 SAAB Turbo-Hybrid E85 concept |
General Motors has reached a tentative agreement to sell Saab to the Swedish sports car manufacturer Koenigsegg.
GM said that as part of the deal there would be $600m (£367m) of funding from the European Investment Bank (EIB), guaranteed by the Swedish government.
It is the latest part of GM’s reorganisation, which is also set to see the Opel and Vauxhall brands going to Canada’s Magna…
Koenigsegg produces 18 cars a year and employs 45 people, and there has been some doubt as to whether it has the expertise to run Saab, which sold 93,000 cars in 2008.
Saab employs about 3,400 people in Sweden and about 12,000 other jobs in the country are dependent on Saab and its suppliers.
But GM Europe’s president Carl-Peter Forster said: “Koenigsegg Group’s unique combination of innovation, entrepreneurial spirit and financial strength… made it the right choice for Saab as well as for General Motors”.
The Swedish government has been keen to avoid bailing out its carmakers as long as they are owned by US parent companies.
That’s no surprise is it?
I haven’t posted earlier on the rumors because I didn’t think Koenigsegg could pull it off. Their core investor is an industrial design firm, Baard Eker, also talented and stylish.
“doubt as to whether it has the expertise to run Saab”
Can they really do worse than GM has?
I think this is a good thing for Saab. What GM effectively did, was take a well regarded niche brand — and try to main-stream it. Of course, that had the effect of diluting the brand to the point of being undesirable, in addition to introducing all sorts of GM cost-cutting quality measures into the fold.
Ironically it parallels the Ford – Volovo relationship quite closely
Good riddance to GM corporate governance of Saab, it really can’t get any worse.
It seemed GM thought all it took to make a Saab a Saab was to put the key between the seats. After 220,000 miles I went to look at a new Saab only to find there was no such thing. Keeping my old one running was going to be a hardship in my small city because GM Saab dealers had little interest in parts/service for Per-GM Saabs I’m very happy to see Saab free of GM who only saw them as a brand name, One they didn’t understand. If GM wanted to sell OPELs in the States do it under the OPEL name or at least the Saturn name. What was with selling Imprezas and Trailblazers as Saabs that’s as dumb as the VW Routan/Chrysler Van GM didn’t have a clue. Go Koenigsegg !
I don’t want to hear your Saab story.
Oh, WOW! ever see a Koenigsegg?
You should be so lucky!
Maybe McLaren should buy GM?
Good news. Now we can go back to the days when Saab drivers in the US were an exclusive club of Treehugging Dirt Worshipers, weirdos and (for convertibles) fags.
I could never figure out how Saab stayed in the US market when Peugeot, Citron, Renault and Fiat couldn’t.
This has AOL-Time Warner written all over it.
From someone who has not been keeping up on the news…
Does anyone know what, if anything, will happen to the warranties?
Something doesn’t add up.
Obviously, Saab is the larger and more experienced company here. 96,000 sales to 18!
I think Koenigsegg will simply be a shell company to allow Saab to receive government bailout money, and work under the name Koenigsegg, but will actually be run by and controlled by Saab.
From someone who has not been keeping up on the news…
Does anyone know what, if anything, will happen to the warranties?
Well as Saab, was merely owned by GM, I believe warranties were sill held, backed, and processed by Saab. I can’t see how having a new holding company will change anything from a consumer perspective.
The paperwork on the dealer end may change though, as there will probably be some new corporate reporting policies put in place.
Well GM didn’t know how different Scandinavian corporate culture is compared to their own.
I find it interesting that SAAB is seen as a niche brand, when it historically has compared favourably to Volvo. Volvos cars has had a lot more problems, and SAABs have always worked well and just kept on running.
Well it’s not a niche brand here in Sweden, naturally. It’s not just brand loyalty either. They have made quality cars.
Having Koeniggsegg buy SAAB doesn’t guarantee bailout money since Koeniggsegg primarily is owned by Norwegian oil people, and that’s the kind of business men who backs this deal too.
Oh, and out government doesn’t want to bail out companies, which I find refreshing. (That’s about the only good thing about them)
Koenigsegg, and Saab. Like Marilyn Manson, and Brittany Spears.
Koenigsegg CCX
Thanks for the link to Top Gear, Jagermeister. Very nice. What a car.
It’d be nice if they made full size trucks.
The Swedish/Swiss/Norwegian group taking over…. if they could make a car like the SAAB Turbo-Hybrid E85 – they’ll blow the socks of any hybrid manufacturer, Toyota Prius and Honda ‘something’ included.
It is about, doing it. And Government Motors were not able to do ANYTHING with this jewel for god knows how many years. It is so sad to see total incompetence in action… so damned sad!
#4 Buzz – hahahahahahahah.
I doubt if the Swedish car manufacturer, Koenigsegg, can pull this one off. They are known for creating high-performance cars, I wonder how they’ll handle Saab.