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GM reaches deal to sell Saturn brand to Penske
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 05 - 06 - 2009


General Motors Corp has reached
a preliminary agreement to sell its Saturn brand to Penske
Automotive Group in a deal that could preserve more than 350
dealerships and 13,000 jobs, Reuters cited the companies as saying today.
The tentative deal for Saturn, which the companies hope to
complete in the third quarter, would be the second sale of a
brand announced by GM since it filed for bankruptcy on Monday
in an effort to drop unprofitable lines and leave court
protection as a leaner company.
Penske, the No. 2 U.S. auto dealership group, would acquire
rights to the Saturn brand and other assets, while bankrupt GM
would continue production of the Saturn Aura, Vue and Outlook
on a contract basis if the transaction were completed, GM and
Penske said. Terms were not disclosed.
"This is a day that we have all been hoping would come
together, since probably the end of November when GM made its
first viability plan," said Todd Ingersoll, a Saturn dealer
from Connecticut and a member of the Saturn dealer steering
group.
GM created Saturn in 1984 to compete with Japanese vehicles
in terms of quality and service and initiated no-haggle
flat-price sales for its models. The Saturn brand has
languished for the last decade, and GM said in February that it
would either be spun off or shut.
"The win for the Saturn team is that the brand lives and
the win for the retailers is our investment and our belief that
we work for a great company has been upheld by someone like
(Penske Chairman) Roger Penske, who really mirrors a lot of the
Saturn beliefs, that customers come first," Ingersoll said.
GM had said that more than a dozen buyers had expressed
interest in the Saturn brand and its retail network. Penske had
also said it was interested in the Saturn brand in early May.
GM plans to narrow its focus to the Chevrolet, Buick, GMC
and Cadillac brands and trim its dealership network.
The automaker has notified about 1,100 dealerships that it
would not renew their long-term agreements after October 2010,
and about 470 dealerships represent brands GM plans to trim
from its lineup: Saturn, Hummer, Saab and Pontiac.
Overall, GM expects to have about 3,600 dealerships, but
executives have said that figure is not etched in stone.
On Tuesday, GM announced plans to sell its Hummer brand to
little-known Chinese heavy equipment manufacturer Sichuan
Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery.
Shares of Penske were up 45 cents, or 3.08 percent, at
$15.05 Friday on the New York Stock Exchange. GM shares are
trading at 97.3 cents on the Pink Sheets.


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