Report: Penske leads Saturn bidding, announcement as early as tomorrow
06/04/2009, 5:15 PM
By Andrew Ganz
Several news sources are reporting that auto racing and new car sales mogul Roger Penske’s Penske Group is nearing a memorandum of understanding to purchase the Saturn brand from General Motors. Though neither party would confirm it, a report suggests that an announcement could be made as soon as 24 hours from now.
The Detroit News reports on its website that unnamed sources indicate negotiations could continue into the weekend before anything is signed.
The source said that one of Saturn’s handful of bidders – whittled down from the dozen or so GM had said were interested – would consider using Mitsubishi-supplied vehicles to keep Saturn going, but the source would not confirm the identity of that potential bidder.
Rumors indicate that Penske has been talking primarily to Nissan about using some of its products to create future Saturns.
GM brand clearance
The news comes just days after word that GM has sold Hummer to a Chinese manufacturing company.
Earlier today, Saab confirmed that it has enough cash on hand to continue operating until it finalizes its new ownership; the Swedish brand has two serious bidders – believed to be American investment firm Renco and Swedish automaker Koenigsegg – and it is also supposedly being pursued by Fiat.
Finally, GM said today that it could be willing to sell its Pontiac brand, which it had previously said it would close. Some analysts had predicted that GM would hold onto the historic Pontiac name, much like Oldsmobile, so that it could be used again in the future if the opportunity presented itself. Given the limited number of stand-alone Pontiac dealerships – just 35 – GM agrees that it could be difficult to sell the unit, but says it is willing to do whatever it takes to raise cash.
06/04, 5:32 PM
posted by:
slider5634
And here I was looking forward to seeing some Renaults imported to the States from Europe. Oh well… Whatever happens, Mitsubishi sourced vehicles is a plain bad idea; just ask the Chrysler group. For that matter, I’ve not been overly impressed by Nissan as of late either.
06/04, 5:33 PM
posted by:
slider5634
^ which now that I think about it is kind of unusual considering Nissan is owned by Renault. Oops… Open mouth, insert foot.
06/04, 5:37 PM
posted by:
6ix
I’d still like to see Saturn stay around as rebadged Opels.
06/04, 6:37 PM
posted by:
yarddog82abn
Funny how everyone is taking a peace the GM pie, Some will survive and others will fall.
06/04, 6:56 PM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
Roger just wants his own brand to race in NASCAR. Even Hendrick can’t make that claim.
06/04, 8:12 PM
posted by:
Blakkarr
First, I hope SAAB becomes wholly Swedish again.
Second, I would hope Penske has more ambitious plans than to carry re-badged cars from the third party. maybe push to build that Alpha Platform and some wholly original cars as well.
06/04, 8:13 PM
posted by:
Borat
Imagine Saturn badged Smart? That’s a trip.
06/04, 8:13 PM
posted by:
jdasch1
Everything Roger Penske touches turns to GOLD…I hope he gets it. He then would have the most modern group of dealerships in the world. Saturn dealerships are all about customer experience and satisfaction…now they just need some cars to rave about!!
06/05, 2:30 AM
posted by:
Kid Icarus
Who cares about Saturn? I would absolutely love to see SAAB Swedish owned again, by Koenigsegg, and see them return to their glory days before GM ran them into the ground.
06/05, 3:53 AM
posted by:
orangecones
Penske already pretty much controls the smart network in the US. Combining this with Saturn could be interesting. As for where the cars will come from, I guess this all depends. If they are gonna be straight rebadges of Mitsu/Nissans that we already have (…a la Suzuki Equator vs Nissan Frontier), that would be bad. If they are some non-US market models (ie…the good ones), then we may have something interesting. Saturn X-Trail anyone?
06/05, 6:56 AM
posted by:
carstuff
Kid, if Saab becomes Swedish owned it will not last long. A small company like Saab cannot make it in todays world.
I would think Penske would sell multiple branded vehicles at Saturn dealerships.
06/05, 8:32 AM
posted by:
ricky_b
Mitsu???? Has anyone been reading their volume sales in the US lately. GM is getting rid of Saturn which sold 8k in volume last month and 140k in the last 12 months. Mitsu in US sold 4.4k last month and 73k in the past 12 months. Folks, Mitsu has sold about 1/2 of what Saturn has sold. Not the company to be basing things on and I really questions how much longer Mitsu can survive in US.
I’m not saying that Mitsu doesn’t have a few good products, but they don’t have enough to sustain themselves and Saturn without some serious influx of cash.
As for Nissan/Renault. That one could be interesting, especially if they kept Saturn as more of the European outlet that GM had started to setup with Opel. Do the same but know with Renault.
Just know sure exactly what track Penske would take.
06/05, 9:48 AM
posted by:
saabaru1
OH PLEASE OH PLEASE OH PLEASE ROGER PENSKE BUY PONTIAC TOO.
06/05, 9:59 AM
posted by:
saabaru1
ps- if you are hiring, I will start off sweeping floors if thats what it takes.
06/05, 12:27 PM
posted by:
shaver
Roger has the resources, connections and cahones. But the question is, what is he going to sell? Smart seems like an obvoius answer he is already knee deep in it and it has drastically underperformed his original expectations. To me the obvoius thing is Opel. But what do they have that is ready for US regs now? The same with Renault, Fiat or PSA, who all want access to Umerica $. Maybe they can keep pimping rebadged GM products.