I'm not sure if I'm in a state of denial, but I don't think so.
I don't believe that Saab is dead yet, but you'll all be the first to know when I do.
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Got an email from a major US news publication this morning, asking for an Op-Ed piece. It's very hard to keep it down to 800 words, but I'm trying.
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I drove the Monte for four hours today. What a car. They can't kill it, surely?
Here's the view we're enjoying right now, though it doesn't do much to ease the confusion and the pain.
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"B.A." has provided a little comic relief, making up this sticker for his Saab 9-3:
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To the news......
Maud Olofsson blames GM and reiterates that the Swedish government will not take up ownership of Saab.
Whilst it's been suggested, no-one's really asking for government ownership. But GM are still open to offers and the government CAN help in a big way with the potential buyers that remain interested in Saab. They are out there.
Mrs Olofsson, you can blame GM all you want. They deserve it by the bucketfull. But you and your people deserve a large share of it too.
Now's the time to make amends.
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Bard Eker from Koenigsegg Group:
"We can only hope that something good comes out of it. Not least for the workers working on Saab, for it is them I am most worried about now, "says Eker.........Saab was never structured as a subsidiary, it was something you bought and swallowed into the great GM-body. It is clear that it is very difficult to pull out. You can take a lung of a human body, but not all blood vessels. There was a contributory factor in that it took longer for us also. They had not done the necessary [preparation] before they went into dialogue with a potential buyer.....
.....What we did wrong was that we were open about the business plan. At first no one believed it, but as they began to believe in us, the guys started to get greedy. GM would be better paid for the parts and the Chinese would have more money. Then began greed to become so dominant that we could not take more, "says Eker told Aftenposten.
There's one particular part that's important here, about people not having belief in the Koenigsegg Group. This wasn't just GM, I believe that the government agencies involved had the same lax approach. Those 'timing issues' Koenigsegg quoted when they pulled out were 100% true.
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Some lamentations:
Saab became a statement of its own. The American competition had floaty rides and Japanese cars were tight on space. By contrast, a Saab had taut steering, requiring drivers to actively guide the car as it powered through ice and snow.
"To see brands like Saab go out of business is really sad," said Ray Ciccolo, who owns Norwood Saab and Watertown's Charles River Saab
Since buying her first car in 1970, Theda Marinelli has never owned anything but a Saab. She tells her friends: "When I die, put me in my Saab. Take me to the compactor, make it small enough, and bury me in my Saab." Now that Saab itself has died, Marinelli is in mourning.
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The hardest words to hear this weekend have come from Jan-Ake Jonsson:
GM has now decided to liquidate the business and it would mean that in future we will not build Saab cars here.
Saddest. News. Ever.
Let's hope a solution can be found.
Dutch to English translationShow romanization
Spyker sees talks with GM on Saab fail
By Eelco Hiltermann and Anna Marij van der Meulen
From FD.nl / DJ
AMSTERDAM (FD.nl / DJ) - Spyker Cars NV is no longer a candidate to the Saab part of General Motors to take over, now the U.S. company talks with the producer of sports cars has stopped.
"Despite all efforts, it is clear that the book review could not be completed within a reasonable time. To stay in business, Saab had a quick solution," said Nick Reilly, president of GM Europe, in a statement.
GM has previously announced that the Spyker only remaining candidate for acquisition was Saab. It would be the end of this year an agreement should be signed, otherwise the loss-making Saab are given.
According to GM there "during the book study raised some issues which both parties thought that could be resolved". Saab's activities are now on a "orderly" way finished, GM says.
"In a reaction against FD.nl / DJ says CEO Victor Muller of Spyker that the funding of the contract was already around, but the appropriation of EUR 400 million from the European Investment Bank to Saab, that a possible takeover by the Swedish government guarantee would be.
"It was brilliant and a fantastic deal for Spyker have been, because we the technology and distribution network of Saab could use," said Muller.
According to Muller, a pooling of the purchasing power of both companies have provided less expensive sports cars from Spyker.
"We continue to look for similar opportunities," said Muller.
The share Spyker, which had risen considerably in recent weeks by the takeover option, delivers heavily in Friday. Around 17.00 hours the share record 18.3% lower at 1.79 euros.
I just cant let go yet.
There has to be a solution.
I read today that the worlds 5th richest man is a swede.
Mr IKEA is getting on in years and it would be a shame if he took all that $$$ to another world when its badly needed elsewhere.
