SaturnFans.com Links

Penske has signed a memorandum of understanding that would give his dealership chain, Penske Automotive Group, Saturn's 350 dealerships, the companies said. Penske told reporters that he expects to offer all the dealers new franchise agreements and will retain all 13,000 Saturn employees for the immediate term. 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...

Tim Engstrom from News-Press: he pending sale of Saturn to an automotive icon has injected new enthusiasm into dealerships in Fort Myers and Cape Coral, owner Bob Goodman said. Goodman, who owns Saturn of Fort Myers and Saturn of Cape Coral, said sales and customer traffic have picked up in the month since General Motors announced it had a tentative agreement from the Penske Automotive Group to buy the brand. "Sales dramatically picked up after the Penske announcement," Goodman said. "I think a ...

John D. Stoll and Norihiko Shirozu from the Wall Street Journal: Foreign bidders are lining up to pick off parts of General Motors as the contraction of the U.S. auto industry sets the stage for a global reshuffling. French auto maker Renault SA has opened discussions about possibly supplying cars to be sold through GM's Saturn dealers, if GM lines up an owner for the Saturn network, people familiar with the matter said. Renault is holding discussions with Penske Automotive Group, a chain of abo...

Christian Wiessner from Reuters: Penske Automotive Group plans to complete a deal to buy Saturn from General Motors 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. Penske would acquire rights to the Saturn brand and would buy the inventory of replacement parts to serv...

Sharon Terlep from the Dow Jones Newswires: Auto magnate Roger Penske believed he was taking over General Motors' Saturn brand until the very last moments, when France's Renault shocked both Penske and GM by backing out of an agreement to provide vehicles. Penske addressed the failed deal Friday as he announced Penske Automotive Group's quarterly financial results. The company also disclosed it took a $1.9 million third-quarter charge on the Saturn deal. "We believed we were making substantial p...

Commentary by Gail Kerr from the Nashville Tennessean newspaper: It sounds like a bizarre Stephen King short story: tens of thousands of loyal people from all over the country drive the same brand of car to a small Tennessee farm town. But it really happened: People in the 1990s loved their Saturns so much, they came in droves to a motorized homecoming in sleepy Spring Hill. Those of us in their big sister city, Nashville, watched it all with a perplexed, and rather envious, feeling. The Saturn ...

Justin Hyde from the Detroit Free Press:President Barack Obama will announce on Monday the bankruptcy of General Motors Corp., launching a complicated, $59-billion effort to prevent the century-old juggernaut of American manufacturing from collapse. Backed by its unions, large bondholders, and the governments of the United States, Canada and Ontario, GM will file in New York a painful plan to cleave itself into a lean, government-owned automaker pared down to compete in a sputtering U.S. market....

Donna Harris and Chrissie Thompson from Automotive News: Former Chrysler LLC President Tom LaSorda has joined Penske Automotive Group to advise the retailer on a possible bid for General Motors' Saturn brand. Anthony Pordon, a spokesman for the second-largest U.S. dealership group, confirmed a Bloomberg News report saying LaSorda has been hired as a consultant. Penske Chairman Roger Penske said two weeks ago that his company is "looking at the future opportunities of the Saturn brand" but hadn't...

Vic Kolenc from the El Paso Times: Gerhard Mueller doesn't mince words when he speaks about his beloved Saturn and its relationship with General Motors. "There was a very strong political faction (within GM) that didn't like (Saturn) and sabotaged it from the beginning," said Mueller, owner of the Saturn dealerships in El Paso and Las Cruces. "They (GM) really starved it to death." Saturn, born 24 years ago as GM's import fighter, isn't dead. Instead, it's headed for a new life. Penske Automotiv...

Gabriele Parussini and A.H. Mooradian from the Dow Jones Newswires: Remarks from the head of French carmaker Renault suggested Wednesday that he hasn't been approached by General Motors about buying its troubled U.S. counterpart's Saturn unit. But Renault CEO Carlos Goshn was unclear about whether his company is interested in Saturn, or whether the issue has been broached with GM in some way. When asked at a news briefing whether Renault is in talks with GM, Goshn said, "GM hasn't asked us any q...

Richard Read from the Car Connection: No one can deny that French automaker Renault is on the move these days. In addition to its work with Nissan on electric vehicles, the company is in talks with Mercedes-Benz to develop a new model for Mercedes' Smart brand. And here in the U.S., the company is chatting with Roger Penske about selling Renault-badged vehicles on American lots alongside Saturn automobiles - automobiles that Renault's Samsung subsidiary may begin producing after General Motors p...

Robert Snell from the Detroit News: Renault has been in touch with a General Motors adviser about a deal for the endangered Saturn brand, which would open up the U.S. market to the French carmaker, according to a source familiar with discussions. There is a growing list of potential Saturn suitors that includes Detroit auto tycoon Roger Penske, who is interested in tapping the brand's dealer network and possibly finding a foreign manufacturer to make new vehicles. Penske and Saturn may join a ve...

Lindsay Chappell from Automotive News: In the eleventh hour of Roger Penske's venture to acquire Saturn from General Motors Co. to keep the brand alive, Renault's executive committee in France concluded, "Ca fait deux." Rough translation: "It's not going to come together." Despite Penske's statements that his organization had been in discussions with automakers around the world, ultimately his hopes had been pinned on only one: Renault. Penske and Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn are friends and talk fr...

David Pearson from the Wall Street Journal: Renault confirmed last week that it and its Japanese alliance partner Nissan are discussing a commercial deal to sell cars to Saturn, the former General Motors unit that was taken over by Penske Automotive Group (PAG) last month. Renault's chief operating officer Patrick Pelata told an an analysts' meeting that PAG Chief Executive Roger Penske is looking to forge commercial alliances with other car manufacturers. "He is looking for cars to sell. He has...

Doron Levin and Katie Merx from Bloomberg: Nissan, Japan's third-largest automaker, may join a venture with U.S. retailer Penske Automotive Group and General Motors' Saturn car brand, two people familiar with the matter said. The idea is that Nissan, its affiliate Renault or another automaker may make Saturn-brand vehicles for a new venture that could be operated by Penske and distributed through Saturn's retail network, said the people, who asked not to be named because discussions are private...