--- In clubsaturn@yahoogroups.com, Bruce Rubin <barubin_cars@...> wrote:
>
> I just read this:
>
>
http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/autos_content_landing_pages/1001/gm-to-s\
ell-saturn-brand-to-penske-dealership-chain/;_ylc=X3oDMTE3cmhncjFqBF9TAz\
I3MTYxNDkEc2VjA2ZwLXRvZGF5BHNsawNzYXR1cm4tc29sZA--
> GM to Sell Saturn Brand to Penske Dealership Chain
> GM strickes tentative deal to sell Saturn brand to Penske Automotive
Group dealer chain
>
> By Dan Strumpf and Tom Krisher, AP Auto Writers
>
> NEW YORK (AP) -- General Motors Corp. has a tentative deal to sell its
Saturn brand to former race car driver and dealership group owner Roger
Penske, both companies said Friday.
>
>
> Penske has signed a memorandum of understanding that would give his
dealership chain, Penske Automotive Group, Saturn's 350 dealerships, the
companies said. Penske said that he expects to offer all the dealers new
franchise agreements and will retain all 13,000 Saturn employees for the
immediate term.
>
>
> "I would expect that the model that we're putting together, the
distribution model, will be profitable day one," Penske said in an
interview with The Associated Press. "We'll have less costs. We'll not
be in the manufacturing side."
>
>
> Neither Penske nor GM would say how much Penske is paying for the
brand. Penske said he expects the deal to close in the third quarter.
>
>
> Penske Automotive Group also distributes Daimler AG's Smart
subcompacts in the U.S., but Smart has its own dealership network and
Saturn dealers will continue to exclusively distribute Saturn vehicles,
Penske said.
>
>
> Initially, GM will continue to produce on a contract basis the Saturn
Aura sedan as well as the Vue and Outlook SUVs, the companies said. But
Penske said he is in talks with manufacturers around the world about
building Saturn cars in the future.
>
>
> "We will be selling as many GM cars -- a many GM-produced cars --
under the Saturn brand as possible," Penske told reporters in a
conference call Friday.
>
>
> GM had announced plans earlier this year to sell the Saturn brand. The
car maker launched Saturn in 1990 with the tagline "a different kind of
car company." GM's hope was that Saturn would attract younger buyers
with smaller, hipper cars to better compete with Japanese imports. It
built a new plant in Spring Hill, Tenn., devoted to Saturn production.
>
>
> The factory had more flexible work rules than traditional GM plants
for the employees who built the cars.
>
>
> Despite a cult-like following that drew thousands to annual reunions
in Spring Hill, the brand never made money for GM. The factory stopped
making Saturns in 2007 and currently builds only the Chevrolet Traverse.
>
>
> As GM focused more on high-profit pickup trucks and sport utility
vehicles, Saturn began to languish in the late 1990s. Then in 2006, car
buyers began to find Saturn's new models more appealing. But after a
good year in 2007, sales dropped 22 percent last year as the U.S. car
market withered.
>
>
> Today, Saturn production is scattered at plants across the U.S. The
Aura is built at GM's factory at Kansas City, Kansas. The Outlook is
built in Lansing, Mich., while the Vue is built in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico.
>
>
> The Saturn Sky roadster is built in Wilmington, Del., but that plant
is scheduled to close in July and the model will be discontinued. The
Saturn Astra was imported from GM's plant in Antwerp, Belgium, and was
discontinued last year.
>
>
> Penske Automotive will take over the separate Saturn parts factory in
Spring Hill, which will continue to make Saturn components.
>
>
> Penske Automotive owns the second-largest U.S. automobile retail chain
by sales and consistently scores high in customer satisfaction surveys.
the company also has race teams in the IndyCar, NASCAR and Grand-Am
series. Penske received wide acclaim for heading Detroit's successful
effort to host the 2006 Super Bowl.
>
>
> Carl F. Galeana, who owns two Saturn dealerships north of Detroit,
said Friday he was thrilled that Penske would be the Saturn buyer.
>
>
> "Roger Penske is an icon in the business world," Galeana said. "I've
worked with him personally. Nobody works harder than Roger Penske."
>
>
> Galeana said the fact that Penske is interested in Saturn means the
brand has value.
>
>
> "It allows Saturn to get back to its original roots, which is to be an
independent car company," he said.
>
>
> GM, which filed for bankruptcy court protection on Monday, has said it
plans to shed its Saturn, Hummer, Pontiac and Saab brands. Earlier this
week, GM said it found a buyer for Hummer in China's Sichuan Tengzhong
Heavy Industrial Machinery Co.
>
>
> However, any such deal would require Chinese Commerce Ministry
approval, and reports in state-run newspapers Friday said Sichuan
Tengzhong had not yet obtained such an approval.
>
>
> Tom Krisher reported from Detroit.
>
>
>
>
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