BREAKING: 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.