It is official: GM will sell Saturn to Penske

[cubefx]

Yahoo link

The good news is we're getting the Renault Megane.


CUBE

[Big Panda]

According to Penske: "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."

I guess this statement by Penske answered one question: He's NOT building any cars, only importing them. Again, goes back to the Renault-Samsung connection. From the sounds of it though, the current Saturn dealerships will be offered franchises first. Maybe expand the smart brand and include them with those Saturn dealers.

Doing so would make buying and servicing your smart much more convenient.

[curtis]

this is why the government should not have bailed them out. They should have let them fail and GM would have been forced to do this back in Oct. This is great for America that GM is selling off it's brands to independent companies, this will just give more choice and more innovation when 50% of all brands aren't under one big umbrella. Penske said he will keep the Saturn dealers Saturn only but I doubt it when he will now have the opportunity to expand the Smart dealers into almost every city if he wants. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if Penske has a Smart-esque Saturn built..

[nonuro]

One of the best cars I ever had was a 1979 Renault R5.Drove that thing till it rusted away.200,000+ miles with minimum servicing.If only I could have counted on my Senta half as much as I could count on that old R5.

[Big Panda]

Originally Posted by Big Panda

According to Penske: "We'll not be in the manufacturing side."

Originally Posted by curtis

Also, I wouldn't be surprised if Penske has a Smart-esque Saturn built..

Again, he's NOT BUILDING CARS. He'll only be importing them, much like he does with the smart.

Expect the Saturn deal to be a mirror image of the smart distribution model. Saturn had a great slogan in the beginning: "A Different Kind of Car Company". The only problem was that they became what they so much protested: cars labeled as Saturns that were really Pontiacs or Opels. They had such promise and did so well, but then GM couldn't keep their hands off and they became just another GM car line.

In my opinion, the Saturn dealers will become just like smart centers, in that it will be "Here's your price on the windsheild (sticker). Good news for you? No hassle, no haggle. One price....period." And I would imagine that there would be a some sort of 'no compete clause' in that if you went to one Saturn dealer and got a price, regardless if you have a trade or not, you'll get the same price. Trade-In value will be strickly by book, no more, no less. Some call that 'price fixing', yet some customers just eat that up.

[BigWarpGuy]

I think he should make a ForFour and ForFun (a redesigned Saturn Sky). Perhaps a Smart For4Four SUV too? Just thinking out loud. It would be great to save American jobs and help boost the economy; IMO.

I think Penske should rename Saturn Pluto and use the Disney Pluto as a mascot.

(just kidding ).