The Future of Saab?

nippononly · December 2009

Might have been nice to see the Swedish government take it over and run it for a while. Seems like they wanted to take a strong hand, but lacked the funding to do so. It would be a shame to see Sweden fall off the automaking map - I am rooting for Volvo!

hpmctorque · December 2009

"I am rooting for Volvo!"

Yeah, but would you buy one?

hpmctorque · December 2009

"...in a Sunday statement, Spyker /quotes/comstock/24s!e:spykr (NL:SPYKR 1.71, -0.48, -21.92%) Chief Executive Victor R. Muller said that the company had submitted an 11-point proposal to GM, 'addressing each of the issues that arose during the due-diligence process.'

The executive said that "the renewed offer would remove each of the obstacles that were standing in the way of a swift transaction." He said the proposed deal would enable Spyker, Zeewolde, Netherlands, to close the purchase of Saab by GM's original deadline of Dec. 31.

Spyker's statement said buying Saab would give it 'a strong global distribution network consisting of no less than 1,100 dealers,' as well as an up-to-date production operation, dedicated workforce and strong engineering and research and development.

Spyker said its offer is valid until 5 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time on Monday."

nippononly · December 2009

This soap opera is going another round??!!

dtownfb · December 2009

Not knowing much about the financial situation of Saab as it relates to GM, but wouldn't it make more sense financially for GM to make this deal work even at a loss than shut down Saab and have to deal with the dealerships?

nippononly · December 2009

It wouldn't be advantageous to make it work at a loss, because the dealer agreement with Saab dealers is different, and won't be difficult or costly for GM to eliminate from what I understand.

Just think of the big costs for GM in the years ahead: free maintenance programs, warranty repairs, and parts support. Considering the trickle of cars Saab has sold in the last ten years, it will be a lot of overhead for GM with nothing to hope for in terms of repeat business from the Saab owners.

The incentive for making a deal work is the hope that the new company will eventually PAY GM to provide those services.

hpmctorque · December 2009

...has been extended indefinitely, as GM and Spyker continue working on a deal.

dtownfb · December 2009

I understand now.

british_rover · December 2009

GM already terminated their franchise agreements with Saab dealers over the summer. We have been operating on a sort of month to month basis since then. That is why Koignessegg was able to hire or fire Saab dealers at will during their negotiations.

nippononly · December 2009

It's a little odd that even as I read this, there is an ad just to the right advertising Saabs with 0% for 72 month financing. :-P

Saabs are kind of cool, but between the winding down and the slippery financial footing GM is on right now, it seems like a lot of the stuff like free maintenance and warranty support may well not be there within three years. Making Saab a risky buy what with all the other great brands out there, even given 6 year free financing....

british_rover · December 2009

I have had people come in because of the 0% but haven't been able to close anyone on it yet. Its hard when you only have four cars, with two being gray and two being red left not a lot of choices for someone.

SAAB just bumped their dealer cash up to 9,000 dollars from 5,000 dollars the other day. I would take the 9,000 over the 0% even for 72 months. Better to get all your discount/incentives up front.

nippononly · December 2009

$9000?? Heck, maybe now is a good time for me to buy my first Saab ever! :-P

british_rover · December 2009

Just sold one of them this morning, the last AWD 9-3 that was also a six speed manual, so down to three. I have one deal very close on a gray six speed manual 9-3 2.0T model and another deal close for the last automatic 2.0T 9-3.

Then there is one more six sped manual FWD model left.

hpmctorque · December 2009

How much are you discounting them?

paul9000 · December 2009

Steven Wade, who runs the saabsunited.com website, has put together an online petition for people to sign saying that if GM shuts down Saab, they'll never buy from GM again. It has over 2500 signatures after a few days, but a lot more would help get the message through to GM. GM could announce a decision at the end of the week (a lot of people think GM never really wanted Saab to survive). Here's the link:

http://iwontbuyfromgm.wordpress.com/

Paul

kyfdx · December 2009

I would think that most die-hard Saab owners, wouldn't own a GM, anyway.. GM buying Saab was the only way that it accidently happened in the first place.. :surprise:

british_rover · December 2009

About 11,000 to 12,000 depending on if the customer has GM loyalty or not.

hpmctorque · December 2009

That's quite a discount! Of course, it is for an '09 model of a discontinued brand. Still, a new '09 9-3 for ~$18,000 seems like a good buy.

british_rover · January 2010

We didn't have any cars that cheap anymore though. I think the cheapest 9-3 we had went for 23,900.

kyfdx · January 2010

Stopped by my nearest Saab dealer, today... (not open)..

