Saab Story

[the Teuton]

BREAKING: Swedish Patient Succumbs - Deal for Saab is dead on the table, GM to wind down brand

After a protracted saga that has seen bidders drop in-and-out, old model tooling and assets sold off to the Chinese, the enigmatic brand known as Saab is dead. In a press release issued this morning, General Motors announced that the "intended sale of Saab Automobile AB would not be concluded." GM had been in talks with Dutch exoticmakers Spyker Cars after pursuing a number of other buyer leads (including the aborted sale with Koenigsegg), but The General says that in the course of due diligence, the resolution of certain unspecified issues became impossible in the time frame that they had set for themselves.

As such, GM will immediately begin the "wind down" of the much-loved yet perpetually unprofitable cult brand, but says it will continue to honor warranties and provide spare parts and service ? presumably through other GM brand dealers as Saab dealers go offline. Officials note that this is not a bankruptcy or forced liquidation situation, so outstanding creditors should still expect to receive payment.

It is not clear what will happen to the production-ready 2010 9-5, nor the current 9-3/9-3X model and almost-ready 9-4X. Official death certificate available after the jump.

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/12/18/breaking-swedish-patient-succumbs-deal-for-saab-is-dead-on-th/

So what will become of the new 9-5? That looked like it was going to be one hell of a car. I think they should sell it as a...well, they killed Olds (my natural second choice for such a car), they killed Saturn, they killed Pontiac, it's not Buick material, and we don't get Opel/Vauxhall here.

What should they do with hundreds of millions of dollars in R&D sitting right there?

[Submariner]

That's so fucking stupid.  At the very least they should have sold it to Spyker or Koenigsegg at a loss, rather than just kill it off. Further proof GM has zero idea as to what they are doing. 

But hey, we get to see those patently false "May the best car win" BS ads a little while longer, so not all is lost. 

[Raza]

[the Teuton]

If they still owned Hummer, I'd rebadge it as the "Hummeroid."

GM just killed what was like a project that cost close to $1 billion including all of the new technologies implemented into it. Once again, way to go, GM.

[Raza]

I'm going to email GM and make an offer. 

[cozmik]

I hope that GM dies. They will never receive my business in the future. The company does not deserve to exist, it's management should but hung from the highest tree, and if I could burn every last one of them myself I would. I will make sure that everyone who asks me for advice on what car to buy is told never to touch anything from GM. This company should be dead. it doesn't deserve anyone's business, and it definitely doesn't deserve my tax money. Fuck every last one of them, fuck the company, and fuck their piss poor products. That company and it's management had better hope I never come into the position of being able to make a decision on their livelihood in the future, because I will sell them piece by piece to the lowest bidder, and even that would be generous to them.

[the Teuton]

^^^One pissed former Saab owner^^^

[Tave]

Meh--they build mildly entertaining cars that cater to select crowd, have a polarizing design language, and cost more that the competition which performs both subjectively and objectively better. Not only was this inevitable, especially considering the wretched reputation for reliability, earned or not, that the company had built in the US; but I also won't be losing any sleep over it, and I'm guessing that 90% of the people on SPIN who are going to complain about this would have never bought one in their lifetimes anyway.

See ya later Saab, you had a...run, but it's time to go.

[2o6]

Saab never made any money, and from a business perspective, it didn't look to make any money anytime soon.

[2o6]

I wonder what is going to happen to the 9-5 and 9-4x.



Those are ready for production.

[Tave]

I hope that GM dies. They will never receive my business in the future. The company does not deserve to exist, it's management should but hung from the highest tree, and if I could burn every last one of them myself I would. I will make sure that everyone who asks me for advice on what car to buy is told never to touch anything from GM. This company should be dead. it doesn't deserve anyone's business, and it definitely doesn't deserve my tax money. Fuck every last one of them, fuck the company, and fuck their piss poor products. That company and it's management had better hope I never come into the position of being able to make a decision on their livelihood in the future, because I will sell them piece by piece to the lowest bidder, and even that would be generous to them.

Uh, sorry man, but Saab did this to itself a long time ago. If anything, you should thank GM for extending the life of the brand past the point any reasonable person would have expected.

[2o6]

Uh, sorry man, but Saab did this to itself a long time ago. If anything, you should thank GM for extending the life of the brand past the point any reasonable person would have expected.

