General Motors Corp. (GM) is in talks about potentially turning its Saturn division over to Renault SA, allowing the French automaker to use the brand as a launching pad for growth in North America, two people familiar with the matter said.
Meanwhile, Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. has submitted a bid to acquire GM's Saab unit, people familiar with the situation said.
Renault is one of several automakers and other suitors interested in taking over Saturn. GM is surviving on $15.4 billion in government loans and is under pressure to restructure its balance sheet, union contracts and operations by June 1 or face a bankruptcy filing.
GM is considering several options for Saturn, including ending the brand. Any buyer wouldn't likely put direct cash in the deal but would need to take on liabilities and the costs of running the business, including production.
Under a deal with Renault -- which controls Japan's Nissan Motor Corp. and South Korea's Samsung Motors -- the French automaker eventually could use the Saturn network of 400-plus dealers to sell its own cars, including vehicles made by Renault or Samsung and sold as Saturns, the people familiar with the matter said. The Saturn brand has a strong reputation for customer service but has been hindered under GM's ownership for lack of consistent innovation.
By essentially giving the brand to another automaker, GM could preserve jobs in the United States and avoid the messy dispute with dealers that could come if GM just killed Saturn.
Geely is one of "three to four" serious bidders for Saab and appears to be the only bidder from China, one of the people familiar with the situation said. Details of Geely's bid for Saab couldn't be determined. Geely Spokesman Wang Ziliang declined to comment. Its bid for Saab comes just weeks after it submitted a separate bid for Ford Motor Co.'s Volvo unit, also based in Sweden. It wasn't immediately clear what prompted Geely to bid for a second automaker.
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