Only two new 9-3s on the lot.. A sport sedan, with premium package, auto, sunroof, etc... Stickered for just over $40k.. And, an Aero, auto, XWD and metallic paint... just under $45K...

Now, if you could get $15K off of that XWD Aero, that would be a heck of a car for $30K... assuming you planned on driving it for 8 years, or so..

rsholland · January 2010

Now, if you could get $15K off of that XWD Aero, that would be a heck of a car for $30K... assuming you planned on driving it for 8 years, or so..

Yeah, but getting service on that car could prove to be a major headache, not to mention warranty work. I think it would be far worse than say a Pontiac or Saturn.

Bob

hpmctorque · January 2010

I don't know what Spyker's plan is for Saab. However, if this deal goes through, it's not Spyker's ultimate goal, because Saab can't make it on its own. I think there's a step two or step two and three in Spyker's business plan. They could see a profit making opportunity in stabilizing and resuscitating Saab, for a subsequent sale. Alternately, they could use Saab as the first building block for subsequent purchases of other brands. The ultimate plan of building a portfolio of brands could make sense if Spyker has enough cash behind it, because in today's automotive environment cash is king.

nippononly · January 2010

It seems the "Saab enthusiasts" are planning to stage a rally:

Media Invite To Saab Enthusiast Gathering Near GM Renn Center To Save Saab

On Thursday, January 7th, a deadline will expire and GM will ultimately need to decide the fate of Saab Automobile.

Sell Opposed To Shutdown. There are two known interested parties that have submitted bids to buy Saab, Spyker Cars & Merbanco.

As time is of the essence, Saab Enthusiasts have therefore decided to take an initiative by gathering near GMs world headquarters in Detroit, in order to send a message to GM to SELL SAAB.

Saab owners and enthusiasts from the U.S. & Canada will gather near the GM Renaissance Center at approximately 1pm by showing their unwavering Saab spirit in lining up their Saabs, holding Signs, taking group photographs and speaking to the press about how important it is to sell Saab.

Since GM emerged from bankruptcy court this summer, they are now 60% owned by the U.S. Government. Saab owners, Saab dealers and U.S. taxpayers alike, all want to see Saab sold in order to preserve thousands of jobs and and nearly $500 million dollars from the 218 Saab dealerships, small business assets in the United States.

If there are enough Saab owners and enthusiasts parked outside of the GM Renaissance center in Detroit, perhaps we could really show them how serious we are in wanting Saab Automobile to have a bright future and be sold. says Ryan Emge, editor of SaabHistory.com, an independent promotional news site.

This timely event marks a final effort in the Saab Community to save a company that has historically seen the value in saving the lives of its customers.

http://www.saabhistory.com/2010/01/03/saab-enthusiast-gathering-to-save-saab-at-- gm-hq/

If you want the details, they are in the press release, which is linked above.

If Volvos are ultimately going to be designed and built in China under Geely's guidance, it would be nice to know that Saab is going to survive and continue to be designed and built in Sweden.

nippononly · January 2010

Saab fans gather outside GM headquarters

The 60-plus-year history of Saab may come to an inglorious end in the next few days if General Motors and Dutch supercar maker Spyker--or perhaps a dark-horse bidder--fail to reach an agreement to save the iconic Swedish maker of premium cars.

But the potential death of yet another GM brand raised some voices of dissension--and passion--as a crowd of about 30 Saab enthusiasts braved temperatures in the 20s and snow flurries to show their support for Saab at a gathering near GM's global headquarters in downtown Detroit.

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20100105/CARNEWS/100109979

Yes, you read that correctly - THIRTY people attended the rally. Reading between the lines, it appear there were actually more journalists covering the event than actual people IN the event! :-P

I guess we can see why it is that the Saab brand is falling into the abyss.

But if you ARE a Saab fan, you should check out the article. There is a section quoting some of the Saab fans who were there, and it makes a nice read.

I DO wonder if there are more Europeans than Americans that care about the death of Saab. Do they care in Sweden?

dtownfb · January 2010

Here's an interesting article about a potential buyer who claims GM is not interested in selling Saab: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jan/08/automotive-industry-generalmotors-

kernick · January 2010

Anything that happens in this situation really doesn't surprise me. Why?

Because you have greed, politics, and U.S. government ability to rewrite the rules and change the playing-field in the auto-industry combined. With this combination, you could see tomorrow anything in the spectrum of: unlimited government loans to Saab, to GM selling Saab for $1 to a small group of Senators in return for their votes on health-care.

