General Motors Corp. has a tentative deal to sell its Saturn brand to auto racing magnate Roger Penske's dealership group, 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 now.
“I would expect that the model that we're putting together, the distribution model, will be profitable day one,” Penske said. “We'll have fewer 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. Initially, GM will continue to produce on a contract basis the Saturn Aura sedan as well as the Vue and Outlook crossover vehicles. But Penske said he is in talks with global car manufacturers about building Saturn cars in the future.
The sale marks a new chapter for Saturn, which GM had been trying to sell since earlier this year as part of its turnaround plan.
Local reaction
Saturn of the Carolinas, which includes stores in
“He (Penske) has a very good reputation and a good name. I think it will be very, very good for us,” Maynor said. We've been doing really well with used car sales, and having the Penske name behind us, too, I think is going to help us a lot.”
GM Chairman Roger Smith first unveiled the Saturn brand in November 1983, describing it as a revolutionary new way to build and sell small cars in
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
