Penske may make offer for Saturn

Little6pack

Active Member
Joined
Jun 2, 2002
Penske sees short time frame for Saturn offer
INDIANAPOLIS -- Roger Penske said Friday that he know he's operating in a "short time frame" if he wants to bid for the Saturn brand of General Motors Corp.

Penske said his company, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Penske Automotive Group Inc., hasn't yet made an offer for Saturn. Penske Automotive confirmed Monday it had an interest in Saturn.

GM is looking to sell or phase out Saturn by the end of the year as it races to a meet a government-imposed June 1 deadline to restructure or seek bankruptcy protection.

Roger Penske acknowledged that a decision on an offer would have to come soon while saying that a number of unspecified details need to be worked out.

GM said earlier this week that several parties expressed interest in buying the brand and its dealerships.

Penske has a vested interest in the automotive industry. Penske Automotive owns the second-largest U.S. automobile retail chain in terms of sales, Bloomfield Hills. Penske also owns heavy-duty engine manufacturer Detroit Diesel and has race teams in the IndyCar, NASCAR and Grand-Am series.

"Saturn, obviously, is one of the divisions which General Motors is either going to sell or close down and we have a distribution experience bringing the Smart Car into the United States," he said.

"At this particular time, we've made no offer to GM, we're in a due diligence stage, and it's a very short time frame," Penske added.
 
If Penske gets Saturn and runs it like his dealerships, Saturn has a pretty good chance. We just completed the masonry on one of his Honda dealerships and he has complete control over layout and attention to detail. Everything is designed and built to simplify, streamline, and make everything run as efficiently as possible for both the customers and the dealer, especially the mechanics. He also regularly visits and knows everything that's going on at his dealerships. You'd swear the dealership we just finished was for a nameplate much higher end than Honda.
 
if he does aquire saturn. he needs to come to our dealer and rebuild it. Our dump saturn dealer building is 30 years old. It would be nice to work in a updated facility.
 
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