Why couldn't Penske have GM build Saturns?

[CheetahDC]

Okay, so we all knew Penske's deal with Renault-Nissan to build Saturns fell through, right? Why couldn't they contract General Motors to continue to build Saturns? Where there any other companies Penske talked with besides Renault-Nissan?

[Aura XR]

Probably because Saturn, which is old GM, would be building cars that would compete with products for the "new" GM.

Penske really needed to hit automakers that do not have a following or are not selling cars in the US, like Renault (without Nissan or Samsung), etc. But, then again, these cars probably would have to be modified to pass US safety/emission standards which might or might not be costly and was what would stop most manufacturers from entering our market in the first place.

[mgescuro]

Probably because GM didn't want to build a competitor to its own cars?
Or probably some other operational reason.

[RamJet502]

How could they have gotten rid of GM's negative stigma if GM was still producing the cars? Its not smart to buy someone else's problems and sell them as yours.

[Suziebob]

Basically, if a car company makes cars good enough to compete in the American market, they're already here under their own brands, and wouldn't want to compete with themselves.

[civilzues]

Originally Posted by mgescuro

Probably because GM didn't want to build a competitor to its own cars?

So GM might be learning?

[vcs2600]

With Opel designs going to Buick, and Daewoo designs going to Chevy, GM had nothing for them to build!

(I supposed they could have rebadged the nextgen Malibu as an Aura or something, but that would just water down Chevy's brand identity.)

[voyager]

Probably because it will be cheaper and more profitable to brand foreign made cars as new Saturns...

[sklunk]

Under the proposed deal Penske WAS going to have GM build Saturns, at least through the end of 2011. After that he was going to source a different vehicle brand for the Saturn dealers (nobody knows if they would have been called "Saturn" or whatever brand he decided to source). The story goes that he couldn't find anyone to supply product after 2011 so that's why the deal fell through.

[ksr]

GM would be building cars for a competitor. Which they could profit by doing of course, but I think they want to concentrate on building products for their own dealer networks.

It's too bad that these dealership jobs will be going away; they deserve better. For GM though, it's actually a good thing. One less competitor.

[TriShield]

Originally Posted by Aura XR

Probably because Saturn, which is old GM, would be building cars that would compete with products for the "new" GM.

GM also couldn't do so profitably.

GM always has built competitors to itself and still does, lol.

[Zephyr]

I had actually thought/hoped that perhaps GM would have struck a deal with Roger whereby GM would build Saturns for his Penske in a business as usual manner. This would continue until the day after election day 2012 whereby Penske would sell Saturn pack to GM. I guess not...but there is always hope that Pontiac will re-emerge the day after.

[tom3]

Selling cars, as is Penske's business, and building cars are two way different things. And designing new models and meeting emissions standards are a real involved processes too. Just way to much to even consider for that company to start building cars themselves. And I doubt the new GM would be capable of building old GM products as a part of the bailout provisions.