I still cannot get over the lack of interest by Swedish industry.
I still cannot get over the evident lack of Swedish Pride.
As a citizen of Eire there was public outrage when Guinness considered moving the main brewery from Dublin so they binned the idea
Along with the new Jag XF the pending 9-5 is the best looking mass market car of the last decade.
Your work is awsome, and now there is an oportunity to take the next step to contibut even more to the SAAB continuation:
Put JÅJ, the swedish mystery bidder in contact with CvK and this thing will skyrocket!
I'm still dreaming...right?
I still feel if the Swedish Government had greater involvement in this, GM would've been less likely to try the dirty tricks that it has played. At the very least the (Swedish) government should have been an intermediary, not just the interested bystander it has appeared to be to most of us.
Thanks for all your efforts Swade.
My thoughts and best wishes are with everyone at Saab. Please don't give up hope just yet.
thats what I and probably most of my colleagues felt yesterday. Earlier in the day we've got our hopes up after some internal communication. But when the news broke most of us where just standing around and looking out the window. Could this be happening? I mean most of us probably had a gut-feeling that when Koeningsegg pulled out, it was all over. But to actually get the news... And then when we finally got the e-mail from JAJ confirming the news reports, that made it SO final.
I'm not overly worried for my personal situation, that will work out someway or and other. But for the town of Trollhättan, all the people working with me to design and build SAABs, the suppliers and others. How many times does the money a SAAB worker change hands in the stores and businesses around Trollhättan? What will happen to the huge buildings that where used to build the cars, the offices and parking lots for ready-built cars.
It's just to big to grasp.
I guess there are some extremely slim chances left to save SAAB as an car manufacturer. I have very limited knowledge of Swedish bankruptcy laws, but here's my desperate try to come up with one solution:
I believe that if someone with the money would be able to convince JAJ to put SAAB Automobile AB into Swedish bankruptcy then GM's control over SAAB would be non-existent.
So what to do then?
-Well a company with the money would have to go to GM and buy back the rights for the SAAB name (but I'm not entirely sure that GM owns those right, I could be the Swedish SAAB Group AB that still own them).
-They would have to buy the right for the new 9-5 and check that SAAB Automobile AB own the rights for the 9-3.
-The company would then have to buy the Trollhättan site with its inventory from the Swedish bankruptcy court.
If all that happens, where do we then stand?
We have a new owner with the the rights to the brand, the right for the new 9-5, the right to the old 9-3 (from which the new 9-3 would be based), the factory and the inventory in Trollhättan. What are we missing then? IP rights to new technology?
Oh, that's a completely other discussion but for most of the time, GM are so far behind the competitors that you can just got to a supplier and buy the technology you want. What GM consider as new technology, the competitors considers mainstream and have released their constraints on the supplier years ago.
So what are we missing? There's an complete engineering center in Trollhättan (in fact the only complete EC within GM, since all of the others have divided the areas between them).So the knowledge is there and I know I and many with me would work our asses off to get a new 9-3 out the door for for someone that manage to pull off all of the above.
Of course putting SAAB into bankruptcy is a very bad thing to do. We, the employees, would loose our paychecks for everything except 3 months, the suppliers would probably loose most of their outstanding demands on SAAB so this can only be the absolute last thing to do.
But if we get to that point and someone with a huge pile of money comes to the rescue I say: "Go for it!"
Ok, I just felt I had to write something, and I've even managed to keep the fury for GM management out (impressive?). I'll try to spend the rest of the weekend not thinking about this ordeal and wait until Monday to see what happens. (Yeah right, I'll be back at SU in an hour)
Swade: Thanks for all the great work you've put into this site. It's truly the best source for SAAB info and it has helped me to stay afloat during the last year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FYDIYfKtQA
And GM is saying something like "There may be more buyers out there, but we doubt it." What?! GM _knows_ there are buyers. They KNOW about Merbanco, and if Swade knows about some secret swedes, GM surely most know as well. There are buyers and GM knows it.
So the question is not whos fault this is, or who will get the chance to buy one of the already-done NG9-5s. The big question is: Why are GM lying about _everything_?
JAJ will speak. SAAB spirit still alive and well.
If there's anyone left in the room - get your game on now guys.
Hej,
I feel unable to express all my feelings and thoughts.
Swade, thank you so much for this great site, the only reliable source in regard to Saab. I simply cannot express in words how much I appreciate the job you have done during this year.
