Local Saturn dealership to turn focus to luxury imports

SAVOY – Saturn of Champaign County plans to sell used, high-end imports after the Saturn brand goes away, the general manager of the Savoy dealership said.

Among the brands the dealership plans to carry are Acura, Audi, BMW, Infiniti, Land Rover, Lexus, Mercedes and Porsche.

The dealership had to re-examine its future after Roger Penske's plan to buy the Saturn brand from General Motors fell through two weeks ago.

Penske had hoped to convince Renault to make cars under the Saturn name, with the Penske Automotive Group distributing the cars to the nation's 350 Saturn dealers. But when Renault balked, Penske called off the deal with GM.

"Everyone here has been on an emotional roller coaster as Saturn's fate has unfolded," said Gary Patrick, general manager of Saturn of Champaign County.

"We've taken the time to really analyze this market and our options, and we're confident that this new venture will be attractive to a broad base of customers and be very successful," he said in a statement following a meeting with employees Wednesday.

In the meantime, the dealership will continue to sell and service Saturn vehicles. It has about 30 new Saturn vehicles available. Once the transition to imports is made, the dealership expects to include some late-model used Saturns among its offerings.

As details of the new venture become clear, Patrick plans to retain or help place most of the 21 Saturn of Champaign County employees in other parts of the Worden-Martin organization.

Saturn warranty work will continue to be done at the Saturn facility in coming months. For the long term, Patrick is working with Worden-Martin's GM dealership to make sure one of the two service departments does Saturn warranty work.

Earlier this week, Mark Pelafos, the chief operating officer for Worden-Martin and Saturn of Champaign County, said the dealership would continue selling and servicing Saturns until October 2010.

The dealership got correspondence from GM on Monday regarding its failure to consummate a deal with Penske.

Pelafos said he doubts anyone else will come forward at this point with a legitimate offer to acquire Saturn.

"There's a chance of that," he said. "But we feel that Penske was the right suitor, and at this late date, it's unlikely" a buyer will come along.

Pelafos said he and everyone else at Saturn of Champaign County were surprised when the Penske deal fell through.

"We had no inkling," he said. "We were no different from the general public."

Although the dealership recently got 30 new Saturns, Pelafos said, it doesn't expect to get any more – though it may choose to buy Saturns from other dealers.

Saturn of Champaign County – which is part of Worden-Martin – has been in Savoy since 1994. Besides having the Saturn brand, Worden-Martin has eight other franchises: Buick, Ford, GMC, Lincoln, Mercury, Pontiac, Nissan and Subaru.

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