Canadian Supplier Magna Interested in Saturn, Bloomberg Says
May 19, 2009
Canadian supplier Magna International Inc., which is in contention for General Motors' European operations, is in talks with GM about acquiring Saturn, Bloomberg News
reports. However, Magna has not made a bid under GM's June 1 deadline to accept offers, unnamed sources told Bloomberg
.
Penske Automotive Group Inc. and private-equity firm Black Oak Partners LLC have said they're interested in Saturn. Nissan may team with Penske to make and sell Saturns, sources told Bloomberg.
GM considers Black Oak and Penske to be the most serious potential bidders, according to Bloomberg's sources familiar with Magna's interest.
Magna declined to comment to Bloomberg.
A buyer acquiring both Saturn and Opel would benefit from the engineering links between the two brands, because Opel supplies the architecture for most Saturn vehicles, Bloomberg
points out.
GM will continue to build Saturns through the end of 2009. Should a new owner be found by year's end, GM would keep making the autos on a contract basis as late as the end of 2011, Saturn officials have said.
Black Oak, based in Oklahoma City, announced its interest in Saturn last month and said it is working with a group of Saturn dealers. Penske CEO Roger Penske said earlier this month that his company "has looked at Saturn."
One concept that has been floated is that Saturn could be the distributor of vehicles built by other manufacturers from around the world. To that end, the Nissan-Renault affiliation with Penske could do just that.
Photo by GM
The Saturn Astra sold in North America is an Opel Astra made in Europe.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 11:16 AM under | Comments (1) | digg this | Seed Newsvine
When Saturn first emerged in the 1980's, I worked at Asahi Glass the innovative company selected to design and supply all the glass for the early Saturn vehicles, primarily from its plant in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. I have been considering the queston of what is best for Saturn as a brand for a couple of weeks and have concluded that if Penske were successful, the brand would survive and prosper. My thoughts are:
- Roger Penske is a perfectionist and would make sure that Saturn is run in a way that assures success.
- Penske will not make the mistake that GM made so Saturn will again be a different stand alone car company that will have the ability to once again reinvent what a car is by trying new materials and processes...an innovative vehicle produced in an innovative manner.
- Saturn the brand will emerge as a symbol of Spring Hill Tennessee with hoardes of fanatical owners who will again be willing to pay a flat price for a special vehicle. And they will be willing to drive a hundred miles just to go to a Saturn dealer.
- When Saturn once again becomes a unique vehicle, the best suppliers in the world will offer innovations and technologies to Saturn as they did in the early 90's. It will become a prestige to be a Saturn supplier.
- Unfortunately, Saturn would never survive if it remained with GM.
Posted by: rahayescpm | May 22, 2009 at 2:26 PM