GM, Ford, scrambling to clear out unwanted brands

The final fates of a number of brands marked for disposal are becoming more clear as U.S. automakers try to tie up loose ends from a year of restructuring and look forward to 2010.

General Motors Co. on Tuesday said it would pay $7,000 apiece for remaining Saturn and Pontiac models, effectively sweetening incentives to clear out inventories of the discontinued brands. The offer, which apparently was communicated to dealers earlier this month but made public now in an attempt to stimulate consumer interest, figures to juice GM's December sales figures. Pontiac dealers had about 8,500 vehicles remaining as of Nov. 30, while Saturn retailers had 5,700 cars on their lots.

While this means the end for Pontiac and Saturn, the news is more cheery for Ford Motor Co.'s Volvo brand. China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, likely buyer of the Swedish automaker, told the Xinhua news agency that it intends to operate Volvo independently and keep its production, research and development facilities along with union contracts and dealer networks intact. The comments are meant to calm fears expressed by Volvo workers that production would be moved to China. Volvo engineers mounted an apparently unsuccessful bid to buy the company on their own in an effort to keep Volvo's Swedish presence -- and jobs -- in place.

What will become of another Swedish brand remains less certain. General Motors has twice seen potential deals to sell Saab fall apart, but Saab's most recent suitor, Spyker Cars, remains in discussions with GM and hopes to hear a decision in the coming days. If a deal doesn't happen GM is apparently considering bringing the highly-acclaimed reworked Saab 9-5 sedan, which had been set to go on sale in 2010, to the United States as a Buick.

While finding a buyer for Saab would be popular among the brand's workers and the Swedish government, General Motors might find it more appealing to take the company's technologies and product designs and incorporate them into its remaining operations, including its still-germinating plans to revive its European Opel business.