Saturn Car Company Could Be In Chinese Hands By End of Year
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In a cruel twist of fate, Saturn could be in the hands of the Chinese by the end of the year. Saturn is one of the victims of the restructuring of General Motors to satisfy the requirements of the US Government’s TARP Loan program.
General Motors as penned a letter to the existing Saturn Dealers suggesting a restructuring of the brand into a distribution structure. Saturn Distribution would own the brand Saturn and would be free to source vehicles from General Motors as well as other manufacturers including Chinese based vehicles. A structure like this would require an anchor investor and with money in short supply with equity partners (read Cerebus), the Chinese would be the obvious partner to invest and source product from.
The key is to source vehicles that match the “Saturn brand for fuel-efficiency, safety, reliablity and affordablility” according to the letter.
Shanghai Automotive, GM’s partner in China, would be a candidate for selling vehicles through Saturn dealers. So too would some of the smaller Chinese companies, like battery- and automaker BYD, Geely, Chery, all of which have ambitious global aspirations. From India, Tata Motors, which last year introduced what it billed would be the world’s cheapest car, the Tata Nano, would be a likely possibility as would highly profitable Maruti or Mahindra, which already has plans to come to the U.S. later this year.
In any respect, the Saturn problem must be resolved this year and this gives the Chinese an open invitation to a good Brand, an excellent dealer network and market ripe for competitive 4 cylinder products.
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Actually, Buick unveiled its multipurpose concept vehicle dubbed the Business Concept. The car was created in China as a joint effort and collaboration between General Motors and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation. The Buick Multi-Purpose Vehicle, the MPV, is the first car using General Motor’s next generation BAS (belted-alternator-starter) and lithium ion hybrid system. This new system attains 20 percent more efficiency over the existing BAS hybrids that have auto off, electric boost, regenerative braking, and electric-only propulsion.
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Maybe they will take good care of Saturn, it’s to soon to say what will come out of this.
Sometimes radical changes are proven o be beneficial. Time will tell.
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