The once-quirky Saturn nameplate is gone after a deal to sell Saturn from General Motors to Penske Automotive Group collapsed Thursday and GM announced it would immediately cease making Saturn automobiles.
The deal with Penske was part of the GM restructuring deal as the automaker worked to emerge from bankruptcy this past summer. GM had wanted to offload the brand, once the anti-GM car for its folksy approach to auto retailing, its non-Detroit persona (the cars were manufacturer in Tennessee) and its no-haggle pricing model.
But when Penske reportedly couldn’t find anyone to build the cars after 2011, when its manufacturing deal with GM was to run out, Penske walked away from the deal and GM quickly announced it was ending production.
The announcement makes it three former GM nameplates shelved in the last five years, after Oldsmobile production was stopped in 2004 and Pontiac’s brand was mothballed during the initial round of GM cuts in June.

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