Roger Penske has always been ambitious in his business pursuits and this week it has been announced that ‘The Captain’ is set purchase all of Saturn. However after being told that he could not legally purchase the hydrogen filled luminous body, he decided to simply to turn his attention to the defunct GM brand of the same name. 

General Motors is in the midst of a fire sale, yes thats right, all the big brands, Saab, Hummer, Pontiac and more, have all got to go! As the automotive giant remains on a $15.4billion government subsidised life support system, its restructure has meant bargains are to be had!. Considering their dire financial situation, the announcement made last week of GM’s brand restructure, surprised noone. The move will see GM offload several brands in a move to focus their attention to their ‘core four’, Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC. Saturn is one of the brands that didn’t make the cut.

Saturn Corporation was established in 1985 to combat the success of  Japanese imports in the small car market. First dubbed as ‘The different kind of car company’, it was always the poor cousin to GM’s more premier brands such as Chevrolet and Cadillac.

Like much of the US Automotive industry, Saturn suffered heavily from mismanagement and the imports it was designed to compete with, eventually accounted for its demise. Saturn spokesman Steve Janisse has revealed that several bids for the company have been made, however they wouldn’t be revealing any of the interested parties until early June.

A cautious Tony Porson, spokesman for Penske Automotive Group has stated they are considering the Saturn purchase, “It’s very premature to assume anything will be done. I can confirm to you that we are looking at it”. Roger Penske has achieved virtually everything in the automotive world, however resurrecting a car company may be too much even for ‘The Captain’. 

Saying that, Roger Penske’s motorsport interests are as vast as they are succesful, with teams running in IndyCar, NASCAR and ALMS. His stint into Formula One in the mid 70’s recorded a victory and he has more Indy 500 than any other team owner. Off the track the Penske Empire also includes the world’s second largest automotive dealer network, Penske Automotive, representing over 250 franchises. If anyone can do what General Motors couldn’t, It’d be Roger Penske to do it.