From the "They Never Learn" file: Corporate America at its "best." Saturn was the one brand in the GM family that was doing it RIGHT - making good-quality, affordable cars the way other countries do. Now 13,000+ people will lose their jobs because, apparently, the Impala and its ilk is the car the American people want to buy; or so think the empty heads at GM, who haven't done anything right since 1973.
Funny thing is, they keep playing that Saturn commercial with the Exec dismissing talk of doom surrounding the company. Then this happens. Weird. I think GM should be dumped, and Saturn kept. Or Chrysler.
Well, this is the lounge, not the PoFo, however the reason "why" Penske backed out of the Saturn deal is quite simple. http://www.autonews.com/article/20091002/ANA02/910029984/1266 Penske wanted the new Renault/"Saturns" to be priced in Dollars, the Renault board knew they would take a bath as the dollar loses value to the Euro. If and when the "Dollar" Drops below current 76 cents on 1 Euro, Renault would be locked into selling cars and being paid with dollars that are declinining in value, by next year they could be losing a 10 cents on every 1 Euro they spend building the proposed Saturn/Renault's.
There would be a bailout worth doing: save Saturn and lend it enough $ to build their own manufacturing plant. Let them pay it back with credits by making theirs the first zero-emission auto plant. Use the system to reward good companies, not bad ones like GM and Chrysler.