To all the people at Saab, I just can say that I am deeply impressed about your fight for our beloved brand. I really hope that this is not the end, and that Saab automobiles manages to come back i a way.
Another important question for me who wants and needs to express my anger and to publicly blame GM for what they have done to Saab. Where can I get this sticker to put it on my 1990 Saab 900 i16 ?
Lasse
It is a Chinese saying and loaded with a double meaning.
Indeed, we are living in interesting times.
Reading between the lines from Bard Eker and JAJ it would appear that the Chinese with their bottomless pit of money were determined to buy Saab, and GM were not going to let them have their latest IP. You don’t throw the baby away with the bath water.
Private companies cannot compete with the Chinese government and GM has to service their debt to the US government. GM had to get greedy to pay back Mr. Obama and the US taxpayer.
JAJ’s statement about we will no longer build Saab here (Sweden) also has a double meaning. Yes Saab’s will no longer be built in Trollhattan, but he didn’t say that Saab’s would no longer be built.
Saab may well be the first of many automakers to manufacture in China. They may well be setting a future trend.
Saab, just like Rover cannot be bailed out by their respective governments according to EU law, however the Italians and the French seem to be quite happy to ignore this.
For the current Swedish government there will be long term implications. In the UK we are due a General Election next year. The Current ruling Labour government got into power by swinging the vote in the West Midlands (the home of the UK motor industry). Somehow, since the demise of Rover I don’t think the population of the West Midlands will be voting Labour next year.
time the serious and genuine $$$ men OR women came out to play,
time Sweden came out to play,
SAAB have the product for out times.
the ownership of BIOPOWER alone must be worth a fortune.
i live in the most isolated city in the world and the radio news bulletins appear horrified at the demise of SAAB
The local dealers I spoke to this morning are in shock and are very angry. Saying that, most of them though were expecting this sort of crap after years of abuse from GM and had contingency plans.
I note the Perth, Western Australia branch has now dedicated a large portion of it's showroom to Renault...
I wouldn't say all GM parts and architecture are behind the curve,but yeah your point is well taken.
However the most important part is that
you could indeed choose to build the NG 9-3 on a different custom platform.
And you can also switch supplier in order to complete the car.
The different GM platform architectures is nothing but a silly game from a economical perspective.
It's all about taking more money for the same component with minimal modifications.Anyone would be suprised to see see the similarities between delta,epsilon.
That's why we need some hard assets from the factory in order to make rapid development,saab HR,the list of what to
switch and not.Keep focus on one or two variants. Ditch linear and vector series etc.
Revert some design strategy back to old re-engineered base-architecture.
Swedish suppliers carries their own R&D and have been done that for years,please open the door for them. Ditch the GM-Delphi solutions.
people would buy SAAB s because they are swedish. i don t want a chinese car which is in the same price range as a SAAB nowadays.
i know many people which buyed no SAABs because of GM.so those people would never buy a chinese saab.
would you for example buy a "roewe"
i want to buy a european product and save the income of the people of trollhättan
SAAB up
This is the SECOND 9-5 that was fully engineered and ready to be marketed, and GM throws it away!!!!!!!!!!! 2 cars that were developed with THEIR money!!!!!!!
No wonder these people ruined just about every company they bought, and their own. Maybe they should ask for a refund for their diplomas, obviously they haven't learned a thing! I think that some chimpanzees probably have a better understanding of automotive engineering and marketing that people at GM!
I am now thinking about what I should do with the Trans Am in my garage. One thing is for sure, I will not feel like driving it next summer as I normally do.
:´(
I cant believe this :(
"Saab is not the meaning of life. But everything Saab stands for is."
:(
> VERY IMPORTANT: CALL FOR ENRTIES!
>>> WE ALL AT SU should make good use of the next few hours: Everyone of us should be making any purposeful thoughts of what he could do himself. What can you organize or mobilize within your community and your own network? Every useful and helpful connection is welcome!
> We are no fools. We are entrepreneurs, technicians, managers, enthusiasts, lawyers, notaries, doctors, professors, academics, or just smart people who know what they can do and what they want to do.
Everyone should mobilize all of his professional skills and structures.
> In two days we will know whether there are new opportunities for Saab. Then we should have collected all the ideas and be ready for ACTION.
Please don't wait. We have to make sure, that TIME is our friend.
R E S C U E - S A A B !
