GM to sell Saturn to Penske

[redfire69]

http://money.cnn.com/2009/06/05/news/companies/saturn_penske/index.htm?postversion=2009060509

[The Stickman]

It will be cool to see what Roger Penske will do with it. The Indycar fans are all wondering if this means a new engine manufacturer in Saturn.

[Mathius]

I asked this before, but what does one do when they've "purchased" Saturn?

All existing Saturn models use GM bodies, GM drivetrains, GM suspensions. Aren't they really just purchasing the name?

How does this work?

Mathius

[MrQuick]

From what I understand, they will re badge production cars. ie: Daihatsu brand

Sort of what VW & Nissan do. Who knows what went with the deal but I know of a few idle factories.

vince

[Twentyover]

The rights to sell dealership franchises, the name and goodwill of customers, the business name.

Roger can go to any manufacturer in the world and ask them tobuild a US version of one of their cars, and market it. Probably roll smart cars intothe Saturn label or dealership network.

[TonyL]

Penske has already established they intend to go to manufacturers and ask them to build cars they'd like rebadged as Saturns here. Should be interesting. There's a load of cool cars out there.

[Damn True]

What is GM going to do with Opel. Curious since two of the current line of Saturn's are re-badged Opels.

[BuddyP]

A company called Magna and a russian investment group (??) bought majority in Opel. GM to have 35%

[Boyd]

Penske has already established they intend to go to manufacturers and ask them to build cars they'd like rebadged as Saturns here. Should be interesting. There's a load of cool cars out there.

If that's the way he's gonna do it, with the amount of money he has, why bother buying a sub-par brand to begin with? Seems like he could have created his own brand and approached all of the orphaned dealerships (including the GM and Chrysler dealers recently stripped of their franchise contracts) to carry his badge-engineered cars.

[Damn True]

If that's the way he's gonna do it, with the amount of money he has, why bother buying a sub-par brand to begin with? Seems like he could have created his own brand and approached all of the orphaned dealerships (including the GM and Chrysler dealers recently stripped of their franchise contracts) to carry his badge-engineered cars.

Better to start with a brand that already has recognition and a loyal, albeit small, repeat customer base.

Everyone knows what a Saturn is, and knows what the brand represents in terms of the "sales experience". Even if the product hasn't been all that attractive of late, that brand and that recognition is highly valuable and would be very difficult to establish from scratch.

[moreHP]

I like the fact that a real "car guy" bought it and hopefully can do some interesting things with it. And it also looks like several people with ties to Saturn will get to keep their jobs, so thats a big plus too.

[trapin]

I couldn't be happier. I am a big fan of Saturn and will continue to be (even though they will now be rebadged Japanese cars). But if I know Roger, he won't sell junk. I also would not be surprised to hear Bob Lutz getting involved when his tenure is done at GM next year.

[79-TA]

Let's just hope Penske doesn't pull another Detroit Diesel type stunt with Saturn in a couple of years . . .

[megaladon6]

but wouldn't it have made more sense to go with Pontiac? as least they have some race heritage.