In addition to confirmed interest from private equity firm Black Oak Partners LLC and, now, Roger Penske, a source close to the General Motors says that the automaker’s whittled-down list of potential bidders for Saturn also includes Canadian-Austrian supplier Magna International.
Magna, which lost the bid for Chrysler in 2007 to Cerberus Capital Management, is also actively involved in the bidding for GM’s European unit, Opel.
Canada’s Financial Post reports that “people familiar with the discussions” say that Magna is in talks with GM about Saturn, but neither GM nor Saturn would comment. GM has signed confidentiality agreements with all potential bidders for the Hummer, Saab and Saturn lines it plans to jettison or close soon.
Magna could be interested in both Opel and Saturn to continue what GM had unsuccessfully attempted to do: Provide an outlet for Opel-engineered vehicles in the United States and Canada. Only one of Saturn’s current products, the Outlook SUV, is not based on architecture shared with Opel.
GM has said it will continue building Saturn vehicles through the end of 2009 and that it is willing to work with a buyer to build Saturns through 2011 if necessary.