I agree, if anything, GM helped them.

The 900NG was great, the 9-5 was pretty good, too. It's SAAB's general management that couldn't follow up with a decent car.

[SVT666]

It's about time.  Saab is a brand that nobody buys and lags behind the competition in virtually every aspect.

[2o6]

It's about time.  Saab is a brand that nobody buys and lags behind the competition in virtually every aspect.

The 9-5 and 9-4x look to be good, but it's too little too late.

[cozmik]

Uh, sorry man, but Saab did this to itself a long time ago. If anything, you should thank GM for extending the life of the brand past the point any reasonable person would have expected.

you're incorrect. An incompetent american company decided to give Saab no budget and inferior platforms to make luxury products off of. They held Saab back to keep them from stepping on Crapaliacs toes and opel. I hope both brands those brands enjoy a firey death.

[2o6]

The Epsilion platform is far from crappy.

[cozmik]

The Epsilion platform is far from crappy.

It's not something to make a car to compete with BMW and Mercedes off of either.

[Tave]

you're incorrect. An incompetent american company decided to give Saab no budget and inferior platforms to make luxury products off of. They held Saab back to keep them from stepping on Crapaliacs toes and opel. I hope both brands those brands enjoy a firey death.

Bullshit. Saab was a sinking ship before GM bought it. You're delusional.

[Submariner]

I'm going to email GM and make an offer. 

I'll match whatever you throw in. 

[Submariner]

It's about time.  Saab is a brand that nobody buys and lags behind the competition in virtually every aspect.

My girlfriends 9-3 is a fantastic car, and aside from it's inherent Saab quirkiness, it's just as good any pseudo-luxury/sports car out there (I'm looking at you, TL) 

[3.0L V6]

Not to be a killjoy, but if we ever wanted to see an independent GM again (i.e. no government involvement), they had to kill the brands that they were subsidizing and focus their energies on their mainstream brands. GM is a volume car maker, not really a niche player. Had the General not bought Saab in 1989, it would have died within the decade. Saab, to my knowledge, never made a profit for GM.

It absolutely sucks from an enthusiast point of view - less choice is always a bad thing. However, I consider that keeping GM on the government dole is worse than losing some choice in the car market.

[sportyaccordy]

I am not moved one way or another... Saab had some interesting cars, but beyond their uniqueness really presented no advantages over their competitors.

[Raza]

I'll match whatever you throw in. 

If we all chip in, we could probably buy Saab at a decent price. 

[2o6]

It's not something to make a car to compete with BMW and Mercedes off of either.

Saab NEVER tried to play with BMW and Mercedes.

[S204STi]

+1

[Byteme]

Bullshit. Saab was a sinking ship before GM bought it. You're delusional.

IIRC Saab was in about the same shape or worse than Jaguar was when Ford bought that company.  GM propped up the bottm line when they should hav used the money to better their core products. It's about time someone pulled the plug.  the fact there are no viable takers at all should tell you something, down market or not.

[mzziaz]

A sad day for the automotive world, and especially the Scandinavian one.   

R.I.P. SAAB.

Wonder if there will be killer deals on the 9-3 to be had?

[Submariner]

If we all chip in, we could probably buy Saab at a decent price. 

We would undoubtedly be better managers, to boot.

[Cookie Monster]

I don't get it. On one hand, everyone (including me) bitches about the fact that GM receives government funding and whatnot, but then everyone also bitches that GM kills off all these extraneous brands. You can't have it both ways. GM needs to trim the excess if they want to get back on their feet and keeping around brands like Saab and Hummer just makes them more reliant on federal aid. At least now GM can focus more on their main brands.

Besides, I doubt niche companies like Koenisegg and Spyker could have done anything great with Saab anyways. Yes, I'm sad to see another car company (especially one that has been around for a while) go, but honestly, Saab didn't offer anything worth buying over the competition. The only Saab I really liked was the Saab 9-2X, only because it looked like a cleaner Subaru. Saab was already toast and it's not GM's fault that they're dead.

[the Teuton]

I think my next car will be the now-defunct 9-2X Aero from the now-defunct Saab. Resale value for those things should officially be in the crapper after this news.

I am going to go defunct brand shopping from here on out!