With General Motors' (GM) proposed sale deal with Penske Automotive, for GM's Saturn brand unit falling through, the Detroit-based automaker said on Wednesday that a new bidder for Saturn being highly unlikely, it intends shuttering the brand for good.

Terming its abrupt withdrawal decision as "final," Penske elaborated that it could not proceed with the deal with GM because another manufacturer, which it refrained from naming, had cast off its plans to manufacture vehicles for distribution under the Saturn brand name.

In a statement, Anthony Pordon, Penske's Senior VP, said: "The likelihood of us finding another partner is very, very remote."

With the GM-Penske Saturn deal not materializing, Mark LaNeve, GM's VP of US sales, talked to Saturn dealers about the faint prospects Thursday afternoon, and later said that it was "one of the most difficult calls" he had ever made in his entire career.

Meanwhile, going by The Detroit Free Press reports, said the 'unnamed' manufacturer in talks with Penske had been Renault-Nissan, which reportedly has "no confidence in the US auto market," and does not expect any turnaround in the next two years.

Noting that Renault-Nissan's backing out of an agreement with Penske's has spoiled Saturn's chances of another deal, IHS Global Insight analyst Rebecca Lindland, talking to The Detroit Free Press, said: "Saturn has some of its best products ever, and they still just could not get momentum going."