Off to car heaven

Dave U. Random · 2009-02-20T22:46:15+00:00

Moneyblog Say goodbye to Saturn. And Saab and Hummer, for that matter. Pontiac, too, for all intents and purposes.Unless buyers (a few million of us -- or maybe just a couple of really adventurous billionaires) step forward, three of General Motors? eight brands are now destined to join Oldsmobile in the history books. A fourth will be relegated to ?niche? status, says GM. The company, until last year the world?s largest automaker, announced plans Tuesday that would drastically scale back its operations in order to stay alive.Production of Saturn cars would stop in 2011 if the brand hasn?t been sold, GM said. Execs will decide whether to pull the plug on Hummer at the end of March, though rumors of Chinese interest have emerged (and been discounted) several times. The company says Saab will be an ?independent business entity as of Jan. 1, 2010.? Take that to mean ?dead? unless a reluctant Swedish government can be convinced to step in. Pontiac will emerge as a ?highly focused niche brand? sold through Buick and GMC Truck showrooms.All necessary steps, for sure. And insignificant, compared with the long-term future of the workers who make them and the towns that depend upon them.Yet we?ll mourn these brands even if we won?t miss them.Pontiac was long General Motors? coolest brand, its Firebird, Grand Prix and Bonneville as hip and relevant in their heydays as any BMW or Honda today. Its GTO was the first true muscle car, its Trans-Am the only legitimate reason to watch ?Smokey and the Bandit.?Saturn once represented hope for a new way of doing business at General Motors, with distinctive plastic-bodied cars and a warm, almost nurturing sales environment. For a time, its ?Different Kind of Car Company? shtick worked: Its Homecoming gatherings in 1994 and 1999 drew 75,000 visitors to Spring Hill, Tenn., for a lost weekend of plant tours, country music and sheer differentness.Hummer? While they might feel as outdated as a coonskin hat, they?re still a lightning rod for...

Feb 20, 2009 63 Replies

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PerfectReign 17 years ago

Have you ever driven in one?? My knees are pretty damn cramped in the car with the seat all the way back. Aside from the seats being way too narrow.

Ford Escape? Saturn Vue? Toyota Rav4? Honda Pilot? Nissan Pathfinder? (I would still like to find one of the original two-door models.)

Nope. At least my head doesn't touch the headliner much. :)

Nah, it is just good usenet etiquette. No reason to xpost the follow ups all over.

I'm surprised Pan doesn't do it for you. I haven't used Pan since "She Crawled Across the Floor" but IIRC, it did the same automatically. (I'm on KNode right now.)

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PerfectReign 17 years ago

Allright! Some good old fashioned usenet mud-slinging!

Time for the flamefest!

Meow!

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Adrian 17 years ago

PerfectReign gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Go find a Suzuki SJ. Or an early Vitara. That's a small SUV.

The Antara's roughly similar size to a Vectra/Insignia - largest thing in Vauxhall/Opel's range.

Look, I'm sorry if this is going to come as a shock to you, but - brace yourself - it's one of those inescapable facts that you're going to have to face up to at some point in your life.

The world does exist outside the boundaries of the US.

I'm sorry to be the one to do this to you... but the vast majority of the world is outside the US.

Whatever. However, since I'm not _in_ alt.autos.gm, I won't see any reply you make to this. Heyho. Sorry to shake you from your comfortable little complacent isolation.

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me 17 years ago

On that point - for all their size, it's surprising how little headroom many SUV's actually have. That large ones (issues aside) do have some room but the smaller ones are like cars where they raised the floor, upped the seat height, and left the roof in the same place.

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