Penske Drops Plans to Aquire Brand From GM; Saturn Going Away
Penske Automotive Group today announced that it has terminated its discussion with General Motors to acquire the Saturn brand, spelling the end of the carmaker. The Penske Group cited concerns that it would have difficulty finding a supply of vehicles to sell beyond the terms of the period it had negotiated with General Motors. GM had planned to continue to supply Saturn cars for Penske in the near term.
Recent news reports had touted a pending announcement to reveal the details of the planned takeover of the troubled brand, but instead Wednesday Penske released a statement saying that due to the trouble in acquiring a reliable source for future products, it was forced to end discussions. For more details on the collapsed talks and Saturn's wind down, see our AutoObserver coverage, and GM's statement after the jump.
General Motors Media Statement Attributed President & CEO Fritz Henderson
Today we learned that Penske Automotive Group (PAG) has decided to terminate discussions with General Motors to acquire Saturn. 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 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.
As a result of PAG's decision, we will be winding down the Saturn brand and dealership network, in accordance with the wind-down agreements that Saturn dealers recently signed with GM. Pursuant to the terms of those agreements, the wind down process will be determined and communicated shortly.
Saturn customers and owners will continue to be able to purchase and have their vehicles serviced at Saturn retailers during this process. Once the wind down is complete, Saturn owners will still be able to have their vehicles serviced at other GM dealerships. We will be communicating with our customers very soon to explain the next steps in this process.
Today's disappointing news comes at a time when we'd hoped for a successful launch of the Saturn brand into a new chapter. We will be working closely with our dealers to ensure Saturn customers are cared for as we transition them to other GM dealers in the months ahead. I'd also like to thank every GM employee and Saturn retailer who worked so hard to try to make this new beginning happen for Saturn.
So sad, because Saturn had such a wonderfully customer friendly dealership model (and frankly GM dealerships are in my opinion their weakest link).
Everyone makes mistakes, but the key is to learn from them. GM's downfall has been (repeatedly) to be a very slow learner.