Penske Aims To Complete Saturn Deal By September

[JoeT]

Penske Aims To Complete Saturn Deal By September

Christian Wiessner
29 July 2009
www.reuters.com

Penske Automotive Group (PAG.N) plans to complete a deal to buy Saturn from General Motors Co [GM.UL] by the end of September, the founder and chairman of the No. 2 auto dealership chain said on Wednesday.

Roger Penske also said that he was considering using the Saturn brand for vehicles sold outside North America, but was focused first on the U.S. market and potentially Canada.

"I think that we're past midfield with GM. There are always issues that you have to deal with, but I think we're progressing well," Roger Penske told analysts on a conference call to discuss quarterly financial results on Wednesday.

"We've said that our goal is to close this transaction by the end of September, and we're prepared to do that," he said.

Penske declined to discuss what other automakers the new Saturn would consider as partners to supply vehicles after a deal with General Motors expires.

Under the terms of the tentative deal between GM and Penske, the automaker would supply Saturn with Aura sedans, Vue SUVs and Outlook crossover vehicles until at least 2011.

Penske would acquire rights to the Saturn brand and would buy the inventory of replacement parts to service the roughly 3.5 million Saturn vehicles on the road now.

The roughly 350 Saturn dealerships in the United States would continue to be independently owned and operated.

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[dindak]

Some Saturn dealers in Canada seem to be closing now, I would be scared if I was a Saturn owner here. I have seen 3 closed now.

I thank my lucky stars I went for a Malibu instead of an Aura.

[Drive_Fast]

i liked saturn but never saw the real purpose since gm never let saturn become what it first was supposed to become an independent car company that was no apart of the gm.. kind of like if gm was to start all over and form a new company as if gm never existed before. I think Chevy was the real reason that Saturn never became as big a Chevy, older brother was jealous and did not want to lose the top selling spot to the new baby brother division.

[2002 Caddy]

whats he gonna sell in 2012?

[gotz_otto]

Originally Posted by 2002 Caddy

whats he gonna sell in 2012?

Nothing I will probably want to buy. What I have been reading is a possible Renault or the Nissan Altima. If I buy a foreign car it will be German and not something trying to be American.

[63GrandSport001]

Originally Posted by Drive_Fast

i liked saturn but never saw the real purpose since gm never let saturn become what it first was supposed to become an independent car company that was no apart of the gm.. kind of like if gm was to start all over and form a new company as if gm never existed before. I think Chevy was the real reason that Saturn never became as big a Chevy, older brother was jealous and did not want to lose the top selling spot to the new baby brother division.

Saturn as a separate car company can do much better then it did with GM IMHO because you always had that issue of Saturn taking Chevys place.

I think that the initial challenge will be getting products to sale at Saturn dealers, they can go the route of getting cars from another brand outside of America and importing them here. Wouldn't it be funny if Saturn eventually surpasses GM in sales.........

[CheetahDC]

focused first on the U.S. market and potentially Canada.

But...Saturns are already sold in Canada? This doesn't make any sense to me.

[Asinity]

Originally Posted by CheetahDC

But...Saturns are already sold in Canada? This doesn't make any sense to me.

Not only are they already sold here, they sell well. Lots of Astra's and Aura's roaming around my city. As you said, it makes no sense why they wouldn't keep focusing on Canada. It's absolute stupidity that they wouldn't focus on North America as a whole.

[vsd]

Who will take care of Saturn warranties once the deal goes through? Will people be able to bring their Saturns to any GM dealer and get them worked on, or will Penske take over?

[LS4]

Originally Posted by 63GrandSport001

Saturn as a separate car company can do much better then it did with GM IMHO because you always had that issue of Saturn taking Chevys place.........

Great point.

Back in the day, Chevy and Pontiac would always complain about GM developing "premium product" for Saturn. They didn't want the upstart brand stealing their thunder, so Saturn was often neutered with compromised product, or even no product at all (see 1991-2002 S-series).

Since they won't be competing internally with those other divisions, Saturn as the opportunity to really take off...With the right product, of course!

[63GrandSport001]

Originally Posted by LS4

Great point.

Back in the day, Chevy and Pontiac would always complain about GM developing "premium product" for Saturn. They didn't want the upstart brand stealing their thunder, so Saturn was often neutered with compromised product, or even no product at all (see 1991-2002 S-series).

Since they won't be competing internally with those other divisions, Saturn as the opportunity to really take off...With the right product, of course!

im looking forward to a strong Saturn in about years time even.

[usa1]

Originally Posted by 2002 Caddy

whats he gonna sell in 2012?

I'd bet money it will be stuff from China. Saturn will be the first big introduction of Chinese made cars to the US.

Mark

[usa1]

Originally Posted by LS4

Great point.

Back in the day, Chevy and Pontiac would always complain about GM developing "premium product" for Saturn. They didn't want the upstart brand stealing their thunder, so Saturn was often neutered with compromised product, or even no product at all (see 1991-2002 S-series).

Since they won't be competing internally with those other divisions, Saturn as the opportunity to really take off...With the right product, of course!

Saturn was a money pit that forced Chevy and Pontiac to keep J body cars around for about 10 more years than they should have. Chevy and Pontiac execs were right. Now Pontiac is dead and GM can still not make a world class small car. Saturn was a mistake from day one.

Mark

[JoeT]

Spot on. Saturn should never have been born. It was the extra brand GM NA never needed.