). He confirmed that the test cars were FAR from stock GTOs. They ran with specially prepped 421 CID engines.

You can read all about it in Wanger's book, Glory Days: When Horsepower and Passion Ruled Detroit. Available at Amazon.

[CRF450]

66. The looks and the price turned off alot of people.

Though at its $30k price tag it was already a fully loaded car with not really any available options. Despite its looks, its a really good driving car and the interior is far better than most of GM's other cars a few years ago. I think they brought it over here as a GTO only because GM didn't have the Camaro or the Firebird/Trans Am to compete with the Mustangs.

[Skip Intro]

35. I'm with you on Pontiac. I'm looking at buying a used Grand Prix in the next month or two.

I've had several cars, currently a 2000 VW Jetta, but I've always liked my Pontiacs the best. They all had a certain sportiness to them, even if they weren't sports cars.

Wonder what GM means by transforming Pontiac into a "niche" product?

Surely they'll keep the Firebird/Trans Am, the Grand Prix, and the Grand Am.

On the flip side, I'm happy on some level that Hummer is facing its demise. Freakin' inflated ego on wheels that thing.

[CRF450]

43. The Trans Am hasent been in production since 2002

The best car in Pontiac's line up right now the is the G8 sport sedan, that car replaced the Grand Prix so they're no longer in production. Grand Am's are no longer in production either. They've been replaced by the G6.

[blue_onyx]

48. I think they mean they'll keep only a couple vehicles

BTW, they don't make the "Firebird/Trans Am, the Grand Prix, and the Grand Am.". I think the G6 would be the equivalent of the Grand AM and G8 would be the equivalent of the Grand Prix. I'm guessing GM will keep the Vibe, the Solstice, and the G6.

I agree about Hummer. It was a stupid idea in the first place.

[CRF450]

56. They're keeping the Zeta platform that the G8 is built on.

The G8 will stick around, and the upcoming Camaro will be released soon as its built on the same platform.

[Dover]

39. Saab's lucky to part ways with GM. And it looks like GM is keeping all the clunkers.

Why oh why are we bailing this company out?

At the very least they needed to set some preconditions for the bailout such as firing the president, CEO and leadership of that company.

[Hepburn]

44. Too bad on Saturn....

...seems like a great little car.

As for Pontiac...I'll take a pass on that one!

[alarimer]

50. Saturns used to be special, then GM ruined it.

They were the only GM car I would have considered. I had one once; I liked it. GM makes nothing that interests me anymore and I doubt they ever will again. Just SUVs, Pickups and ugly sedans.

[Psephos]

58. Test drive a Malibu n/t

[sarcasmo]

51. I wouldn't have bought a new Saturn last year if we had know this was going down.

[galledgoblin]

52. I hope the Saturn workers decide "#$%@ it" and reopen for themselves

if the union has held together there after GM ransacked the place and pulled them back under their control, or, better, can reestablish itself without any strings, then I know what car brand I'll be looking for.

[TankLV]

55. Saturn is CRAP - the salemen are all pushy, and don't even TRY to give you what you're looking for..

tried to stear me to a WAY expensive model when all I was looking for was a USED car for BASIC dependable transportation at the time...

Still drive my 88 Pontiac Sunbird Turbo GT Convertable in MINT condition - it still runs as good as the day I bought it...

would never EVER even consider a fucking saturn...

[Psephos]

59. lol

My 99 Saturn has 220,000 miles, looks and runs like new. Composite body panels, can't rust, don't dent. Twin cam motor gives me 36 mpg on the highway. It's easy to service, too.

To each his own. ;-)

[Tatiana]

57. Is the Pontiac division more profitable than Saturn?

Because it seems to me like people who own Saturns are pretty happy with their vehicles and the cost of maintaining them.

I used to own a Pontiac Grand Am back in the 80s when it was a very decent car. I bought another in the 90s that was a piece of crap. Haven't purchased an "American" car since.

My husband bought a Ford Fusion that he is very happy with. It looks like Ford may be the strongest of the Big Three American auto manufacturers at this point. With the hybrid Escape, the Fusion, the Focus and the F-150, they have a very dependable lineup. I am thinking about getting an Escape.

[onager]

62. Ford Escape in Egypt.

We used a Ford Escape here in Egypt and I thought it held up pretty well, overall. We used it for brutal daily commutes over 2 years. For several months it was driven 6 days a week to a job site way out in the desert. That daily round trip was well over 100 miles. Roads ranged from primitive to non-existent.

Our Egyptian driver owned the Escape and complained that it needed too much work/maintenance. Part of this was his own fault. He flatly refused to take the car to a Ford dealer because it "cost too much." Instead he would turn the car over to a local shadetree mechanic who often caused more damage than he fixed. Once it somehow got a hole in the exhaust header. The mechanic tried to weld it, but its apparently a composite metal that cannot be welded normally. Result: the hole got bigger. Finally, someone coming to Egypt from California imported a new exhaust header in his luggage.

I also have to say the Escape was one of the most comfortable cars I rode in over here, at least from the back seat.

That may be a fairly minimum standard, though. I have ridden in things like the Daewoo Lanos, which I will always affectionately remember as the Daewoo Anus. And a Hyundai diesel mini-van, which stunk, rattled and wallowed but always got us home in one piece. More or less.

My current commute car is a Citroen C8 van, also known affectionately as "le escargot" for its performance or alternately as "that French POS" because of its non-charming Gallic quirks in the way things break. We are not allowed to drive over here, which is a Good Thing IMO.

[47of74]

60. Oh, man, that's too bad about Saturn!

I've thought about getting one several times over the years. Big thing that kept me though is that there are no dealers local to where I am. The nearest one is 60 miles away from me.

[intheflow]

68. I bought my 1996 Saturn off the showroom floor.

I finally had to get rid of it last October. It had 214,000 miles on it! I had to replace the engine at 207,000. When the transmission gave out, I just didn't have the $2500 to fix it, it was cheaper to buy a used car. But I was looking forward to Saturn coming out with the hybrids for my next new, new car.

Meanwhile, the worst cars I've ever driven were Chevies and Cadillacs. WTF were they thinking?

[sarcasmo]

63. Who are they kidding, my father who is a GM retiree believes they will file

Bankruptcy by 2011.

[blue_onyx]

65. If they declared bankruptcy, I think will happen this year

[fujiyama]

67. Why are they really keeping GMC and Buick?

Couldn't they just have one luxury model? Cadillac? And just incorporate any trucks into Chevy?

And Pontiac was a classic, but they stopped production on the Firebird and Trans-Am a while ago. The Grand Prix G8 and others suck...

I did like that Saturn Sky. That had some great styling. I have a Saturn Ion. Not the greatest fit and finish, but it's held up pretty well with almost a 100 000 miles on it. I heard Saturn hasn't been profitable since it started but I've heard conflicting things.

This whole restructuring thing doesn't sound like enough. It's too little, too late. People have been wondering why they didn't make these moves earlier - like maybe 10 years ago. Toyota proved that you didn't really need a million different competing companies. They have what? Three companies? Toyota, Scion, and Lexus. Ford has been unloading its brands for a year or two now. It made some not so great purchases like Land Rover and Jaguar. They sold both to a huge loss about a year ago, but hey if they didn't sell it then it's unlikely they would have been after that. Volvo was probably a decent purchase and they've used the technology a lot in their other vehicles...and of course they've had Mazda. What else does Ford have? I'm not even going to comment on Chrysler...