I saw this coming from a mile away… Renault was thinking about buying Saturn, so this actually puts them in a good position to possible take over Saturn over time. That’s just a wild guess, but might not be as crazy as you think.

It makes logical sense if their business plan is to try to conquer the US again but PLEASE …. do not let the cars look like the strange turds they sell in Europe.

I’m putting money down on the nex LeCar… My parents actually made money when they traded-in their’s in the early 80’s, maybe I can repeat!

This is the stroke of genius. Instead of trying to peddle cars nobody was interested in during GM regime, Penske deals with most capable European design house, who can produce vehicles for US: they already do under Nissan moniker. He actually achieved what York and Kerkorian were trying to accomplish 3 years ago, but couldn’t penetrate thick watermelons of former (and current) GM ,management.
I reckon, there is no accident that Roger Penske is on Forbes list?

Now if he could only figure out how to get the new Scirocco over here …………

Told you he wasn’t interested in selling GM wares any longer than he possibly has to. And you know what? Go ahead and bring over the quirkiest Renault “turds” they have and see if they stick. Just think, pretty soon we’re going to have Fiats and Alfas and Euro Fords and who knows what else before this whole mess is over so why the heck not. Just call it ‘Revenge of the Turds’ and play that really cool song they had at the end of Revenge of the Nerds for their ad campaign. Roger already knows that small turd-like objects move in these parts: they’re called Smart Cars.

Touche JohnnyC, many don’t know it’s Penske and NOT Daimler NA that sells/distributes Smarts in NA.

Jake, I hope they will not bring LeCar (Renault 5). It was very good looking car, but it had 1200 cc engine (1000 cc in rental form). I was in Italy driving on Autostrada (Italian version of Autobahn) with no speed limit, whilst at home we were restricted to 55 mph (89 km/h if Canadians are reading). I could drive at any speed! Except bloody Renault 5 could not be forced above 140-150 km/h in any gear (from 3rd to 5th)!

so he wants to sell turds with an actual turd badge on them….that’ll complete the picture

Renault design studio does extremely well. Drop Nissan stuffing in it (which is in theory is already compatible) and you have unique styling with very decent components. I hope it will work, for everyone’s sake.

They should base this company out of Arkansas or West Virginia.

I have nothing to say until I see what comes of all this. Renault is not the greatest car maker in the world or Europe. They are a case of better investment of passable product that made them big enough to buy up NISSAN. But on the off-chance I am wrong about RENAULT and they use SATURN as a stealth re-entry to the US market, I would hope they and ROGER PENSKE do not skimp on the good stuff.

last time I saw something come back from the dead it got hit in the head with a shotgun, man that was a good zombie movie

I’ll take a Clio V6 please!!

So should we brace for Saturn entering NASCAR?…..;)

Wow….Penske is going to make some serious coin if he pulls this off. In half a decade he’ll be able to turn around and sell Saturn to Renault for quadruple what he bought it for. Nice.

Renault Turds are on a little more solid ground than the diarrhea Toyota and Honda offer over here.

Perhaps it’s just me but i don’t see the Renault style fitting well with a plain old Saturn…

Mr. Mayer, I have warned you about disparaging Toyota and Honda and now you have called down the thunder. There is no definitive proof that Hondas or Toyotas have anything to do with gastrointestinal processes….except for the millions of people that complain of diarrhea after driving them. See? You were off point and I have exposed your mistake. You are a poor debater, sir. It’s a wonder you are still Mayer.

This is good news – there are some very nice, stylish cars in the Renault portfolio – as well as some really fun ones. Lets hope they will give us some of the good stuff.

I really don’t care about what badge the car has anymore – call it turd motors for all I care – as long as I can get a nice sedan or wagon with decent performance, handling and a realistic price (bonus points if it is RWD). There are plenty of these above $35-45k, but almost nothing below. The Pontiac G8 fit, but…

I don’t know about all of this and don’t know much about French built cars. Are they reliablle. I remember when Renault was over here years ago with AMC but it did’nt work out that well then. Has Renault improved immeasurably in that time frame? That is hard to say. Only time will tell. and an Experiment in making Saturns cars may not be the best thing either. Perhaps crappy the French way. instead of the Lazy American General Motors of Yore way instead.

You guys talk about Renault like we are still in the 80’s. The Renault 5 was gone a LONG time ago! It’s like talking about the American cars from the 80’s for today’s cars. I understand you haven’t seen any Renault for a long time (over 25 years!) but please be a little bit open minded.
BTW, in the last CARS mag. the test driver said the Megane R26R was more fun than a GT3 at the ‘Ring.

Bottom line Renault came a long way and offer very good, reliable cars and share many parts and platforms with Nissan.

Roger, Bring in the Megane R26R and the Clio Cup please, I would buy one…

Give me a car that look nice and good gas mileage and you will have a winner. Well toyota are plain but they do have decent gas mileage.

so if you get those two .. it win win

I just looked at the Renault line up at wikipedia. The Clio, Megane, and Laguna could easily sell in the U.S., maybe even the Koleos SUV. The Modus could compete against the Nissan Cube and the Scion xB. That’s 4 or 5 cars that would give Penske Saturn a complete lineup. The rest would need a redesign before being acceptable.