You know, there was a time last year (like, all of it) when I felt like I truly hated General Motors. As the sale was negotiated, fell apart and Saab’s very future involved guillotines, windmills and other bad things, the clouds in my mind only got darker.
Funny how a good outcome can clear the mind and I’ve not given GM much thought since. This article, in today’s NyTeknik, hasn’t taken me back to those dark places. In fact, now I just sigh and think “typical”.
The Googletrans:
It cost the Saab more than a billion to develop and produce the Cadillac BLS. The car became a financial fiasco and a personal setback for General Motors model officer and alderman Bob Lutz. But headquarters in Detroit did not pay the bill for failure. It was forced to make Saab in Trollhättan.
This revealed Saab Director Jan Åke Jonsson, in connection with the trade association BIL Sweden’s voice in the week.
It was in July 2003 by Bob Lutz and other GM management gave Saab mission to develop a new version of the 9-3 that would be sold under the brand Cadillac. The aim was to strengthen the position of Cadillac luxury car in the European market. A version with four doors presented in 2006 and was followed by years of a combination. But demand was minimal, the European general agent (Kroymans Corporation) went bankrupt and ceased production 2009th
Sales reached only ten percent of the target and the party cost more than a billion crowns.
-Guess who took the bill, “said Jan Åke Jansson with a wry smile.
He believes that there are many advantages to now be free from GM. Among other things, less red tape, the freedom to self-build the brand and control over cash flow.
But of course there were also advantages of being a GM family. Among other things, owns Saab now highly modern and profoundly effective manufacturing and development facilities.
Yeah, we can thank them for some things, but there’s so much more to be happy about and that’s all to do with separation.
The BLS was good for two things. This, for starters. And some flow-on improvements in NVH for the 9-3 after the BLS was done.
Thanks to Lennart for the tip.
Related posts:
That Opel blurb...
{ 39 comments }
think holden should get out now!
jaj must have lots of patience!
No surprise here, but somewhat of a relief to hear it from J
I love the first thing it was good for
:D
Wow, what the heck. Isn’t this a huge red flag for a parent company?
I agree that Cadillac is not a good brand for Europe. There is always a small segment of the Euro market that wants US cars.
That being said, I liked the BLS. Exterior body was attractive, and the interior was also good. I have never been a fan of the 9-3SS interior — too GM — but as a BLS it looked good.. I wish they had brought it to the US.
Barf.
Bob Lutz was the most overrated car guy in the industry. ALL talk, I mean for heaven’s sake he was is credited for reviving Chrysler? Eh, sorry…you called that a revival?!?
Better days ahead everyone, the future is looking bright!
That’s the past. More intersting:
if it took Saab 100 mio
“And some flow-on improvements in NVH for the 9-3 after the BLS was done.”
In fairness there was a hell of alot of improvements that came onto the 9-3 from the BLS, I cant for the life of me find it, but I remember writing a long piece about it to you way back on the BLS. But the thing is we were always told the BLS was a GM project mmmmmmmm.
Pardon my spelling. Damn iPhone.
Surprise surprise… The truth is finally coming out! I wonder what other GM-disaster-projects have been made in the past…
It’s kinda ironic that Saab got some kind of internal GM award for doing the BLS project in record time…
While GM kept Saab under its wings since 1990 long enough for Saab to see today under Spyker, there sure were many moments during the last two decades when Saab was simply being pimped by GM.
The funny part is that the BLS was the best Cadillac ever build (and will probably continue to be for several years). That is why they never sell cars in Europe, they are not good enough.
I am glad that Bob Lutz this year is not only retarded but also retired. Great for GM!
/JV
This was sorrowful but had a great effect as it pushed the acquisition price down. With the amount of leverage right now, more would have been problematic.
It would be very hard for Cadillac to survive in Europe where Mercedes, BMW and Audi dominate the upper class car market. An almost impossible task.
Instead of GM trying to push Cadillac in Europe they would have more success if they had support Saab all the way in this market segment. But unfortunately they didn’t! That’s GM!
Good piece of behind-the-scenes insight, CJ. Appreciated!
The BLS is a good car, and a good-looking car. And a Saab, not a Cadillac. I really don’t understand GM:s thinking here. Disguising a Saab behind a Caddy face is the american way, done over and over in USA. But it does not work very well in Europe.
Hence the appaling sales, in spite of the car’s good sides.
By the way, Steve, why is that BLS in the picture being crushed?
JV,
I respectfully disagree with your conclusion that the BTS was the best Cadillac built and probably will be for quite some time. I’ve had the opportunity to see a BTS up close while I was living in Spain & Italy in 2008 and it honestly can’t touch Cadillac’s newer offerings, especially the STS, SRX, CTS & CTS-V. If you think the BTS is better than any of Cadillac’s current offerings, then you haven’t spent enough time at your Cadillac dealer lolol.
