Penske Automotive Announces smart USA Executive Appointment

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich.--smart USA Distributor LLC (www.smartusa.com), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Penske Automotive Group, Inc. , today announced a new executive appointment with responsibilities that will include enhancing awareness of the smart brand.

Effective January 1, 2010, Jill Lajdziak will join the smart USA executive team as Vice President, Sales and Marketing. Ms. Lajdziak brings thirty years of progressive automotive industry experience to smart. Ms. Lajdziak has a reputation for building brand awareness and customer loyalty through a focus on the customer experience and cultivating a strong dealer network. In this role, Ms. Lajdziak will lead the smart field sales organization, including directing all aspects of advertising, marketing and sales promotion for the smart brand, and will work directly with the smart dealer body to develop business opportunities. Most recently Ms. Lajdziak was the General Manager at Saturn.

Chairman Roger Penske commented, “I am pleased that Jill has accepted our invitation to join smart as we enhance the position of the smart brand as part of the automotive landscape. With her background building the Saturn organization and her expertise in customer satisfaction, product marketing, and brand development, Jill is an outstanding fit, and I am confident that she will help us grow the smart brand.”

About Penske Automotive

Penske Automotive Group, Inc., (www.penskeautomotive.com) headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, operates 308 retail automotive franchises, representing 40 different brands and 25 collision repair centers. Penske Automotive, which sells new and previously owned vehicles, finance and insurance products and replacement parts, and offers maintenance and repair services on all brands it represents, has 158 franchises in 17 states and Puerto Rico and 150 franchises located outside the United States, primarily in the United Kingdom.

Penske Automotive, through its wholly-owned subsidiary smart USA Distributor LLC (www.smartusa.com), is the exclusive distributor of the smart fortwo vehicle and related parts in the United States. smart USA supports 79 smart retail centers in the United States. Penske Automotive is a member of the Fortune 500 and Russell 1000 and has approximately 14,000 employees. smart and fortwo are registered trademarks of Daimler AG.