Roger Penske considers buying Saturn..

[Glennm27]

Roger Penske considers making bid for Saturn
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Roger Penske says he is contemplating a bid for the Saturn automotive brand that General Motors Corp. plans to sell or shut down.
While Penske has not yet made an offer, he said Friday May 8 a decision would have to come soon and that a number of unidentified details need to be worked out.
Penske has a vested interest in the automotive industry. He owns the second-largest U.S. automobile retail chain in terms of sales, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Penske Automotive Group Inc.
He also owns heavy-duty engine manufacturer Detroit Diesel and has race teams in the IndyCar, NASCAR and Grand-Am series.
But Penske denied that he has made a deal and said published reports are ahead of the process.

[carboman]

Now that would be cool!

[92RAGTOP]

Saturn is most gaseous I'd go for Jupitor if I were him, more bang for the buck. :D

I know cheap easy shot.

[novat_99]

Looks like some Saturns will be collectors items afterall....

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/GM-to-shut-down-Saturn-after-apf-1669090380.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=1&asset=&ccode=

[Glennm27]

Yea, Roger came to his senses this afternoon and decided against buying all the Saturn outposts.

In turn, GM decided to give up and Saturn's 20 year existence has come to an end....

[carboman]

Don't you mean 20 year cash sucking GM nightmare?


Below is a link to an article from 1985 about GM's hopes for for its new Saturn division.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,956283,00.html

[hcvone]

Makes sense, they finally make nice looking saturn cars and SUV's so don't sell the brand, just close them down, it's only tax payer money :(

[carboman]

Makes sense, they finally make nice looking saturn cars and SUV's so don't sell the brand, just close them down, it's only tax payer money :(

You got that right Carl.

I do have to say some of GM's new vehicles are probably the best they've ever built. The Chevy Equinox/GMC Terrain and Buick LaCrosse are beautiful and appear to be a good value too. I do have to laugh about one thing though. GM has a another name for the LaCrosse in Canada. It seems that in French Canadian "LaCrosse" is slang for pleasuring one's self. Is that a new form of carjacking?

I can hear you all groaning :D

[C5pilot]

So I guess all those commercials they've been pumping out lately was a big waste of money. I guess we paid for those too.

[Mike Campbell]

Well, if you count the "Cash for Clunkers" we also paid for the Japanese, Koreans & Germans too! How about that! ;at Aren't we "special"...

[JTWard]

Makes sense, they finally make nice looking saturn cars and SUV's so don't sell the brand, just close them down, it's only tax payer money :(

I don;t understand all the politics of the rejection by Roger Penske to cancel his purchase of Saturn. And now of all times, I think the engineering and styling of Saturns are finally really acceptably and I mean here in this country or if they shipped the whole factories over to England or somewhere else. But i think they "Could' make a profit off this car for once in it's lifespan. If it's cut off right now, our taxpayer money goes uo in all the smoke from it's demise.

Now if Mr. Penske was interested in Pontiac, that could turn out a really hot product. The G8 or the GTO, these car are crying out for a logically and stylized hand to adjust them and turn a profit. Pontiac could do that ! :rolleyes:

[hcvone]

I don;t understand all the politics of the rejection by Roger Penske to cancel his purchase of Saturn. And now of all times, I think the engineering and styling of Saturns are finally really acceptably and I mean here in this country or if they shipped the whole factories over to England or somewhere else. But i think they "Could' make a profit off this car for once in it's lifespan. If it's cut off right now, our taxpayer money goes uo in all the smoke from it's demise.

Now if Mr. Penske was interested in Pontiac, that could turn out a really hot product. The G8 or the GTO, these car are crying out for a logically and stylized hand to adjust them and turn a profit. Pontiac could do that ! :rolleyes:

It sounded like Penske had a deal with the CEO of Renault to built the cars in one of their plants, but the Renault board turned it down after some outside union pressure, and they could not build then here and make any money because of the union deals, but the tax payers can afford it. :eek:

[gradeiv]

From reading some of the posts on this thread, I believe many did not understand the proposed agreement between Roger Penske and Motors Liquidation Company Saturn (MLCS LLC) formerly known as Saturn, LLC.

Penske was buying the brand and distribution system. He was not buying the engineering, development, validation, and manufacturing capability to continue to produce the existing Saturn line of vehicles. MLCS LLC had agreed to continue to produce vehicles for only a short period of time (through 2011 model year). The manufacturing facilities that currently produce Saturn vehicles exclusively are part of Motors Liquidation Corporation (formerly General Motors Corp). They are (and were always planned) to be liquidated. Those that produce Saturn vehicles as well as other (new GM) vehicles will cease to produce the Saturn vehicle.

Penske was attempting to find another manufacturer to build vehicles he could sell as Saturns after the products supplied by MLCS LLC were no longer produced. (In effect like the Honda Passport that was sold by Honda but actually designed, engineered, validated, and manufactured by Isuzu). Penske was unable to get another existing automotive manufacturer, or a large scale automotive supplier, (like Magna) to supply product (whether they be called Saturns, or any other name) he could sell in these dealerships after the MLCS LLC supplies dried up.

The end result is that Saturn dealerships, which are all new and in prime locations, will be looking to either sell another product or be sold for real estate. Many of their employees will be hurt severely.