Saturn Brand To Exit Canada

General Motors still hasn’t finalized the sale of its Saturn brand to the Penske Group, but before 2009 comes to an end, Saturn’s presence in Canada will end before the calendar flips over to 2010. According to Automotive News, which reported this news this past Monday, Canada is being dropped as a Saturn market because there isn’t enough viable business north of the border to justify the expense of maintaining a presence in that market.

Good-bye To Canada

Affected by the move will be 46 Saturn dealerships across Canada. Canadian customers will still be able to get their cars serviced, but that responsibility will be transferred to other GM makes, including Chevrolet. Customer service, parts and warranty service will remain in effect, but under other GM dealers.

The Penske Group signed a deal with GM in June, while the company was under bankruptcy protection, to purchase Saturn from GM. That deal is expected to conclude by the end of the third quarter which would be no later than September 30th. GM is currently paring back its eight US brands to four, selling Hummer to a Chinese company, finalizing a deal to sell Saab to a Scandinavian-led consortium while shutting down Pontiac.

The Penske Retail Network

Initially, GM will supply several models to the new Saturn company, but long term Penske will likely source additional cars from others manufacturers. Renault, working with Nissan, may send cars from its South Korean operation to the US to be sold through Saturn. In addition, reports have surfaced that Penske is in discussion with at least one Chinese automaker to sell its cars stateside. Finally, Peugeot may be interested in the Saturn retail network and could tap dealers to sell its cars as well.

Regardless, it appears that the Saturn retail network will eventually become a “Best Buy” type business selling a variety of models from a number of different brands through retail stores scattered across the United States. That would be a dramatic change for the business once known as “a different kind of car company” with quirky S-models built in the hills of Tennessee.

See Also — The Saturn Flextreme: Now That’s Unusual!