In all honesty, the newer SRX and CTS are pretty solid vehicles. Top Gear is in love with the CTS-V.
The BLS was so incredibly ugly.
Amazing how two cars, that different looking, could be almost identical “under the skin”…
Bob Lutz was so incredibly stupid.
Amazing how people, looking almost alike, could be that different under the shell..
I said back then that GM could’ve completely revised the 9-3 for the money they’ve spent on the 9-3, back when it would have made the right impact. It could’ve come out in 2005 together with the wagon, addressing the most crucial shortcomings of the 9-3 (not only the NVH, but first and foremost the awful interior plastics, the horrible base radio fascia, the anodyne driving dynamics).
Although I hated the BLS’s looks at first, they’ve grown on me, I think it’s the nicest A&S Cadillac made. They also appeal to me due to their rarity and the fact that they are indeed pure Saab.
BTW, can anybody confirm whether a 4WD BLS was ever built?
i only saw almost 10 BLS on the streets , here in Romania. Most of them where driven by cadillac employers…
Actually BLS is now a bargain. They go really cheap compared to 9-3. But oh boy are they ugly or what? I cannot understand what they (GM) were thinking with BLS idea…
Anyway, they
That was a lot to pay for an NVH program!
I’ve always believed that GM used Saab as a way to write off some of it’s loses in Europe. This only confirms it. It will all come out in the book some day….
Well, seems like they are getting cheaper as we write!
I think now this sale process is done I feel that I still hate GM just as much. They used Saab and all they got in return was a 13 year old model range and an updated factory. They were happy to close Saab and the only reason they didn’t was because they were handed $74 milion dollars for it. I mean since 1903 they have closed 31 brands and sold 3; can’t wait untill they go bankrupt.
was supposed to be: “seems that BLS is at least 30% cheaper than similarly equipped 9-3.”
off topic, but another saab/cadillac thread reminds me of the movie I watched on the plane this week– state of play. any of you see it?
russell crowe drives a ’90 900, and flatters the sleazy PR guy about his new cadillac xlr when questioning him (who later makes fun of the old 900). the film uses the cars as a comment on the character of the two guys, which is normal of course, but I found it interesting.
The issue on corporations (the size and smaller than GM) passing on costs across their various divisions/business units and make those bleed is a practice that has been exercised probably well before all of us were born. The fact that GM has done this deliberately and black balled Saab and make them the Guinea Pig is not surprising. As a matter of fact it is even normal. But to go out broadcasting to the world continuously heralding how much losses they incurred, how bad the brand was & its failures and all these negative connotations about Saab is simply irresponsible, dishonest and fraudulent to a large extent. The matter on the BLS proves that after all these years the business on its own was not as bad as it was reported all along. Victor and Co will now prove them all wrong and fly their own fists in the air with pride and make them realize that they screwed Saab all up to later undersell it as a bargain. Good luck to them and God Bless Victor Mueller !!!
Can anyone explain what the BLS is an acronym for. Surely it cannot be B.L.S…?
Bad Lousy Sedan (???)
Well the wagon is not a sedan but the first BLS was a sedan, and it is the first that came to my mind after reading your question
Or Bob Lutz Special? But it is probably difficult to find the father of that baby!
For me, the obvious connection in my mind was that BulLS…
Ok, so it cost Saab almost a billion crowns to develop the BLS.. how much did it cost GM to rebadge the Oldsmobile Bravada for the 9-7x? $100?
And that $100 probably was better invested since it ended up being a biger selller…
BLS = Bob Lutz’s Saab
The one thing that no one has mentioned is that Sweden has a much higher tax rate for businesses than the US. It would have been beneficial for GM to move losses on to Saab’s books (and other divisions in higher tax brackets) and show profits in places like Mexico to be able to keep more of the money for their own (mis)use. The last thing GM wanted was Saab actually showing a profit — because too much of that money would have stayed in Sweden!
I don
Is it pathetic to tell the truth?
Is it pathetic to work 24/7 over a period of 12 months to free SAAB from GM?
Or is it pathetic to try again and again to sell Cadillacs in Europe although very less people would buy one?
The guy was employed by GM to take care of their business. He didn’t quit or wasn
I suspect his main intention was to water out a year worth’s of criticism lobbed against Saab from virtually every media outlet in Sweden.
Almost everyone believed Saab had never turned a profit for the past 20 years.
It is important to point out GM’s creative accounting (such as GM NA running away with the profits from selling Saabs in NA leaving Saab with all the production costs) as well as projects like the BLS. A little over a year ago the Swedish government talked openly about Saab’s lack of a viable business plan. That impression stuck. Now J
Comments on this entry are closed.