Penske calls off Saturn deal, brand will close

IndyCar team owner and dealer magnate Roger Penske will not buy Saturn and the brand will be shuttered, General Motors said Wednesday.

GM said Penske called off discussions after failing to line up more future products. Penske had been in talks with Renault for vehicles.

GM CEO Fritz Henderson said in a statement: “This is very disappointing news and comes after months of hard work by hundreds of dedicated employees and Saturn retailers who tried to make the new Saturn a reality.

“PAG's [Penske Automotive Group's] announcement explained that their decision was not based on interactions with GM or Saturn retailers; rather, it was because of the inability to source new products beyond what it had asked GM to build on contract.”

Penske runs a Bloomfield Hills, Mich.,-based dealer chain that operates 310 franchises. It said in a statement that it had negotiated a deal with another manufacturer to supply product, but that company's board of directors rejected it.

“Without that agreement, the company has determined that the risks and uncertainties related to the availability of future products prohibit the company from moving forward with this transaction,” Penske said.

A preliminary deal was announced in June between Penske and GM. It would have saved 350 Saturn dealerships and 13,000 employees related to the brand.

Saturn has sold more than 4 million vehicles since 1990 and has been boosted lately by well-received products such as the Sky and the Aura.

GM earlier announced plans to jettison the brand, which critics have said siphons sales from Chevrolet. Saturn joins Pontiac as brands that the automaker will close as part of its restructuring. GM also has announced preliminary deals to sell Hummer, Saab and Opel.

By Greg Migliore