_____________
reprosted:
> Over the next two days all responsibles will set in motion all internal lever. Perhaps there are possibilities and opportunities for "NEW SAAB. Very soon we'll know more. Important points do not look all that bad. These are not guesses from my side. Everything is still open. At the moment I can not say more.
JAJ will speak soon. TV Sweden. SAAB spirit still alive and well.
RJ
Maybe more on sunday.
I wouldn’t pay current Saab prices for a Saab made in China, I would expect to pay very much less so long as the quality is the same.
I do agree with you that a European (Scandinavian) car is the ideal preferred option, but the world is changing and there is nothing we can do about it.
I too would like to buy a Swedish built Saab when I have to replace one of mine and help all the people of Trollhattan.
If there is an option to buy another Saab in the future and it happens to be made in China I would still buy it instead of a German, French or Italian car. German cars are too austere and expensive, French cars are too flimsy and I need to get to work reliably so that rules out the Italian ones (as much as I like the Italians, Italian styling, food and culture).
Just look at the stuff we all buy, virtually all of it now is made in China. The most recent European made item I bought was a Metz flashgun and I was so surprised that it was made in Germany. All my new Pentax camera gear is made in China or Vietnam instead of Japan.
40 years ago, ‘Made in Japan’ was considered a sign of poor quality, now we all accept that Japanese products are of a high quality. China is the new Japan and we are all going to have to get used to this.
But there is an interesting blog piece by former editor Gavin Green on why individual brands never survive as part of standardised numbers driven conglomerates.
Inevitably (as this is Car Magazine) Green then goes on to suggest BMW as an example of a company which, like Saab, has a core of fans who like what the brand stand for. But unlike GM, BMW understands what makes people buy their cars and is bold enough to develop what they want.
BMW also scores of course because their core base of fans includes such a large number of motoring writers. And just as noone ever got fired for buying IBM, noone ever gets fired for praising BMW. This month's Car magazine is uninterrupted BMW for the first 90 pages or more, with barely a breathless review of the latest limited edition 911 to leaven the mixture.
BMW of course is owned by a family trust, which may occasionally tell the engineers to make over-powered SUVs to make some money in Russia or the Gulf, but which mainly seems to let the engineers make what their core buyers want. Unfortunately the family which owned Saab didn't have quite the means of the Quandts.
Anyway I hope this blog post doesn't mean that Gavin Green is expecting us Saab drivers to move to BMWs! BMW is surely the anti-Saab. The key attraction for Saab for me is that they are driven by interesting and nice people...
I still cannot get over the evident lack of Swedish Pride."
Trust me, it's a matter of discussion here in Sweden as well.
Quote from the forum at finalgear.com
"Saabs are for nice people. Obviously there aren't any left."
> CALL FOR ENTRIES! (Once again.)
>>> WE ALL AT SU should make good use of the next few hours: Everyone of us should be making any purposeful thoughts of what he could do himself. What can you organize or mobilize within your community and your own network? Every useful and helpful connection is welcome!
> We are no fools. We are entrepreneurs, technicians, managers, enthusiasts, lawyers, notaries, doctors, professors, academics, or just smart people who know what they can do and what they want to do.
Everyone should mobilize all of his professional skills and structures.
> In two days we will know whether there are new opportunities for Saab. Then we should have collected all the ideas and be ready for ACTION.
Please don't wait. We have to make sure, that TIME is our friend.
R E S C U E - S A A B !
_____________
SAAB spirit still alive and well. RJ
Lovely beach snap too Swade, great view :-)
As an American I'm embarassed my tax money is funding this company. I never thought the Auto industry should've gotten a bailout in the first place. Let capitalism work as intended. GM builds lousy products and has had decades of supposed "turnarounds" only to sell the same garbage products over and over.
I hope you're right Swade and someone picks up the right pieces of SAAB and builds me my 9-3X.
My hope for Saab lies in a plan like something you suggest, which may even work out better in the long term.
My fingers are crossed, and I wish the best of luck to yourself and the other Saab employees.
Mike.
"Unbelievably bad. Not too clever and cynical handling of GM. "
-The enthusiasts are not going away silently.
-Trollhättan will still be around for years to come.
-Saabs brand, is still intact.
-Used saab dealers and repair shops will be around for years to come.
The Saab people should re-group, and start a new
Authentic Saab Company, basen on open source technology, aquire the brand rights from Saab Aerospace, Start producing limited edition saabs
like the classic 900, or maybe one model: the 9x-air.
