Report: Koenigsegg named as Saab buyer

[SVT666]

Report: Koenigsegg named as Saab buyer

Reports first surfaced of Koenigsegg?s interest in General Motors? Saab division last month, with the latest news indicating the Swedish supercar maker has sealed the deal for the GM cast-off brand. Koenigsegg and a group of Norwegian investors were among a group of three bidding for the Saab brand.

According to Sweden?s SVT, Koenigsegg has inked a letter of intent to buy the Saab division from General Motors. ?The buyers have signed a letter of intent to buy Saab,? SVT said.

?Final negotiations about details on the deal will go on in the next months.?

Representatives from GM and Saab have yet to confirm the report.

Both Saad and GM have recently indicated a sale could be finalized by the end of June or early July. GM put Saab up for sale ? along with its Hummer and Saturn brands ? before it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this month.

[Raza]

YES!  Twin turbo convertible midship RWD Saabs! 

[TBR]

Well, I hope it works out. I have to say the odds are stacked against them, but ultimately it could be the best thing for the brand in the long run.

[giant_mtb]

Reps from GM and Saab have yet to confirm the report.


Hmph.

[the Teuton]

I have to say this is good if it's true.  I assume it will kinda be like...there really is no comparison of a company like that.

[sandertheshark]

Jeremy Clarkson and I are pleased.  It's about damn time there was a mainstream auto manufacturer that answer to no one but a bunch of Swedish lunatics.

[Nethead]

From www.leftlanenews.com:

Official: Koenigsegg to buy Saab
06/16/2009, 8:57 AM By Andrew Ganz

General Motors confirmed this morning that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with a consortium representing Swedish supercar manufacturer Koenigsegg over the purchase of the beleaguered Saab unit. The announcement that Saab will once again be a fully Swedish automaker confirms numerous reports over the last week that Koenigsegg was the favored bidder.

?The proposed agreement will enable us to maximize the brand?s potential through an exciting new product line-up with a distinctly Swedish character. Today?s announcement is great news for Saab?s current and future customers, dealers, suppliers and employees around the globe,? said Jan ?ke Jonsson, Managing Director of Saab Automobile AB, in a statement released jointly by GM and Koenigsegg.

Under the terms of the memo, GM will continue to provide architecture and powertrain technology for a ?defined time period,? meaning that the automaker?s 9-3, next-generation 9-5 and upcoming 9-4x, which were all designed using existing GM technology, will be part of the automaker?s portfolio as planned.

A news release by GM further confirmed that the next-generation 9-5 will be built in Saab?s Trollh?ttan, Sweden, assembly plant. It is assumed that Koenigsegg will take ownership of that historic auto plant.

?This is yet another significant step in the reinvention of GM and its European operations,? said GM Europe President, Carl-Peter Forster, in a statement. ?Saab is a highly respected automotive brand with great potential. Closing this deal represents the best chance for Saab to emerge a stronger company. Koenigsegg Group?s unique combination of innovation, entrepreneurial spirit and financial strength, combined with Koenigsegg?s proven ability to create world-class Swedish performance cars in a highly efficient manner, made it the right choice for Saab as well as for General Motors.?

GM expects the sale to close in the third quarter of this year and it is anticipated that it will include a $600 million commitment of funding from the European Investment Bank. An undisclosed sum will be invested in Saab?s future by GM and the price of the sale has yet to be announced.

Given that the deal includes a factory and two unreleased new models, it is certainly the biggest outright sale GM has made since filing for bankruptcy.

It took just over two weeks from GM?s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in New York for it to sell off the fourth, and final, unit it was looking to unload. The automaker has already announced its intentions to sell Saturn to Penske Automotive Group, Hummer to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery and the majority of Opel to groups aligned with Magna International.

Some analysts have expressed concern over the deal, which Forbes says is between two ?unlikely bedfellows.? With around 50 full-time employees, Koenigsegg is hardly a major player in the industry that Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne says needs to be consolidated post haste.

?I?m struggling to see the point of this deal,? said Philippe Houchois, head of European auto industry research at UBS in London told the New York Times. ?Is it to ensure the survival of Saab, to save jobs? It looks like a short-term solution that doesn?t resolve the core issues.?

