GM's Chance to Change Saturn's Fate

As you've probably heard, GM's Saturn has quite a gloomy future as the American car manufacturer intends to abandon the brand and discontinue all models. However, there's only one “happy ending”, as noted by Richard Truett of Autonews, for this complex situation: General Motors could merge Saturn and Opel, a move that could prove to be quite useful for all three companies involved in this matter.

First of all, General Motors is running out of cash quickly enough to prepare its bankruptcy papers so buying out Saturn's dealerships is quite impossible for the time being. This means that GM's situation could get even worser in case Saturn bites the dust so a potential merger with Opel would be the unique and easiest solution.

Secondly, Mr. Truett suggests that Opel can easily take advantage of Saturn's dealership network, which currently contains approximately 425 stores. This would obviously mean that Opel could boost sales and step into different markets, selling its models along with the ones produces by Saturn.

On the other hand, General Motors would get rid of Saturn and could hope the US government would reconsider its loan request. Moreover, all dealerships and stores would become Opel's responsibility and, even if the Saturn brand is discontinued, Opel can still take advantage of the dealership network.

And beside all of these, such a move could be extremely important for Opel, which could refresh its North American lineup with brand new European models capable of comparing with local models such as Toyota Yaris and Korean cars. For instance, Insignia would compete with Volkswagen Passat, Toyota Camry, Mazda 6 and Nissan Maxima, Autonews' editor suggests.

However, there's still some time until Friday when Saturn and GM officials meet to discuss the future of the brand. So, keep your eyes skinned on autoevolution to find out what happens as soon as the officials leave the meeting room.