Innovatum where the saab museum is based, can be the new center for this new business. Investments from Enthusiasts, Merbanco, Russians and Koenigsegg cna all pitch in.
A new sales network based on sales over the internet, with small showroms cna be set up an operated by enthusiasts.
Saab could become the first global, democratic car company, where the enthusiasts owns and impacts the direction of the company.
Someone inside the current saab, need to contact those that might want to invest, to plan for Saabs new life, as truly independant.
Long live saab.
But still I cannot understand why GM doesn't go through with the two new Saab models and see if they do become box office hits rather than spending billions on ending the brand. Wouldn't it be better to make money than spend it? Or in the worst case scenario let Saab go bankrupt - anything and everything instead of sending an appreciated brand to it's death?
I wish we were told the rest of the story, because there is either other stuff going on under the surface here, or GM is displaying major incompetence.
I too wish that Koenigsegg Group took up the deal, along with other players - perhaps Merbanco and Spyker joined together. All four would benefit from the deal. Koenigsegg flagged that they could resume the deal if the losses would be covered - that's some US$155 million dollars. You can not convince me that it is not possible to acquire that money.
Is it really too late, or is this a dirty fox game underway..?
So I think the chance of K-egg stepping in again is totally out of the question.
Conventional wisdom says General Motors is greedy, mismanaged and due to fail....
Saab Agrees.
so there may be some options:
1. Saab Trollhättan will turn into a GM/Opel-factory (we all hope not, because then there are no new SAABs anymore)
2. Saab goes bankrupt, but will restart with a new owner and a staff of 3000.such decision is in the hands of the curators, who will be appointed by then.
3. Saab is being sold (to a new owner not yet known to the (SAAB-)world)
furthermore, in USA there is more and more criticism on GM. even the words 'boycotting GM' were mentioned by the 'Saabforum-oracle'.another of his quotes: ''heads may roll' is the adagium'. first GM were screaming and begging for loads of money, and now they are annoying people when negotiating on take-overs.
oh it's such a comforting idea to have this guy ventilating some positive things about SAAB from time to time. one almost start thinking that what we hear in the news is merely window-dressing, in order to let some people do their work on SAAB in quietness.
thumbs up!! the fat lady hasn't sung yet.
And from now on, lets make it as difficult as possible for the GM bosses, why not beat them at there own game and make their lives truly miserable.... ;-)
Hopefully someone can pick it up from there...
Maybe what the good germans behind Rescue-Saab could get behind.
When I am back at my computer, I will do what I can to campain and rally people. GM needs to feel very strongly they did wrong, and best way of doing that is to make them hurt financially!
Boycot GM products. Cars as well as merchandise.
jpokrandt - I will be in touch.
The only way to prevent that from happening is probably letting Saab go officially bankrupt (after all, it is a Swedish-registered corporation and not a GM branch or a US company) and have the receiver sell and restart it. And even then a big legal battle is certain to develop over the ownership rights of the new 9-5 and many other issues.
Ivo
The problems with the due diligence was not on GMs side, but on Spykers side. Apparently their way of book keeping and the way have obtained funds have led to some eye brows raised at GMs side.
Anyway, the consortiom is still busy on the background. Financial backing is finished, EIB loan could be supported by the Swedish government without problems. Big issue is the "de-braiding" of patents and IP in general between GM and Saab. GM doesn't want to get rid of that, and is on collision course. GM does get the signals though about very negative sentiment about them in Europe (mainly) and even the US. So, hopefully they will soften a bit.
As I posted above I have set up a zazzle account if anyone wants them printed onto stickers or tshirts… If you want different colours let me know and I can oblige!
Thanks for the offer of printing them tho, but I think I got that under control. :)
sab
:)
sab says FUGM!
sab
In a larger context, two painful points.
GM still owns SAAB for reasons not far removed from those that long ago prompted GM to buy SAAB. It needed, or thought it needed, an off-shore testbed. But it certainly didn't need an in-house off-shore competitor for its own failing North American businesses, such as -- well, it was quite a list, wasn't it? SAAB is now simply an asset for the re-badging of rolling stock and for the incorporation of strong ideas into weak designs. Why apply SAAB's achievements to SAAB's future? GM owns those achievements, which are no longer for sale, if they ever truly were, and it has its "core" future to worry about instead and elsewhere.
