General Motors will now “move quickly” to wind down the Saturn brand after a proposed deal to sell the brand to dealer chain owner Penske Automotive Group fell through earlier this week.
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GM is selling or closing Saturn, Pontiac, Hummer and Saab as part of its government-supervised restructuring.
Penske had failed to secure an agreement for Renault to supply Saturn brand vehicles after GM stopped production in two years.
Without a buyer for the brand, the Saturn dealer network will cease to exist by October 2010, but many dealerships could close before than, Dow Jones reported.
“We will move quickly to wind down Saturn so we can get on with the four core brand strategy,” GM treasurer Walter Borst told an analysts’ conference in Arizona.
He also said GM was “redoubling” efforts to finalise a deal to sell Hummer to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery in China and expected the sale to close by the end of the year.
Tengzhong’s is waiting on Chinese regulatory approval for the sale.
GM is also waiting to hear if the Swedish government will provide funding to sell Saab Automobile to sportscar maker Koenigsegg Group.
Borst said GM was hopeful that deal also would close by the end of the year.
Pontiac, like Saturn, will wind down by next autumn.
