Roger Penske and Daimler Chairman Dr. Dieter Zetsche take a ride in a SMART car. Penske currently distributes SMART cars for Diamler in the U.S. and is rumored to be interested in purchasing Saturn from GM.

A day after General Motors released a vague statement declaring that it is moving to “the next step” in the sale of the Saturn brand it appears as though Roger Penske is one of the interested buyers.

Penske, a former race car driver and now the man at the top of an automotive empire is no stranger to the business, owning numerous dealerships. In fact, Penske’s dealership chain is listed as the second largest in the United States, accounting for 171,872 vehicles sold in the U.S. in 2008.

The Penske dealership network is not immune to the current economic climate, with Q1 profits down roughly 50 percent from the year previous. Still, the company managed a 16.2 million profit.

The Penske Automotive Group even distributes the SMART car for Mercedes/Daimler throughout the United States.

Currently Penske oversees three major racing initiatives in the NASCAR Sprint Cup, the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) and the Indy Racing League (IRL). He is also a well-known supporter of the city of Detroit and the U.S. auto industry, having helped bring the racing back to Detroit’s Belle Isle in recent years as well as assisting in bringing the Superbowl to the struggling city.

The Wall Street Journal cited an unnamed source in regards to Penske’s interest. The individual said that while Penske is interested, no offer has been made.

[Source: Automotive News]

[Photo Credit: TheAutoChanel]

A group of investors known as Telesto Ventures has put forward a serious proposal to purchase Saturn from General Motors and turn it into a network of retailers selling vehicles from foreign manufactures.

The business plan would have the Saturn continue selling GM-sourced products until 2011 at which point the dealer network would act more like a chain of retail stores, selling different economical and environmentally-friendly vehicles that would keep their distinct brand names.

John Pappanastos, a spokesman for Telesto, a group which includes private equity firm Black Oak Partners LLC, described the business model as being similar to the Best Buy electronics chain. “Customers deal with Best Buy because of the customer experience not because they are the only place to buy a Samsung or a Sony TV,” he said.

As that statement implied, the Telesto business model would permit these vehicles to be sold by other retailers as well.

Currently Pappanastos says Telesto is in talks with several foreign manufacturers.

As far fetched and unconventional as the proposal sounds, Telesto is quite serious and General Motors generally interested. GM spokesman Steve Janisse described the proposal as “very interesting and told Automotive News that, “I can tell you this is one of the interested parties with Saturn and we have been working with them throughout this process. There are other interested parties as well who we’re working with. But I can’t speculate on where all this will go.”

This news comes at a particularly interesting time as today a Saturn task force was scheduled to present a select group of Saturn dealers will a proposal to spin Saturn off as a separate company.

[Source: Automotive News]

Along with asking for $16.6 billion more in loans from the Federal Treasury, General Motors has made it clear that Saturn, Saab and Hummer will be sold off or eliminated.

GM has made it clear that Hummer is for sale if anyone is interested, and the same can be said for Saab, if the Swedish government doesn’t help out with some bailout funding.

As for Saturn, General Motors has said that it will continue to supply product to dealers through 2012 but won’t say any more than that. If you read between the lines, that means that unless something major happens, or a suitable buyer is found for Saturn, the General Motor’s brand will cease to exist in 2012.

General Motor execs have made it clear that the company will focus on four core brands in the future: Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac and Buick. According to GM Inside News’ sources inside GM, that means that Pontiac will be reduced to a niche brand.

GM Inside News also reports that Saturn will move to eliminate the Astra and Outlook sooner and hold on to the Aura, Vue and Sky until the end.

[Source: AutoNews and GMInsideNews.com]

With almost 8,000 out of 25,000 votes, Dana Roberts of Gilroy, CA was chosen as the “cheeky” winner of Saturn’s “Kiss my Astra” photo contest. As the Grand Prize Winner Dana was awarded a brand new Saturn Astra.

Several other prizes were also awarded, with $300 gift cards going to the first five runners up, and all remaining finalists receiving a $100 gift card.

The contest was kicked off earlier this year with Vice Chairman of Global Product Development Bob Lutz submitting the first photo.

See Bob Lutz kissing Astra, after the jump:

[Source ImSaturn.com]

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