According to Steven Girsky, a long-time industry consultant responsible for leading GM’s task force, GM rivals including foreign manufacturers are interested in selling their cars under the Saturn brand. Girsky declined to name which automakers have been talking to the group responsible for studying Saturn’s spin-off and called the talks “informal.”
In its viability plan submitted to the U.S. Treasury on Feb. 17, GM said that it plans on terminating Saturn. Following that, key Saturn dealers pushed to study spinning-off the brand from General Motors.
Grisky told Automotive News that his group is looking to see whether a spin-off will be viable enough to sell vehicles through the 400 Saturn dealerships now operating. He said that the spin-off would offer automakers an opportunity to build their vehicles in domestic assembly plants and provide a ready-made distribution network for their cars.
Grisky said that the spin-off could work with Saturn’s current lineup through 2011.
- By: Omar Rana
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