BREAKING NEWS: GM To Phase Out Saturn **This Year**

[DanteRLVue]

While I generally agree with the sentiment that GM has been way too big for its britches for many years now, I think there is a risk that in all the haste to "trim the fat" and cut loose dealers and brands and manufacturing capacity, GM may wind up cutting too far. It is still possible (although one wouldn't know it from reading THIS forum) that the US auto industry, and the economy in general, could pick up this summer and we could wind up at 12 Million or more new vehicles sold in the US this year. In another year or two, we could be back at 16 Million, and at that point, GM would have given up such a huge part of its market share that it will take decades, if ever, to regain it.

In light of the rising CAFE standards, GM best save the hybrids (ugh I think I want to puke) from Saturn and fold them into other brands ASAP. I don't know why they haven't done a Chevy version of the current Vue hybrid. Same deal for a GMC of the same name, really. The Malibu hybrid needs to keep Chevy's EPA fuel consumption numbers up. The Cruze MUST have a hybrid version to compete with the new Honda Insight (the Volt, as cool and high-tech as it is, is truly just a halo car to say "Look, world, we just leap-frogged the Japanese and Europeans on this uber-high-efficiency thing! We're not just stupid rednecks that build pickups!").

We'll miss Saturn, but honestly, I have thought for the last year or 2 that Saturn doesn't offer anything to suit our changing tastes and needs. I see us trading in our SL2 and Vue on a Camaro SS and Cruze (possibly a diesel?) in the next few years. I was considering a G8 GXP, but I, like many consumers, have a hard time buying a car from a brand with a "going out of business" sign on the door. Buying a car is almost like a marriage for a lot of people, especially a new car with warranty and all. You want the brand that sold you the car to service it, not a sister brand, even if it's the same tech from the old dealership working on your car. It's just a psychological thing, and GM is going to have a HARD time getting the public to swallow that bitter pill to get rid of the last few thousand Saturns and Pontiacs (and Saabs and Hummers) as those brands are either killed or *ahem* re-opened "under new management"....