GM to close Saab

By Matt Brogan | December 19th, 2009

General Motors Co announced that Saab will close down, the sale to Dutch car maker Spyker Cars NV could not have been completed quick enough to save the manufacturer.

“We regret that we were not able to complete this transaction with Spyker Cars,” GM Europe President Nick Reilly said in a statement. “We will work closely with the Saab organization to wind down the business in an orderly and responsible manner.”

Koenigsegg Group AB were potential buyers of Saab but talks failed last month and Spyker stepped in.

In a statement last week GM said”certain issues arose that both parties believe could not be resolved.”

GM did not disclose what problems arose.
Spyker has had their own financial problems, only 21 cars were built in the first half of the year and they lost 8.7 million euros in the first six months of 2009. Sales fell by 1.6 million euros to 4.1 billion euros compared to the previous year.

Earlier in the week Saab announced it had sold all the rights to the current 9-5 as well as some of the technologies from the current 9-3 to Beijing Automotive Industry Holdings Co. for an undisclosed amount. According to a Swedish business newspaper, BAIC are thought to have paid $197 million (USD) for the assets.
A Saab spokeswoman thought that the money from the Chinese would give Saab’s new owners a good foundation to build upon. They were confident a new owner would be found.

A European analyst who would like to remain anonymous because of his business dealings with GM and Saab said”This could lead to a slow and painful shutdown.”

The only bidder for Saab which celebrated its 60th birthday on December 16 was Spyker.
BAIC plan to start production of its Saab based cars as soon as 2011.

GM Europe’s boss Reilly said the Saab closure isn’t bankruptcy or a forced liquidation, “Consequently, we expect Saab to satisfy debts including supplier payments and to wind down production and the distribution channel in an orderly manner while looking after our customers,” Reilly said.

Saab will continue to honor warranties as well as providing service and spare parts to current Saab owners around the world.

T600

Thats to be expected.

Shame for the workers, worst xmas ever

Goodbye tiny resale that was left!
Duckula

What a shame, means less diversity… not that I was a huge Saab fan, but they did things a bit different than everyone else, and thats always a good thing…
Baddass

Very sad news, as the 9-1 and long awaited 9-4X will never see the light of day.

Does this mean the 9-5 will still go into production? It would be a shame for such a great car to go to waste.
Tom R

Such a shame that they crashed right on the edge of a bunch of brand new models and technologies, seems silly…

This is a sad sad day for me, my favourite manufacturer is closed.

GM bastards.
*glares*

And everyone who hasn’t ever owned a Saab should cry with shame.

*GLARESSSSSSSSSS*
jon

Another GM F$%k up
Tom21

How is Spyker generating 4.1 BILLION euro’s by only selling 21 cars?
Sputnik

Either GM is so incompetent it couldn’t sell SAAB even though it had cashed up buyers or they didn’t want to sell SAAB once they discovered what the buyers were going to do with it. GM werent able to sell Opel and does anytone know where the deal with Hummer is?
John of Perth

I reckon they should close all the Yank MBA schools as nothing of any note has been achieved by these \’hallowed\’ organisations which produces the \’business thinking\’ for American corporations. (Obama excepted & he is to be be proven too).

Whenever large US corporations have taken over niche manufacturers whether in their own country or overseas, they have generally f*****d it up or ended up with a product of inferior quality.

It’s a pity one of the large Koreans doesn\’t see value in the Saab engineering catchet. They would invest and do a far better job than those on the other side of the Pacific.

swampdawg

Pity more people do not understand this John. Additionally, the US “Government has borrowed a few trillion from the Chinese. I bet they screw up paying that back as well.

Yonny

Yeah, the overbearing US car giants generally ruin anything they acquire, through dim-witted incompetence and a bone-headed unwillingness to accept that not everyone likes their cars the way the yanks do (that is, too large, poorly built and inefficient).

And yes, those Yank MBA schools are doing a great job, aren’t they – producing all those greedy finance gurus who tried their best to ruin the world’s economies. But I don’t think they’ll screw up repaying the Chinese – I expect they’ll print money and inflate their way out of trouble.

Myke

Sad, I’m sure there will be many Saab buyers GM will never see again, once Saab shut its doors, they will be buying their cars elsewhere. If GM hadn’t neglected this brand, imagine what could have been possible…
Elitist

What a sad day….!
I blame GM for this and I hate how GM is around yet an innovative veteran like Saab must fall.

I hope GM dies a horrid death and takes Holden with them, I hope Fiat rapes Chrysler for everything their worth, American companies have no pride, just money whores.

swampdawg

I couldn’t agree more Elitist.