When its tin cup was filled with the coin of docile sovereign ownership, GM knew it could not invest off-shore ambitiously, not after receiving billions in newly printed dollars from tax payers feeling insecure about their own jobs, savings, and investments. GM needed either to raise cash by leaving its foreign positions or to claim an inability to do so. With the public's money in hand and a sweetheart bankruptcy concluded advantageously, GM did the latter overtly with Opel and covertly with SAAB and has so far gotten away with its pretense. An interim boss and a few less recognizable characters were dismissed, and an illustrious maker of bold decisions strode across the collective American television screen. A Texan branding the strays.
Swade, that is exactly what I have been thinking. I still feel their is some group out their that can buy Saab or at the very least resurrect the company.
In the season of hope...keep hoping!
They don't make Jaguars at Browns Lane anymore either...
Nothing lasts forever.
I will get my new Jaguar XKR (X150) in January so I will actually trade my old XKR (X100) for a Saab 9-3 SC Turbo X! That one will be a keeper!
Here's Swedish TV's latest take on the story. The contracts were basically on the table ready to be signed when GM made their U-turn.
http://svt.se/2.22620/1.1821078/kontrakten_skulle_signeras_-_da_drog_gm_i_handbromsen
Ok, not so flattering GM, i guess it went something like this:
According to Bård Eker, Koenigseggs business plan was to good, GM got greedy and wanted more, they thaught they sold something useless only to find out what good owners could transform it into. It must also have been embarassing to see that Koenigsegg could make profit with less than 100.000 sold cars.
So GM blew that one.
Then JåJ goes out and sells the old tooling to the chinese for 1,4 billion krona, GM calculates a couple of days and realizes that these money made all the difference, shutting SAAB down and stealing it´s money made better sense for a company without heart and soul.
Koenigsegg and Jan-Åke did this too good for their own best, they turned around and the knife in the back came instantly. JåJ knows this, he can hardly hold back his anger.
Lets hope Merbanco or Koenigsegg buys the brand-name, and lets hope GM has read swedish press telling it´s worth virtually nothing. One day something nice will pop up there.
Bastards
Bastards
Hello....pot calling kettle...are you there???
http://svt.se/2.22620/1.1821093/saab_hade_affarsplanen_klar
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Saab had a business plan ready
Rapport | December 19th 2009 16:00
Most of the big questions for Saab - like financing and business plan - were solved when General Motors yesterday backed down from the deal with Dutch sports car maker Spyker.
This is alleged by sources within Saab to Rapport today.
Saab's management have in the last weeks worked intensely to put together all the pieces of the puzzle and to be ready before year's end - the deadline given by the GM board for finishing the deal.
And many problems were already solved. Financing, which had previously been a major concern, was sorted.
By Saab getting 1.4 billion kronor from Chinese automaker BAIC for the sale of technology and old tools, the economy had improved.
This increased the chances of getting a loan from the European Investment Bank for 4 billion kronor. After meetings this week, the bank had given a positive assessment of the business plan. All that remained was to go through the finances of the new owner, Spyker.
Negotiations with the National Debt Office were also being conducted in a positive spirit and were not considered a problem.
During the last year, the business plan that Saab is basing its operations on has gotten increasingly cautious. This year the company was to sell 40 000 cars. Next year the forecast was 57 000, and by 2011 the company hoped to ge volumes up to just under 100 000 cars.
Now, they will be closing down instead.
Jan Nylander
---
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
The sale of SAAB has been a charade executed on taxpayer time and money. Fraud, waste, and abuse.
http://www.sedo.co.uk/search/details.php4?domain=fugm.com
So if sab or anyone feels like starting a big FUGM campaign, there's your starting point.
Just remember to be prepared when the legal attack dogs are unleashed from Detroit...
http://ttela.se/ekonomi/saab/1.680236
---
Deal with GM only hours away
TROLLHÄTTAN: A deal with Spyker Cars was only hours away when GM suddenly pulled the handbrake. The day after, everyone is asking the same question: Why?
GM's decision to close down Saab was incredibly dramatic when it arrived on Friday afternoon. And the picture that is now being painted about how it happened further increases the drama.
According to information to TTELA, a deal between GM and Spyker was only hours away when GM suddenly called the whole thing off. This view is confirmed this Saturday afternoon by Saab's Information Manager, Eric Geers.
- We were on our way up to Stockholm to sign the contracts. Then something happened. But what? No idea, he says.
