Friends,
There are a couple news tidbits today that seem related somehow. First is the devolution of General Motors (or american leyland if you prefer. – ed). Saturn dealers and owners received notice that the brand won’t be killed, but GM won’t be making any cars for the subsidiary after 2011. “You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here,” might’ve been an appropriate closing line. Now the Saturn dealer network is banding together and looking for another manufacturer to make Saturn-branded cars for them.
Also in the news is word that Saab, the Swedish GM subsidiary, has applied for protection from its creditors. Before GM bought Saab in the 80s, the company, frankly, made cars for nutjobs and retired college professors in Vermont (same thing. -ed). The word down on the street in Trollhaetten is that Saab would like to be spun off from the mothership. If they do spin off in the next year or so, they might start looking around for a dealer network in the United States to take over North American sales. If only some group had the floor space, a good reputation with customers, and the ability to move quirky, low-volume cars…
– bob