Zoomi Life

One of the troubled assets that General Motors has to liquidate to make the Obama Administration happy is the Saturn brand.  The sub-company is a consistent money-loser for GM, despite its popularity.  A group made up of current Saturn dealers and an Oklahoma City private equity firm are offering to buy the brand.

The group is led by Black Oak Partners, but is not the only group to come forward with an offer, according to GM. The automaker refuses to disclose whether any of the offers are being considered right now, though it’s likely they’re negotiating for the sale, given the circumstances.

Black Oak delivered the proposal to GM last week and is awaiting a face-to-face meeting for the deal.  The plan is unique, since not only is the group made up mostly of Saturn dealerships, but their ultimate goals are very different from the current Saturn model GM uses.

Basically, the dealerships would no longer be tied to GM-only vehicles and would therefore purchase vehicles world-wide to rebrand as Saturns and sell.  This will primarily include alt-fuel and smaller cars as well as other, more consumer-demanded products. The Saturn dealers want to be more flexible in response to customer needs and wants and to rekindle the companies slogan, “A Different Kind of Auto Company” slogan.

Saturn consistently rates with higher-end, luxury dealers in customer satisfaction surveys and the dealers involved in this buyout hope to retain that and press it forward.

Good luck to them, I say, and I hope something good comes out of the GM bankruptcy that’s coming down the pike.

Source: AP News