Penske Wins Saturn; Castroneves Wins Indy

Posted on Nov 13, 2014 in Racing | 1 comment

Helio-Castroneves-and-Roger-Penske

Last month we talked about the possibility of Roger Penske taking control of Saturn and why that made good business sense. Today, he went ahead and did it. Penske Automotiveand GM reached an agreement for a price of $100-200 million, saidBloomberg. And let’s not forget: Helio Castroneves, driving a Penske car, won his third Indy 500 three weeks ago. These things are not unconnected.


But the Saturn deal seems to make everybody happy—not only because of Penske’s great background and ability in the automotive world, but because GM will contribute its vehicles to Saturn showrooms for at least two years. After that, according to Penske, “We would expect to have a line up going forward, which would be manufactured by a worldwide partner.” And he hopes these cars will be made in the U.S.A.


Further, he intends to have all 350 dealerships and 13,000 Saturn employees remain, at least for now. More details are in the news release here. That distribution network is what makes Saturn valuable, along with “a passionate customer base,” as Penske put it, that could well be revived.


His most relevant experience has been creating and operating the second-largest U.S. car distributorship group. But racing at Indy is in some ways more demanding than running a car company. It requires not only money and passion but close attention to detail and superb team management skills. If he can run Saturn like he wins races, Roger might even revive the company that GM did its best to kill off.

One comment

  1. tgriffith

    This is exactly the kind of thing that can re-ignite the auto industry. New life for a struggling brand, a racing hero extending his reach and influence, a passionate fan base excited for a new future… Saturn could very much become a strong player in U.S. auto-making! If… Penske doesn’t eventually ship production to China; then Saturn becomes just another import brand.