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:
The New York Times.
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.
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