Let’s face it. Pretty much everything happening within GM is big news these days. But when legendary racecar driver and business mogul Roger Penske says he wants buy Saturn from the bankrupt automaker — that’s a top of the fold, front-page story. But, just in case you haven’t been following this deal from day one, we’ve got you covered.

So here it is, Tuned.com’s guide to everything that’s happened, will happen and might happen between Penske Automotive Group and Saturn.

Ok, so what’s happened so far?

Penske Automotive Group and General Motors have signed a memorandum of understanding — basically a gentleman’s agreement on paper. MOU’s aren’t typically legally binding. In this particular case, the MOU says that if a deal goes through between Penske and GM, Penske will “obtain the rights to the Saturn brand, acquire certain assets including the Saturn parts inventory, and have the right to distribute vehicles and parts through the Saturn Dealership network.” Furthermore, GM will continue to produce the Vue, Aura and Outlook for an interim period that’s looking to be through 2011.

Just who is this Penske character anyway?

Really? You’re reading an automotive website and you don’t know who Roger Penske is? Shame.

Penske started out back in the late 50’s as a racecar driver. Competing and frequently winning in Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) events, Penske quickly made a name for himself as a talented racer. But, in 1965, much to the dismay of his fans, Penske announced his retirement from racing in order to focus on his car dealership.

From there, Penske expanded into ventures including tire sales and trucking. Ultimately his success grew into the automotive empire he heads today. Penske Automotive Group is the second largest automotive dealer in the world, with more than 240 dealerships worldwide.

But Penske is perhaps better known for his racing teams. Penske Racing currently competes in the Indy Racing League, American Le Mans Series and NASCAR. Racing greats including Mark Donohue and Mario Andretti have raced under Penske’s banner leading his teams to a plethora of victories including 15 wins at the Indianapolis 500.

So when will Penske’s purchase of Saturn be official?

Impossible to say for sure, but both parties are looking to have the deal finalized by the third quarter of this year.

But Penske doesn’t manufacture cars, how are they going to make Saturns?

As mentioned above, GM will continue to produce the Vue, Aura and Outlook for Saturn through 2011. After that — or perhaps during that time, Penske will look for existing automakers that want to expand in the American market.

According to Automotive News, Penske recently met with Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn in Paris to work out details of a potential partnership that could result in Renault-Nissan importing Renault Samsung cars from South Korea to be sold under the Saturn brand.

(To clarify — Renault, a French carmaker, is in a partnership with Nissan, a Japanese carmaker. South Korean company, Samsung — you know, like the TV’s and cell phones — was purchased by Renault in 1998 and is now a subsidiary of the French-Japanese company. Globalization at its finest.)

But, Motor Trend blogger Todd Lassa said in a recent post that although Renault-Nissan is the most likely partner, he thinks Penske will look to Nissan’s North American facilities as opposed to importing cars from South Korea.

“Nissan, with its unused capacity able to build various vehicles in the U.S., would be a prime candidate for reskinned compact or midsize cars bearing the Saturn badge around 2012 or ‘13. There’s plenty of room in Nissan’s North American facilities to avoid having to source them from Renault’s Samsung plants in South Korea, as some have reported,” Lassa said.

What about all those Saturn dealerships?

Penske said he will extend offers to any existing Saturn dealers who want to continue to sell new cars. Though whether all 363 dealerships will remain when all is said and done is impossible to say.

A quick note: Unlike so many other companies and divisions, Saturn trended away from over-saturating the market with dealerships. In fact, those 363 dealerships are owned by only about 150 franchisees, so the transition should be relatively painless with respect to dealership closings.

The Ohio based company will be cutting 4,000 jobs, roughly 7 % of its total workforce. Hourly and permanent pay staff will be cut but Goodyear was not available for any further comment. What we do know is that a salary freeze will be in effect for all remaining employees after Goodyear suffered a 21% loss in sales for 2008.

In total, Goodyear is planning to reduce its annual costs by about $700m this year, raising its overall cost-cutting target to $2.5bn, by closing plants and pursuing asset sales as well as the aforementioned cuts to jobs and tyre production.

The company will eliminate 15-25m units of additional manufacturing capacity over the next two years, and reduce capital expenditure between $700-800m.

Shares in Goodyear, which have fallen 80% since 2007 highs, traded off slightly on the news, 3 cents lower at $5.99.

TOKYO — Reversing his profit forecast to a loss, Nissan Motor Co. CEO Carlos Ghosn entered crisis mode today.

Ghosn announced plans to slash 20,000 jobs, cut production by 20 percent, scale back new model launches and delay new factories. Nissan could also seek government bailout loans, Ghosn said.

The 265 billion yen ($2.91 billion) net loss Ghosn now predicts for the fiscal year ending March 31 would be his first loss since taking charge of Nissan in 1999.

The outlook wipes out an earlier forecast for net income of $1.76 billion.

Ghosn has put on hold the Nissan GT 2012 mid-term business plan announced last year and its target of achieving 5 percent revenue growth through 2012. That plan was introduced after the earlier Value-Up initiative missed its unit sales goal.

The top priority now is preserving cash as Nissan and Japanese rivals struggle against collapsing global demand, a surging yen and shrinking access to credit. Of Japan’s six big automakers, only Honda Motor Co. and Suzuki Motor Corp. are still predicting profits.

“Nissan is operating in an environment in which we are hit with three challenges at one time, the credit crisis, economic recession and strengthening yen,” Ghosn said here Feb. 9, while announcing fiscal third-quarter results. “Systematically, the worst scenario happened.”

New recovery plan

Ghosn’s new recovery actions include:

• Slashing global workforce to 215,000 from 235,000 by end of 2009.

• Cutting labor costs by 20 percent to $7.69 billion.

• Limiting launches to 48 new products in next five years, instead of 60 as planned.

• Slowing the ramp-up of Nissan’s new factory in Chennai, India.

• Suspending Nissan’s involvement in a new Renault factory in Tangiers, Morocco.

• Reducing board member pay by 10 percent, managerial pay by 5 percent.

Nissan will also approach governments worldwide about possible credit lines, Ghosn said. He applauded industry support measures already implemented in Europe and being considered in Japan and the United States. “We need access to financing, that’s all we’re asking,” he said.

“Cash is king,” Ghosn said. “You need to generate cash and be extremely rigorous with cash.”

The company may seek up to $549.5 million in low interest loans from the Japan’s government-backed Development Bank of Japan, the Nikkei newspaper reported.

It may also try tapping the $25 billion the U.S. government has earmarked to help automakers and suppliers retool factories to make more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Grim outlook

For the full-year, Nissan expects an operating loss of $1.98 billion. That’s against an earlier outlook for operating profit of $2.97 billion.

The company will rein in capital expenditure by 21 percent in the current fiscal year and then cut again by 14 percent next year. The cuts will help Nissan save cash, Ghosn said.

That will bring Nissan’s spending on capital investment to $3.63 billion in the next fiscal year, from $5.37 billion in 2007.

Ghosn warned that global volume will shrink as low as 50 million units in 2009, from an estimated 62 million last year. To match it, Nissan is aiming to cut production by 787,000 units by the end of March – a 20 percent decrease from its planned volume.

The 20,000 job cuts account for roughly 8.5 percent of the company’s workforce.

They include some 2,000 temporary jobs that have already been cut in Japan and another 1,200 early retirement buyouts from the United States. Nissan has also already announced 1,680 cuts in Spain. Nissan did not give details about where the additional cuts will hit.

Source: AP News