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General Motors said today it would shut down Saturn after respected Detroit businessman Roger Penske shocked GM and 350 Saturn dealers by saying that his plans to buy the storied brand had fallen apart.

The announcement came a day before GM and its dealers expected the deal to be finalized. The failure could cost as many as 13,000 jobs at dealerships nationwide and GM.

Penske’s plans for Saturn depended on securing another manufacturer to build future vehicles — a critical part of deal that fell apart when the board of directors for that unidentified automaker rejected the arrangement.

That manufacturer was Renault-Nissan, a person close to the talks told the Free Press.

"Renault has been in contact with Penske to supply cars, parts and technology to Saturn through an OEM agreement. The conditions for an agreement have not been found,” a Renault spokeswoman, said in a statement. She declined further comment.

“This is very disappointing news and comes after months of hard work by hundreds of dedicated employees and Saturn retailers who tried to make the new Saturn a reality,” Fritz Henderson, GM chief executive officer, said.

The blow was especially brutal to the 350 Saturn dealers, and thousands of their employees, who believed they had escaped the guillotine with the arrival of Penske’s initial offer for Saturn last June.

“It’s devastating. Look what we have gone through in this town, look at what other dealerships have gone through in this town,” said Carl Galeana, who was one of Saturn’s original dealers and owns the metro Detroit Saturn of Lakeside and Saturn of Warren dealerships. “This is just another chapter of that.”

Details of deal breakdown

In a statement, Penske cited that the deal had been called off because of concerns related “to future supply of vehicles beyond the supply period it had negotiated with GM.”

Bloomfield Hills-based Penske said it had negotiated a deal to get products manufactured by another company but that agreement had fallen apart.