Private firm & dealers to purchase Saturn

News from Detroit this morning tells us Oak Partners, a private equity firm from Oklahoma City in the US, and an undisclosed number of Saturn dealers made an offer last week to purchase the Saturn brand from current owner General Motors.

The firm issued a statement today saying that it is awaiting an organised meeting with GM’s Detroit executives where they plan to discuss future plans for the brand. Initial thoughts are that the group would sell GM-built and designed Saturns at first before turning the brand over to smaller, more efficient cars from unnamed global automakers in the longer term.

The private equity firm would form the “Saturn Distribution Company,” which would focus on tailoring foreign-designed products for a specific North American clientele, rather than producing its own cars.

“There’s people out there that realize that Saturn is a valuable brand. It’s telling our customers that Saturn is going to be there in the long run,” Carl Galeana, owner of two Saturn dealerships in Detroit.

GM has received several offers for Saturn, though says it is bound by nondisclosure clauses from revealing names and offers.

“With respect to what the eventual outcome concerning Saturn might be with Black Oak or any other interested party, it is simply premature at this time to speculate on what any eventual outcome may be,” GM said in a statement.