Follow us on TwitterBREAKING: Koenigsegg Back Out On Saab!
It’s a sad day in Saab-land, indeed. Yesterday, the Koenigsegg group announced they are backing out of the purchase of Swedish automaker SAAB from failing giant General Motors. Citing rising costs associated with numerous delays on GM’s end the deal, Christian van Koenigsegg was quoted in an interview with the NYT as saying “Unfortunately, delays in closing this acquisition have resulted in risks and uncertainties that prevent us from successfully implementing the new Saab business plan.”
With this deal having seemingly been sealed up months ago, it leaves GM with very little choice as to what to do with the struggling Swedish niche brand. Saab has always been a loss-leader for GM (even if GM has benefited greatly from engineering knowledge gained from the plucky Swedes), with some recent reports stating that General was losing up to $5,000 on each Saab unit it sold. Buyers for the struggling brand were difficult to find when it first went up for sale, and the Koenigsegg group was seen as something of a savior from GM’s neglect and criminal mismanagement of the brand to Saab aficionado (such as myself) when news came through that they were to purchase the brand.
Now, the future for Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolag is looking fairly bleak. This would be the third failed sale of an ailing GM brand, after talks with the Penske Automotive Group to purchase Saturn fell through, and the deal for Magna to scoop up Opel disintegrated. Unless GM can find a buyer for SAAB, and quickly, it will most likely be lights out for the purveyor of “different with a reason” automobiles from the frigid North. This despite a slew of ready-to-market new models with a great deal of promise, mainly the brand new 9-5 executive saloon and the sleek 9-4x crossover. Not exactly the news any brand wants to get on their 60th anniversary of making automobiles.
And some of us won’t be sleeping as soundly at night. As a huge fan, I wish the brand the best of luck – but it looks like they’re stuck in a corner that there’s no escape from at this point. Let’s keep our fingers crossed – if all the interesting brands die out, all we’ll be left with is Toyundaissan. And do you want that? The GM board is meeting this week, and will announce the fate of Saab some time next week. We’ll keep our ears to the ground and keep you all updated if any more news if forthcoming on this sad topic.
Agreed. Criminal mismanagement on GM’s part.
What really irks me is that, because GM technically owns Saab, if they can’t sell it, the brand is dead? Way to go, you no talent ass clown pieces of midwestern shit.
I would like to see the Swedish people sitting sit back and watch the big failboat sail without them. As soon as GM pulls the plug, let them flash a sinister grin and either sue GM for rights to the Saab name as intellectual state property which could not have legally been sold in the first place, and task all their countrymen with rebuilding their namesake.
They have the factories, right? They have the staff and the design teams, and the market research. Why should Saab die just because GM can’t sell them? Surgically remove the Saab bits from the bootleg GM crap underneath and design a new chassis. Start with just one car. Really.
That’s what I’d like to see. I could give a shit about Saturn, Pontiac, or especially Hummer, but Saab deserves better. Maybe, if Opel staged a coup and broke off from GM, they could join forces with Saab and revel, on those silent, Swedish winter nights, at their own brilliance.
Not only I feel sorry for SAAB, but also I still hope it will get into much proper hands.
Unfortunately, no matter how much we love cars, in the end a car is only a product, and if it does not generate profit, it will go down.
I wonder if Koenigsegg backed off to make room for a bigger player, or it is indeed a dead end for SAAB.
It’s strange, if you think that with only some minor changes in their design SAAB could have made better. Too bad, but the world keeps moving. If you can’t keep up the pace you get left behind.
The sad reality of this ordeal is that SAAB partnered with a loser who failed to invest in the group to develop something better. As General Motors is such a gaping void of talent, innovation or thought leadership, they used their financial might to buy those technologies that they would have never in a million years come up with themselves.
Consider the recent failed sale of Opel. The Malibu is being hailed as one of the best products GM has ever made. It’s an Opel Insignia underneath. Designed by Opel in Germany and badge engineered into a Malibu in the States. The Buick Lacrosse is supposed to be “something else for Lexus to relentlessly pursue,” yet it too is based on the same Opel Insignia. Even the upcoming, Buick “sport sedan,” the Regal, is based on the Opel Insignia. I’d speculate that the Traverse and Terrain are based on the Insignia too, but I’m not entirely sure of that.
Fact is, GM bought SAAB for some technology they felt they needed. They took what they needed from Saab, then left them to flounder with mediocre, GM rental car bits with which to build their models. No wonder they held on to what they had with the 9000/9-5 for so long. Their history was all that was keeping them from just being a coach builder for pathetic GM rental cars.
So it’s infuriating that, not only did this grossly mismanaged firm get billions of dollars that will never be repaid (shares of stock which will never be worth what they need to break even), not only did they lay off tens of thousands and close dealerships, but they ruined SAAB, a truly unique and interesting car company, through a long term parasitic business relationship.
It’s retarded that, because no one will step up and BUY SAAB from GM, that the brand will have to die. The Swedish people and government should let GM pull the plug, then start SAAB right back up on their own. What would GM do, sue an entire nation? SAAB should be returned the Swedish people and GM should lose any stake in the name due to their own lack of performance.