Who knows? With the way our government is acting these days, maybe the Saab plant will be converted/needed to print U.S. currency?

plymouth1 · January 2010

Its amazing it lasted longer than Olds, Plymouth and a few others. It was dead before GM bought it and they sure didn't do anything with it. Its DEAD get over it already. I did. There is no future for Saab.

wlbrown9 · January 2010

Hot from the net news http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,583816,00.html?test=latestnews

Spyker buying SAAB from GM

stever · October 2010

"it was particularly telling news about Saab's current state of affairs when Spyker stock this week plunged some 28 percent when the company announced a third-quarter net loss of almost 40 million euros, nearly 10 times the loss from the same period last year.

Spyker doubled down on the bad news by cutting Saab production targets to 30,000-35,000 for the year, after in late summer paring back its original goal of making 50,000-60,000 cars to 45,000."

Saab Struggles for Sales Foothold as Sales Boss Bolts, Production Cut (AutoObserver)

martian · November 2010

The latest news from Spiker ain't good-SAAB lost 400,000,000 eros last quarter.
With money flying awy like this, I think the Swedish Government is about to step in..otherwise, I think its curtains for the marque.
Face it, the world hasn't any room left for samll car manufacturers-this is what happened to Studebaker, almost 50 years ago.

benjaminh · November 2010

Yeah, I think you're right. They're a dead car company walking. Glad I didn't buy one...

stever · February 2011

Saab 9-3 Griffin Coming to US in 2012 With Sedan, Wagon and Goofy Name (Straightline)

nippononly · February 2011

I would buy a car called a Griffin! What's wrong with the name?

I probably still wouldn't buy a Saab though. If I wanted to buy an overpriced entry-lux car, I would probably head to the Acura dealer.

stever · February 2011

What's wrong with the name?

"Griffin" has meaning to Saab fans. For the rest, I suppose it either sounds like Andy and Opie or a fantasy scifi novel about winged dragons.

Beats calling it the 9-5 LSi or something similar by a long shot though.

stever · March 2011

Not much reaction though. (Thanks Nippononly :shades: )

Saab Tells the World: 'We're Still Here' (AutoObserver)

nippononly · March 2011

Well OK, what exactly sets new Saabs apart from the gazillion other near-lux brands trying to pry $40K out of our pockets? Not much, as far as I can tell, except for it being the only Swedish brand still under European ownership (a small plus, but not a major motivating factor).

Audi, for one, seems to have them killed in every class.

stever · March 2011

All I can figure is that there's a lot of old die-hard Saab fans who just need a little excuse to get into a new one.

fezo · March 2011

Yeah, but Audi doesn't have the ignition on the floor.... :P

I always liked Saabs for their quirkiness. M brother has an 01 9-3 convertible (replaced his same era sedan that he had for 10 years and maybe 160K).

Right now he's thinking about selling it. If he does I might well buy it.

british_rover · April 2011

They are less expensive then Audis.

Don't cost as much to fix or insure.

You can still get a manual in every model but the AWD 9-5.

The FWD automatics don't stick you with a overly complex and expensive CVT that will break just past 50,000 miles.

martian · April 2011

The latest news is not good-production at the Trollhatten plant has stopped, due to suppliers refu :sick: sing to ship. Spiker is trying to sell the property to raise cash..looks like the wolf is at the door!

stever · April 2011

Clock Ticking for Teetering Saab (AutoObserver)

stever · May 2011

That Was Quick: Saab Partners With Chinese Car Company Hawtei (Straightline)

stever · May 2011

"Just days after Saab Automobile AB acting CEO Victor Muller said he was confident a hastily arranged deal with privately-held Chinese automaker Hawtai Motor Group would allow Saab to restart production at its assembly plant in Sweden, reports from China today confirm the deal has dissolved."

Saab Seesaws Again Toward Insolvency (AutoObserver)

fintail · May 2011

I am surprised they have enough technology IP for the Chinese to want to buy/steal

stever · May 2011

Unlike, say, BMW?

fintail · May 2011

Probably not bring the latest and greatest tech there, either. But at least they haven't been bought.

sigi1 · May 2011

I don't know what's going to happen. What time is there going to be a decision?

nippononly · May 2011

They have only sold 400 9-5s in the U.S. since the first of the year??!!

That car was obviously WAY overpriced when it was introduced. At $50K, just look at all the great choices you have - why buy from a company that could be bankrupt next week?

hpmctorque · May 2011

Might be worth considering a used 9-5 in a couple of years.

nippononly · May 2011

If you can find one of the 500 sold nationwide before the company went under....

The Future of Saab?

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