Growing up, I always thought Studebaker was cool. I mean, it was a recent car brand that was no longer made (after 1966). How weird was that? I always wondered why, and how folks who had bought one felt about owning a brand that no longer existed, or having once owned something that was no longer around.
Well, I’ll be knowing pretty soon now.
Henderson said GM will eliminate 21,000 jobs by next year and phase out its Pontiac line as part of a last-ditch restructuring effort to keep the company afloat and win additional government aid.
The company also said it plans to cut its U.S. dealer network at a faster pace than previously announced, from about 6,200 in 2008 to 3,605 by the end of 2010. Its original plan aimed to trim that network down to 4,200 by 2014.
Factory jobs will be cut by next year, the company said. Pontiac will be phased out by 2010, and Henderson said the company does not expect to build Hummers, Saabs and Saturns beyond 2009.
I really liked my 1995 Saturn SC2 coupe — my first Colorado (and post-divorce) car — and other Saturn owners I know have liked their vehicles. Saturn was an innovative (in technology, practice, and image) company, and it’s a serious shame that it’s going by the wayside.
Hummers? Meh. Saab? End of a long name (sorry, Sweden). And Pontiac is a huge brand loss.
But I’ll always have a fondness for Saturn.
SAAB will be bought by someone else, and it’s not like Saturns haven’t been anything but rebadged Opel’s for the past three yeaars anyways.
Ack! We’ve owned nothing but Saturns since 1994. We currently have two and never planned on going anywhere else for a car. 🙁
Solonor, They’re Opel’s, I am sure that some of GM’s product in the US will still be Opel’s (Compact cars, etc) so you will still be able to get one.
I’ve been pretty loyal to Saturn…but I decided long before this mess that my Ion2 is going to be my last Saturn.
The quality is way down from my 2000 SL2.
As BD notes, Saturn stopped being the unique experiment that originally made it such a showpiece for GM. It’s too bad that the GM bean counters killed Saturn as an independant entity as the quality went down, the innovation left the brand, and rather than retooling GM to be like Saturn when the downturn hit, they had nothing left in their company to use as a model for future success.
Yet another example of corporate policy acting against the best interest of the compny/shareholder in the long term by catering to the stock price in the short term.
Dave, I’m curious. Does hearing the name “Pontiac” remind you of a particular episode of The Bob Newhart Show?
Hmmm. I feel like it should, but … no, it doesn’t.
Actually, I loved Studebaker cars waaaay more then I liked Saturns. I think the Ion’s were the first ones that had any kind of style that scream Highschool art project.
Whereas the ’50s Studebakers (The Commanders, the Hawks, and the Speedsters) are still beautiful cars.
Bah…
That *didn’t* Scream art project….
Hey. I thought my SC2 was Incredibly Cool and Sporty. It was as close as I got to a Midlife Crisis Post-Divorce Sports Car.
Well, maybe my Impreza WRX counts. But it has All-Wheel Drive along with the turbo, so I can claim it’s practical.
The one SC2 I rode in (all of 20 miles on the Odometer) squeeked and chittered like an angry squirrel at every bump in the road and the interior reminded me of my moms ’79 Honda Civic….not a good thing for a car made in the 90s.
So, yes, after hearing Margies Subaru stories I am thinking that the WRX counts as your midlife Crisis car….and really, wouldn’t like it if right now is your midlife? 🙂
Re: The Bob Newhart Show:
The elderly Mr. Vickers was telling Dr. Hartley about hid difficult relationship with his now-grown son.
VICKERS: And when I gave him his graduation present, he hit me with it!
HARTLEY: What… What, uh… What did you give him?
VICKERS: A Pontiac.
That does sound like a Newhart routine, but it doesn’t ring a bell.
I understand Saturn had a really economical sedan a few years back. It’d be a great time to reintroduce it.
That was the Ion….it also got better gas milage than the Opel’s that GM imported over to replace it.
The Ion was still a generic GM design, unlike the internally-designed S-series.