Penske to Buy Saturn: Small and Efficient Is the Mantra For the Future

Saturn Logo

Last week GM and Penske Auto Group announced that Penske would be buying the Saturn brand. A company that was once started to revolutionize the customer buying and service experience will start a new chapter. What will they sell? Penske gave an exclusive interview to Edmunds.com’s Inside Line that explained the company's strategy for the future.

For the near term GM will be providing the Saturn Vue, Saturn Aura and Saturn Outlook to the Penske Auto Group for sale in the Saturn dealerships. This will continue for the next three years with possibilities to extend the contract at the end of the contract. Why three years? That is the current model life cycle for the three cars named above, so for both GM and Penske that is a logical first step. While they are limping along with those three models, Penske will shop Saturn around to other manufacturers worldwide to try and find new small and economical cars to sell under the Saturn brand.

2009 Saturn Aura

2009 Saturn Sky

Currently, there are no plans to continue the Saturn Sky roadster, so the Saturn brand will loose its only real performance car. Penske will also put the Redline performance models on hold until the production volumes rise back up to the 150,000 to 200,000 mark. If they can revive the Saturn brand, which will mean sales higher than the current annual vehicle sales of fewer than 100,000 units, then they can offer more specialty items. It is interesting to note that GM has now lost both roadsters that actually compete with cars like the Mazda Miata—the Pontiac Solstice and the Saturn Sky.

Bottom line—While Penske might be able to save Saturn, it would have be nice if GM would have allowed them to save Pontiac instead given its rich history. However, with Penske behind the wheel of Saturn we might just see it race to the top of the small car market.

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