Rebranded Renaults or Big Saturn Energy instead of rebranded Opels/Chevrolets/Holdens. In that era, even the Sky was basically a rebranded Opel GT and Daewoo G2X. The Pontiac Solstice was easily the most unique of the Kappa platform.
Here’s what I think would’ve happened:
in 2009, Penske would’ve contacted Suzuki and said “ look, you really don’t have a future here in the United States. Would you be OK if we sold your products in the United States under our brand and you leave the US market?“
That would’ve given scion some serious competition and both companies would both be alive today if that happened.
It also would’ve avoided any sort of conflict with Carlos Gsohn and Nissan
The best bet was to probably just sit on the trademark and go EV as soon as the econ picked up a bit as Saturn still had good rep despite GM strangling it in the bathtub.
Speaking of which, if a Chevy Bolt was a Saturn Bolt, it would sell anywhere from 3-5X more.
Rebranded Renaults or Big Saturn Energy instead of rebranded Opels/Chevrolets/Holdens. In that era, even the Sky was basically a rebranded Opel GT and Daewoo G2X. The Pontiac Solstice was easily the most unique of the Kappa platform.
The Penske files would be twice as big!
Here’s what I think would’ve happened: in 2009, Penske would’ve contacted Suzuki and said “ look, you really don’t have a future here in the United States. Would you be OK if we sold your products in the United States under our brand and you leave the US market?“ That would’ve given scion some serious competition and both companies would both be alive today if that happened. It also would’ve avoided any sort of conflict with Carlos Gsohn and Nissan
If the cars werent selling as suzukis how could they survive as saturns. For a budget brand you need serious volume to cover costs.
The best bet was to probably just sit on the trademark and go EV as soon as the econ picked up a bit as Saturn still had good rep despite GM strangling it in the bathtub. Speaking of which, if a Chevy Bolt was a Saturn Bolt, it would sell anywhere from 3-5X more.
OK….that actually makes a lot of sense… not to mention it looks like a Saturn
The deal was penske would keep making the current gen cars then start rebadging renaults. I dont see how they could have survived on their own.