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General Motors Co. says, “No life on Saturn!”

Saturn Auto, the 3-Ringed pride and joy of Spring Hill, Tennessee will now join Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Tin Lizzy and the dinosaur. GM has been trying to sell Saturn as part of its turnaround plan.

It was one of America’s newest car companies, created through a partnership between General Motors and the UAW in 1985.

GM unveiled the Saturn in November 1983. But the project was slow to develop and the brand did not officially launch until 1990. It featured the tag-line “a different kind of car company.”

GM’s hope was that Saturn would attract younger buyers with smaller, hipper cars to better compete with Japanese imports. It built a new plant in Spring Hill, Tenn., devoted to Saturn vehicles.

As GM focused more on high-profit pickup trucks and SUVs in the late 1990s, Saturn began its slide. After a good year in 2007, sales dropped 22 percent last year as the U.S. car market withered. Through August, Saturn sales were down 60 percent from 2008.

The manufacurer’s first products featured innovations such as spaceframe construction and dent resistant polymer body panels. Saturn introduced the world’s first and only three-door coupe.

Over the years more than 2.2 million vehicles were sold, valued at more than twenty billion dollars. A cult-like following drew thousands to annual reunions in Spring Hill although the Tennessee factory built specifically for Saturn had stopped making cars in 2007.

The brand never made money for GM and the company has never disclosed how much it invested or lost.

Saturn will shut down now that a deal with former race car driver and auto dealer magnate Roger Penske has collapsed.

The end came when the Penske Automotive Group Inc., was unable to find a manufacturer. GM had agreed to continue building some Saturn models for Penske until at least 2011.

The Saturn announcement came on the same day as GM and Chrysler met in Washington to begin the closure of around 3,000 dealerships. GM is cutting 2,400 dealerships from its 6,000-dealer network by the fall of 2010.

Saturn owners can still go to Saturn dealers for service. They would also be able to go to a certified GM dealer once Saturn dealerships close, GM said.

Go Home from Saturn Auto.