Fire Sale

June 5, 2009 by Dick.

NEW YORK — CNNMoney reports that General Motors Corp. will sell its Saturn unit to Penske Automotive Group, owned by racing and business legend Roger Penske. The deal gives Penske the rights to the brand, but GM will continue production of the Saturn Aura, Vue and Outlook.

If anyone can make it work, Mr. Penske can.

I hope he still has his unfair advantage.

Too bad Pontiac isn’t part of the deal. The excitement of the Pontiac line comes from Australia’s Holden right now: the G8, the GTO, and the El Camino-style Holden Ute which the motoring press called the G8TR (”Gator”) but Pontiac expected to sell as the G8 ST. Since Mr. Penske will “import” his Saturns from the GM plants, he could do the same with the best of the Pontiac line and sell them all under the “no haggle” Saturn roof.

Wow.

Shares of Penske (PAG) rose 3% in morning trading.

Meanwhile, GM announced on Tuesday it would sell its Hummer line to China’s Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Company Ltd. thus moving the U.S. Army’s primary ground vehicle production into the hands of a foreign nation.

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