Still, the deal saves about 5,000 jobs worldwide.

[mzziaz]

I can't say I'm very optimistic on Saab's behalf. Koeningsegg doesn't have the financial  resources to make Saab profitable.

There are, however, widespread speculations in local media that Koeningsegg is just a front for bigger (Norwegian) investors. I hope the they are correct.

[omicron]

This could either be a glorious renaissance, or a gigantic 400km/h fiery accident.

[cozmik]

This is potentially the greatest thing to ever happen to Saab. Koenigsegg is backed by Norwegian investors, one of which has said publicly that he wanted to buy Saab. There is a lot of money behind the deal, for sure. It'll be interesting to see what happens to Saabs after this, but even more interesting to see what Koenigsegg does with their new capacity...

[TBR]

I can't say I'm very optimistic on Saab's behalf. Koeningsegg doesn't have the financial  resources to make Saab profitable.

There are, however, widespread speculations in local media that Koeningsegg is just a front for bigger (Norwegian) investors. I hope the they are correct.

I'd put money on it. Regardless, the expertise part concerns me. Comparatively speaking, SAAB is huge.

[cozmik]

I'd put money on it. Regardless, the expertise part concerns me. Comparatively speaking, SAAB is huge.

Still though, it makes more sense than GM overall. Saab needs to be run like a small, low volume company not a high volume maker. Mainly because that's exactly what Saab is, a small, low volume company. And it needs to find a way to be profitable at low volumes. That's something GM just didn't know how to do. Koenigsegg already does that, at a much smaller scale. Their cars are obviously more expensive, but still, they're profitable at 20 cars a year or something crazy like that.

[TBR]

Still though, it makes more sense than GM overall. Saab needs to be run like a small, low volume company not a high volume maker. Mainly because that's exactly what Saab is, a small, low volume company. And it needs to find a way to be profitable at low volumes. That's something GM just didn't know how to do. Koenigsegg already does that, at a much smaller scale. Their cars are obviously more expensive, but still, they're profitable at 20 cars a year or something crazy like that.

I agree that they are better suited to overseeing Saab than GM, and they could be immensely successful, but it will be an uphill battle.

I am crossing my fingers for them.

[the Teuton]

A small volume manufacturer doesn't jump into something like this without being smart.  You can't sell maybe 20 or 30 cars a year and still be able to buy Saab if you're not profitable and financially sound.

I think Saab will be fine.  And if nothing else, it gives Koenigsegg the ability to manufacture a higher volume sports car on an assembly line.  If GM weren't so bass ackwards, I could see a redesigned Kappa becoming the next Sonnet with some supercar help.

I think it's funny that out of the same flurry that brought Jag and Volvo to Ford, Saab to GM, and all of the other little buy ups, only Volvo is still owned by the company that bought it.

[TBR]

A small volume manufacturer doesn't jump into something like this without being smart.  You can't sell maybe 20 or 30 cars a year and still be able to buy Saab if you're not profitable and financially sound.

Koenigsegg is just a front for a group of investors that's buying Saab (ie: Prodrive and Aston Martin). They don't have the resources to do this on their own. Hell, their gross revenue, best case scenario (30 of their most expensive model), would only be $66 million.

I'd say that there expertise gained from building 20-30 cars per year isn't especially useful to running an operating that builds 20-30k cars a year. They are good business people though.

[Raza]

Well, if you read European car magazines over a period of time, you'll see the news sections are constantly packed with the next greatest supercar that's coming out next year.  Yet, as time passes, it's always next year.  Or in three years.  And then two years later, you read that the company's gone bust and the millionaire who started the thing is now begging for change in front of McDonald's. 

Koenigsegg, however, made it.  So they've done something right.  That's already put them head and shoulders above 90% of the upstarts.  Time will tell, of course.

[Northlands]

I can't say I'm very optimistic on Saab's behalf. Koeningsegg doesn't have the financial  resources to make Saab profitable.

There are, however, widespread speculations in local media that Koeningsegg is just a front for bigger (Norwegian) investors. I hope the they are correct.

I hope so too. I've always thought of Koenigsegg as more of a boutique performance car company.. seems far too small to take on something like Saab.