Saab's Chief Legal Counsel Kristina Geers was on the plane at Landvetter Airport, carrying the prepared contracts, when she suddenly received notice that the whole thing was called off.
A few hours earlier, Saab boss Jan Åke Jonsson had on the phone recieved the dramatic and unexpected fatal notice from GM. In the morning, there was then a meeting where GM announced that they didn't intend to continue the process.
According to Eric Geers, Saab were not the only ones to be surprised.
- This came as a huge surprise to Victor Muller (Spyker's CEO) as well, Geers says. Victor Muller was on location in Stockholm, also in the belief that he would sign the contracts.
- We were well on our way, and I have to give credit to Spyker Cars. They have shown enormous commitment in this matter.
Saab had hoped to announce the deal as an early Christmas gift to their employees next week.
Unconfirmed information also claims that a decision by the European Investment Bank, EIB, on Saab's loan application wasn't far off. The conditions were thus in place for a signed declaration of intent to soon be followed by a binding agreement.
And after Saab's deal with Beijing Automotive earlier this week, there was money on hand which enabled the deadline to be extended. If GM had had the will.
No official explanation for why GM now stopped the deal has yet been given. A rumour says that it was Spyker's major owner, the banker Vladimir Antonov, that gave GM cold feet. But one could argue that this explanation is flawed.
Antonov's role in Spyker is known. If that was a problem, GM and Deutsche Bank could have rejected Spyker much earlier.
Another theory is that the new GM management wanted to show decisiveness.
That would then mean that GM had already decided to close Saab - that the last weeks were just playacting.
Magnus Nordberg
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I guess it will not take long now until the real reason for the U-turn leaks out. Maybe someone at that GM board meeting disagreed with what happened and will feel compelled to leak little crumbles of truth to the press?
RE:Conventional wisdom says General Motors is greedy, mismanaged and due to fail....
Saab Agrees.
ROFLMAO. Excellent!!! :o))
GM bent SAAB over and sh@fted them royally. GM had no intent on letting SAAB be sold to anyone for two reasons 1/ sheer greed with all that taxpayer money behind them they now think their s**t dont stink and 2/ SAAB is and always was a threat to GM's substandard cars.
MR HARPER(Canada's Prime Minister) I WANT MY MONEY BACK YOU USED TO SUPPORT THIS BUNCH OF LOSERS!!!!
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c326/raquettelaker2/DSC03661.jpg
I own a 9.5 2.3t from 2002 and a 9.3 Cabrio Aero V6 2.8T from 2006 (previously I owned a 900S from 1995). I am going to change the 9.5 next year and, sincerely, the new 9.5 was my main candidate. I have been looking at other cars (E-class and CLS, 5-series and GT-5, XF, S80, A6) and none of them said so much to my eyes as the new 9.5.
Maybe I am blind, but even when I was going to buy my present cars I went through Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar, Volvo... and, at the end, I chose Saab three times in a row.
Unfortunately, this appears to be the end for Saab.
I am really sorry for this loss. But my anger at this moment drives me to a really serious resolution: I will never EVER buy something which could be related to GM in any way (not dificult to maintain as a fact, because the rest of GM owned brands are just crap!).
I will be around while there is the smallest remain of hope...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ci7DGbPG_AQ
When I heard the news of Ksegg leaving the table I was devastated. That evening as I was repairing a"78 99 that should have been given up for dead years ago it occurred to me that SAAB has always been fantastic at dealing with adversity. From getting you home thru a snowstorm to saving your life in a horrible crash, SAAB can get the job done. I see no reason for SAAB to end.
All of the wonderful SAABS in my shop (from a '64 GT850 to a 2007 9-3 CV ) assured me that the spirit of SAAB can't be crushed by stupid people in Detroit.
There is a little bit of magic put in to every SAAB, sometimes good and sometimes pure evil. But it is a very powerful magic, and it comes from the spirit of the people of Trollhattan.
My heartfelt thanks and best wishes go out to these wonderful people for making such a wonderful car, and I know that thanks to them, SAAB will survive.
They never really wanted to sell - they want to keep the best bits for themselves and is worried about the competition. They want to try yet again (May you fairure rost in eternal hell, GM) to push Caddy in europe.
We'll build a ALCAN SAAB Race team using a older Saab!
Conventional wisdom says all this drama about Saab will cause alcohol consumption, heartburn and sleepless nights....
... Zippy Agrees