MJ

They should/could sell the Saab brandname. Its a pretty good name!
Davo

I cannot believe there is no profitable market for SAAB’s vehicles.
Agree with some above,an MBA is only as good as the bean counter that holds it.
The U.S.is no longer the global force it was & those that align too closely are in danger of going down with it,now enter China & India.
Would like to know how the parts supplies are to be honoured?
Is GM still to supply parts into the future?
The statement about honouring warranties & supplying parts was stated in the same sentence.I interpret this to mean these vehicle will be supported for the warranty period & once this expires no support at all.
AAA

Sad. The Chinese should have bought over.
EX HSV

Elitist……..i agree with you…….i hope GM in australia goes down……..they are basially a Daewoo importer anyway……

DGS

So long as Holden make a RWD car in australia that is not also made overseas (korea?) they will have a good chance of survival. The day they ditch RWD and opt for FWD like every other manufacturer you can start counting down to either an all Korean / Chinese line up, and / or closure of the brand.

Same goes for Ford au. RWD is what sets Holden and Ford appart from all the affordable imported stuff. Give that up and you sell out many of the brand loyalist, who might at last objectivly look at other brands, and never turn back.

SAAB’s downfall was being taken from being different, inovative and polarising, to being just another GM clone with a different body and an unexplainably higher price. Given time a Daewoo would have worn a SAAB badge.

Elitist

Those assholes at GM would have killed Fiat in the late 90′s if they had the chance, I’m glad Fiat got the last laugh and took em for $2Billion. Now I want them to take revenge on Chrysler.

jojo

Elist,
You made a good point, typical yanks thinking they know best only to be shafted by the clever Italians. Marchionne played them like a fiddle.

Ben Richards

Again elitist 100% correct, GM kill off a company like SAAB yet somehow GM is till alive??? What type of world do we live in? I can only pray and hope justice will be done and GM dies and takes holden with them……its only fair.
Chucky

Frankly I think this is a case of good riddance to bad rubbish. Saabs are so overpriced for what they are, they have weak engines with front wheel drive, and their interiors look like they are still stuck in the 80s. Also the value of the car drops 50% as soon as you drive it out of the dealership.

Its no wonder they couldn’t find any interested buyers.

T600

@^^^^^^

Harsh, but 100% true

GREAT buying 12 months young!
Brett

SAAB originally built innovative and good cars; it all went down when GM took control. GM destroyed the brand by building / selling cars that sorted looked like a SAAB but which were put together like any other GM rubbish. The Americans always do this; they couldn’t get it through their thick skulls that the business was built on well executed and different engineering. The morons at GM think if it looks like a SAAB it must be a SAAB, even if its built and goes like a Daewoo. Idiots!

Robin Graves

Most average seppos are so stupid they wouldnt know the difference anyway. Chrysler and Ford used to innovate in the 70s but they all went downhill from there. At least Ford have managed to have a viable european arm that seems fairly independant from the seppo beancounters. Saab and Scania used to be the same company, obviously the parent of Scania doesnt want to know about it either. Its a shame but I must admit I wouldnt even contemplate buying a Saab – a bit too quirky for all the wrong reasons.

gearboxdawg

GM is very disgraceful. Everything GM touches, it goes bankrupt.

Thank god, Subaru has been bought by Toyota and all the other brands it sold off in the 80s – 90s are surviving. Can’t trust GM to manage anything let alone a sheep and cattle farm.

C

Subaru hasn’t been bought by Toyota, it’s only a minority stake. Toyota bought a share of Fuji Industries (who own Subaru) for a joint venture partnership for certain marktes/models.

Steve

This story isn’t finished yet. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Swedish government and some private investors step in fairly soon to keep the joint going.

Projet -L

Steve I think (hope) you may be right.
I think Saab may just do a Steven Bradbury and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
This is case of Accountants destroying a fantastic venture.
Science and the Art.
The science (bean counters) buggered it with a slow death.
The Art of Saab was lost at the end of the 80′s.

Happening all over this world.
Accountants under the impression they have business acumen.
This is the reason why China is now the manufacturing hub of the world.

C

so what does this mean for the deal with BAIC signed earlier this week? still hope to see a future for Saab in China.
Elitist

I don’t like how a wonderful and innovative company like Saab can be judged on their current state which was bought on by those two-bit pirates at GM.

Car 1st’s:
Disc brakes in 70s,
heated seats….
headlamp wipers and washers…
a first with air pollen filters and adjustable steering columns…all in 70s.
dan

They sold 7 cars last month in all of Aus!
Sales are down 61% in the USA.
Some facts that were on another website…
Can’t see them pulling through
http://caradvice onepoppa

Those who love current Saabs can always watch what the Chinese do with the tooling for the current 9-3 and 9-5, which they have purchased. As to the new 9-5, which was on display last week in Los Angeles (my son actually sat in one) who knows? Still we live in a world where Golf Mk. 1 production has only been phased out in South Africa in the last month, so maybe the fat lady is not ready to sing just yet.