Idaho’s Saturn dealer says GM's sale to Penske is a 'dream come true’

Earlier this week, Jim Chalfant was closing down his Saturn dealership in Boise and moving the cars to a Nampa dealership where he is part-owner.

Now, he’s learned that the cars he’s been selling will likely have a former race car driver for the company owner.

General Motors Corp. has a tentative deal to sell its Saturn brand to Roger Penske, owner of Penske Automotive Group, one of the largest dealership chains in the country.

Penske has signed a memorandum of understanding that would give his chain Saturn’s 350 dealerships, the companies said. Penske told reporters that he expects to offer all the dealers new franchise agreements and will retain all 13,000 Saturn employees for the immediate term.

Neither Penske nor GM would say how much Penske is paying for the brand. Penske said he expects the deal to close in the third quarter.

Chalfant, who moved his Saturn cars to the Edmark Superstore in Nampa to make way for his Volkswagen Audi dealership in Boise, said the sale will alleviate a lot of uncertainty about Saturn’s future.

Penske has a good track record in the automotive industry, he said. “Just about everything he’s been involved in has been a significant success,” Chalfant said.

Penske Automotive Group also distributes Daimler AG’s Smart subcompacts in the U.S., but Smart has its own dealership network and Saturn dealers will continue to exclusively distribute Saturn vehicles, Penske said.

Initially, GM will continue to make cars for Saturn for two years, Penske said. But he also said he is in talks with manufacturers around the world about building Saturn cars in the future.

“We will be selling as many GM-produced cars under the Saturn brand as possible,” Penske said.

Penske Automotive owns the second-largest U.S. automobile retail chain by sales. It also owns heavy-duty engine manufacturer Detroit Diesel and has race teams in the IndyCar, NASCAR and Grand-Am series.

GM, which filed for bankruptcy court protection on Monday, has said it plans to shed its Saturn, Hummer, Pontiac and Saab brands. Earlier this week, GM said it found a buyer for Hummer in China’s Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co.

However, any such deal would require Chinese Commerce Ministry approval, and reports in state-run newspapers Friday said Sichuan Tengzhong had not yet obtained such an approval.