If the Captain Goes to Saturn

There is the possibility that Roger Penske will acquire Saturn from General Motors.  Those of us in Detroit know Penske as the consummate executor.  When Super Bowl XL was held in Detroit in 2006, Penske had been in charge of making sure that the city looked good.  It never looked better.  Which says something about his abilities to make things happen.  In 1988 Penske bought a portion of Detroit Diesel from GM and the two spun it off into a separate company.  I remember having toured the facility before and after the Captain—his nickname— was in charge.  To use the phrase “night and day” isn’t entirely metaphoric.  The transformation was astonishing, and the facility underwent not only physical brightening, but it became one of the most technologically advanced manufacturing facilities anywhere.  It was such a preeminent organization that in 2000 the then-DaimlerChrysler bought the company.
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Driven Archives

A Different Kind of Car Club
When you gotta go, you gotta go.  Two men came face-to-face with another man wielding a golf club in Pullman, WA, while they were, um, relieving themselves on what they thought was an unoccupied car. – Read More

Giving “Carpool” a Whole New Meaning
BMWs are made for roads, not for swimming pools, as one woman found out when she drove her Bimmer into a pool in Monterey, CA.  According to police, the woman accidentally hit the accelerator when leaving the parking lot of her health club, crushing a fence, and making a swan dive into the pool. – Read More

One Down, Eight to Go
Casper the cat will never roam around his dad’s garage again. The curious cat found a cozy spot in a spare wheel, curled up, and stuck his head through the center hole. And then couldn’t get it out. So like a cat in the tree, the firemen were called in. – Read More

Failing The Stress Test
A bank robber in the Detroit suburb of Southfield found out first hand just how bad the banking system is when he was told there was no money at the Bank of America branch he tried to rob. – Read More

Talk About Irony
John van Dongen, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor-General of British Columbia is under pressure to resign as a result of the recent suspension of his driver’s license for too many speeding tickets. – Read More

Upcoming Industry Events:
Great Designs in Steel – May 13
MoldMaking Expo ’09 – June 22–26
Time Compression Expo ’09
June 22–26

The UAW & the Ownership Challenge
Taiwan may seem a world away from the turmoil happening in Motown, but the shockwaves echoing from GM and Chrysler are emitting concern 7,500 miles away. While recently attending the 2009 Taipei International Auto Parts and Accessories show, more than a few representatives from Asian-based suppliers wasted little time quizzing me on what was happening in Detroit.  ...Read More