General Motors is itching to get rid of Saturn, according to a recent Auto News report. The big G is looking to close out Saturn Auto Makers & dealers by the Spring of 2010, March to be exact. This is contrary (or an update) from original reports that GM would hold onto Saturn until October 2010.

“All of our efforts will be to sell down our remaining 2009 inventory,” said Susan Docherty, GM’s vice president of U.S. sales, “We’ll have a little bit of carryover of that into the first quarter of 2010, but the objective is to keep our inventory somewhere between 425,000 to 450,000 units.” General Motors will most likely clear out the 2009-model-year inventory by January. The company will shutter its Pontiac and Saturn brands by the end of the first quarter, Docherty said. GM has about 10,000 Pontiac left and 8,000 Saturns. “We’re actually winding down those products quicker than we had anticipated,” she added.

According to CNN: “Car dealership operator Penske Automotive Group announced on Wednesday that it has canceled plans to acquire General Motors’ Saturn unit. As a result, GM said it will wind down the brand and dealer network, potentially putting 13,000 Saturn dealership jobs at risk. The announcement comes nearly four months after Penske agreed to buy the rights to the 19-year old brand from GM when the automaker was in bankruptcy.

As part of the deal, GM would have continued making Saturn’s three best-selling models — the Aura sedan, as well as the Vue and Outlook cross-over SUVs — for the rest of this year and next. Penske, which would have been the distributor but not the manufacturer of the vehicles, would have sold the cars on behalf of GM. Penske said it would find another third-party manufacturer to make new Saturns in 2011.

But negotiations with another, unnamed manufacturer fell through after an agreement was rejected by that manufacturer’s board, according to Penske. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the manufacturer in question is Renault.” It seems Saturn will go the way of Pontiac by the end of 2010 or sometime in 2011. And much like Pontiac, Sat. had plenty of potential, but in a world where car makers merge/close at the drop of a dime (literally) anything is possible.