Shuffling the Deck at Saturn

(MoneyWatch)  DETROIT--When Roger Penske takes over the Saturn brand, probably in October, one of the company's more heralded cars will not be making the trip. It's the plug-in hybrid version of the Saturn Vue, which had been scheduled for 2009, but is now delayed until at least 2011. But neither General Motors' bankruptcy nor the sale of Saturn have derailed it.

Saturn already has a hybrid version of the Vue, which Penske will presumably inherit. But at a General Motors gathering to celebrate the company's new Global Battery System Lab June 8, John Lauckner, GM's vice president for global program management, said that the plug-in hybrid is "on track." Lauckner, who could be called the co-parent of the Volt (with Bob Lutz), said that the plug-in program will migrate to one of the four remaining General Motors brands.

"The great thing is that we're able to co-develop many of the components, including the charge port, for the Chevrolet Volt and for the plug-in hybrid," said Andrew J. Farah, vehicle chief engineer on the E-Flex program that includes the Volt.

Saturn itself will probably change radically when Penske takes it over, because he plans to build his cars mainly overseas. According to USA Today, if Saturn chooses India or China for its factories, it can bring out cars "developed for half the cost and in half the time it would take traditional automakers. Fast turnarounds would let Saturn exploit emerging trends sooner. Lower costs could keep it profitable in brutal times."

Of course, there are good reasons that existing automakers have not built cars in those countries, despite their popularity for manufacturing other export goods. Neither has a strong track record in producing high-quality cars. Consumers don't seem to mind buying, say, Indian-made beach towels at Wal-Mart, but cars are a much bigger investment, with major safety and maintenance issues.

Penske is the U.S. distributor for the Smart car, and perhaps there's some synergy there: Certainly, Saturn customers would also consider a Smart, so they could happily share a dealership.

Saturn Vues, Auras and Outlooks will be supplied by GM until 2011, but after that all bets are off. The Penske deal saves, at least for now, 13,000 Saturn-related jobs and 350 dealerships, which would have been lost if the brand had unceremoniously gone out of business. But Penske will have to move fast to keep that network intact as he sources new high-quality, affordable production capacity for his new carmaker.