Earlier this week General Motors officially turned off the lights and locked the doors at its Boxwood Road assembly plant for the last time, marking the end of the line for the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky. The two vehicles (along with the Opel GT) were manufactured at the plant in Wilmington, Delaware, which is...
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Today the sun rose on a New General Motors, a move which will also see the sun set on a lot of people’s careers. GM emerged from bankruptcy protection at 6:30 a.m. Eastern Time with news of a serious corporate restructuring plan that will take effect over the next few months. Due to leadership (and...
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Late Sunday a judge approved the sale of GM’s assets to a group comprised of the U.S. government, the UAW and the Canadian and Ontario governments under the name NGMCO, Inc. The decision will see GM exit bankruptcy court quickly with the ‘New GM’ assets going to NGMCO, while the ‘Old GM’ assets will be...
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After continued rumors that General Motors was still shopping-around its European Opel operations, it appears as though a new buyer has been found. RHJ International, a Belgian company has been cited as the latest bidder and apparently a tentative deal could be signed by the end of the week. Initially Opel was slated to be...
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According to a report on Chinese state radio, the sale of Hummer by General Motors to heavy-equipment manufacturer Tengzhong will not go ahead. The report on China National Radio states that Tengzhong’s acquisition of Hummer goes against the government’s efforts to reduce pollution by manufacturing companies in China. Tengzhong released a statement in response to...
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Dalgleish Cadillac, the only remaining Cadillac dealer in the city of Detroit, is being forced into closure next year as a part of General Motors’ restructuring plan. This isn’t just sad because the dealership has been selling Caddy’s in Detroit since 1954. And its symbolism extends beyond GM’s current problems or even the company’s 100...
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Contrary to recent reports that the Vibe would be the sole Pontiac model to continue on into 2010, General Motors has now decided to end production of the utilitarian vehicle early. Production of the Vibe at the GM/Toyota joint-venture New United Motor Manufacturing Incorporated (NUMMI) facility will end this August. Several weeks ago GM’s interim...
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There is hope, be it ever so slight, that the Pontiac G8 may live on even though the brand it’s attached to is most certainly slated for elimination. “I know there’s still discussions on it,” GM’s product boss Tom Stephens told Automotive News, giving some hope to the legions of G8 fans that haven’t had...
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The long list of General Motors dealerships got a lot shorter recently, but it will get shorter still as the company has made known plans to reduce the number of Cadillac dealerships in its network. “Our current footprint of 1,400 Cadillac dealers, most of which are dualed, is out of sync with modern luxury automotive...
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General Motors has reached an agreement with the Penske Automotive Group on the sale of its Saturn brand. An official announcement is expected to be made by both parties later today. The Penske Automotive Group was thought to be one of the front-runners in the bidding war, which also reportedly included Nissan/Renault, Mitsubishi and investment...
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It seems like there is a new update in the Saab and Saturn sell-off every day… so why stop now. Yesterday we reported that the list of Saab buyers was down to three and now that list has been shortened to just two suitors. Saab CEO Jan-Ake Jonsson told Swedish business paper Dagens Industri that...
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With news of a tentative deal to sell off Hummer coming yesterday, GM still hasn’t made any decisions about its Saturn or Saab brands – but apparently it has plenty of offers to entertain. GM CFO Ray Young said that Saturn has as many as 16 suitors, while the Swedish Saab brand has three. The...
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While President Obama and General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson are both expected to hold press conferences today, officially GM has already filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection. Once the world’s largest automaker and a symbol of the success of free market economics, GM is now a symbol of failure. In the 1950s it employed over...
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Oddly, it seems as though Saturn is far more interesting and far more loved as the up-for auction arm of a doomed for bankruptcy company than it ever was as regular old car brand. To date the Penske Automotive Group, automaker Nissan/Renault and investment firm Telesto Ventures have all been cited as potential buyers. Now...
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As a government imposed June 1st bankruptcy deadline looms on the horizon, the UAW is reporting that it has reached a tentative agreement with General Motors and the U.S. Treasury. The specifics of the agreement will not be made public until the contract is ratified, however, the UAW did say that changes have been made...
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The possibility that Penske Automotive Group may in fact purchase the Saturn brand from General Motors has just increased significantly. Penske has acquired the services of former Chrysler President Tom LaSorda as an adviser on the bid. Penske is the second largest dealership group in the U.S. and also distributes the SMART brand of cars...
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General Motors will cut 1,124 dealerships loose by October of 2010. The struggling automaker on the verge of bankruptcy sent letters out to the dealerships last week as it searches for ways to reduce it’s current dealer network of 5,969 to just 3,600. GM says it will not renew dealership agreements with the 1,124 companies...
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Days after General Motors announced it would cut it’s number of dealerships in the U.S. by 1,124, GM Canada is following suit. The number of Canadian GM dealerships being closed may sound much smaller at 292, however, with roughly 700 dealerships nationwide, the cuts represent a 42 percent dealership reduction. GM Canada says the Sales...
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GM Vice Chair Bob Lutz Kisses a Saturn Astra. Recently he kissed-goodbye to all his stock in the company. In a move that should probably be illegal (but isn’t) six General Motors executives recently sold off all their shares in the company. That’s right, those same guys who helped drive GM into bankruptcy traded in...
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Late last week we reported that GM was ceasing production of the Cobalt SS Sedan and now the automaker has confirmed several other performance models will get the axe. That’s right, the latest vehicles to face the guillotine in this French Revolution-style automotive bloodbath are three (or four depending on how you look at it)...
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The sale of Saturn to Nissan-Renault could see cars like this Mégane Renault Sport roaming U.S. streets. The rumor mill keeps churning out new and exciting candidates interested in buying GM’s Saturn brand. The most recent speculation is that Nissan/Renault might be interested. The Wall Street Journal is reporting the Nissan-Renault interest in Saturn, while...
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Jim Waldron, the owner of a Pontiac dealership in Michigan has revealed that he and a group of investors submitted an offer to buy the scheduled-for-termination Pontiac brand from GM. Waldron made the announcement on ABC’s local WJRT station and said that he expects to hear back from the company this week. GM representatives, including...
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With the Pontiac brand gone, GM is looking to get out of its arrangement with Toyota that spawned the Vibe/Matrix models In stark contrast to official statements by General Motors reps (and to a story we ran yesterday) the struggling U.S. automaker does indeed want out of the joint project with Toyota that saw the...
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As we reported last week, General Motors has indeed made the decision to kill the Pontiac brand. The news comes as a part of a new viability plan (yes… another one) submitted to the federal government today. The new plan will see Pontiac eliminated by the end of 2010, but that’s not all… not by...
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