Saab is Dead - Or is it?; Yes, yes it is

[E28]

GM kill yet another manufacturer...

 

[JacoJa]

Aww.

What happened to Bernie Ecclestone?

 

[Northstar]

GM kill yet another manufacturer...

GM put it on life support, Spyker came, pulled the plug and held a pillow over it's face.

They've had the brand for nearly 2 years have done absolutely nothing to turn it around.

 

[E28]

GM put it on life support, Spyker came, pulled the plug and held a pillow over it's face.

They've had the brand for nearly 2 years have done absolutely nothing to turn it around.

True. They had ambitious plans, but no money...

 

[Jacob]

And it is finally over.

I feel sad for all the workers in Trollhättan, but I can't believe it took this long for the bankruptcy to happen. GM diluted the brand and threw in engine/platform sharing removing most of what was unique with the brand. But what they did was necessary to try and get SAAB profitable, (which had happened once or twice in its entire history, I think it was 1994 or something like that) and didn't really succeed with that. Spyker (Muller) came in and "tried" to keep going, but the cars weren't selling. He must've been mad when he decided to buy SAAB, seeing how there a was barely any chance to keep it afloat.

Rest in peace SAAB. The last "real" SAAB was in my opinion the 1st gen 900.

 

[ell470]

GM put it on life support, Spyker came, pulled the plug and held a pillow over it's face.

They've had the brand for nearly 2 years have done absolutely nothing to turn it around.

Done nothing to turn it around?? Yes! That's why the soon unemployed workers are thankful for everything Muller has done??

 

[SLK230]

GM put it on life support, Spyker came, pulled the plug and held a pillow over it's face.

They've had the brand for nearly 2 years have done absolutely nothing to turn it around.

That's not true. If Spyker didn't buy Saab, it would've died more than a year ago. It's true that Spyker didn't have much money, but it isn't like they didn't even try to save Saab. The last few months, Victor Muller(Spyker's CEO) travelled across the world trying to find investors. Eventually, he found some Chinese investors who were willing to help, but GM didn't approve that deal. So I think you could say it's GM's fault.

 

[Northstar]

Done nothing to turn it around?? Yes! That's why the soon unemployed workers are thankful for everything Muller has done??

Soon? Last I heard the plants have been closed since April and the employees still got paid until recently so of course they would be happy. It may have been good PR and all that, it's stupid business wise.

That's not true. If Spyker didn't buy Saab, it would've died more than a year ago.

As apposed to now?

It's true that Spyker didn't have much money, but it isn't like they didn't even try to save Saab.

It's obvious they tried, they didn't seem to put much effort into it though. They knew from the get go that they weren't going to have money, they didn't seem to have a plan either.

but GM didn't approve that deal. So I think you could say it's GM's fault.

Can you blame them?

If I was GM I wouldn't want a competitor(even if it's not a major one) gaining access to my platforms that are still in production.

 

[SuperShouden]

I do have to admit, why a hand-built company like Spyker tried to buy an assembly-line-built company like SAAB is beyond me. Hand-built companies tend to not have a lot of money anyway. That's why their cars are so pricey. (Rolly Royce is another hand-built company) So, they knew they weren't going to have money to do anything with SAAB, especially with a new car and race car in the works at the time SAAB was purchased. However, there are rumors that Spyker got more out of the deal then just SAAB. Unconfirmed reports say the new Spykers have a Corvette V8...maybe that's just an optional upgrade. It would be cool if that were true...although, the engine note Spyker pulled from the Audi V8 is quite beautiful.

 

[ell470]

Soon? Last I heard the plants have been closed since April and the employees still got paid until recently so of course they would be happy. It may have been good PR and all that, it's stupid business wise.

As apposed to now?

It's obvious they tried, they didn't seem to put much effort into it though. They knew from the get go that they weren't going to have money, they didn't seem to have a plan either.

Can you blame them?

If I was GM I wouldn't want a competitor(even if it's not a major one) gaining access to my platforms that are still in production.

I'm to tired to argue, run some swedish newsarticles through google translate & you'll see what I mean. Everything you say is so black & white, that's not the truth at all... Good night!

 

[deadcell96]

Sorry for the noob question, but it seems like this 9-3 viggen is a highly praised car. Why is that?

 

[E28]

I do have to admit, why a hand-built company like Spyker tried to buy an assembly-line-built company like SAAB is beyond me. Hand-built companies tend to not have a lot of money anyway. That's why their cars are so pricey. (Rolly Royce is another hand-built company) So, they knew they weren't going to have money to do anything with SAAB, especially with a new car and race car in the works at the time SAAB was purchased. However, there are rumors that Spyker got more out of the deal then just SAAB. Unconfirmed reports say the new Spykers have a Corvette V8...maybe that's just an optional upgrade. It would be cool if that were true...although, the engine note Spyker pulled from the Audi V8 is quite beautiful.

Rolls Royce are different. Mainly because they also make aircraft engines, mad are owned by BMW...

 

[Villain]

That `95 Saab 9000 CSE (that's the turbo) still has one of the sexiest booties in the biz!

 

[88FoxBodyFan]

So we bailed them out, then they keep someone else from buying Saab just to let them die. Real classy, GM, real classy.

 

[MHPALA]

If I was GM I wouldn't want a competitor(even if it's not a major one) gaining access to my platforms that are still in production.

BINGO 👍. I rather protect my company, what GM did was right.

 

[Keef]

Aw, dang it Famine. I was wanting to make the thread and call it simply, "General Motors Killed Saab". Because they did, of course.

 

[marluxiaXI11]

Rolls Royce are different. Mainly because they also make aircraft engines, mad are owned by BMW...

The Rolls Royce that makes aircraft engines is a different company, like Saab.

 

[Casio]

 

[Grayfox]

I know they will make jokes about this on the 18th season of top gear.

 

[homeforsummer]

Sorry for the noob question, but it seems like this 9-3 viggen is a highly praised car. Why is that?

I wouldn't say that. It's probably one of the most reviled cars produced by Saab under GM. Significantly more power than its front tyres could hope to handle.

That said, owners love them. Sometimes cars that do terribly in magazine tests gain a strong following of people who wouldn't have anything else. What's awful to one person might be liked by another. Owners almost certainly like them because they have a bit of character, look pretty good and have an incredibly comfortable and ergonomic interior.

And when they aren't smoking their front tyres, are incredibly rapid. Like, destroy-a-Porsche-993-at-motorway-speeds-rapid. You can't get them off the line but having a big hit of turbocharged power is quite handy at higher speeds where traction doesn't matter so much.

I quite like the Viggen, but I'm not sure I'd want to own one.

 

[ell470]

...or is it?

Youngman is still interested in buying Saab & is on their way over to try & work things out.

Let's hope they have better luck this time

 

[Keef]

Saab is a company that can easily be just as successful as Volvo, but all this bad news puts people off of a failing company. The new 9-5 is a stunner, and even the new 9-7X looked capable of selling enough. I honestly do blame GM for the outright bankruptcy of this company because they wouldn't let it go. So what if it's a competitor - if you were any good at the game yourself, you wouldn't be worried.

 

[Northstar]

if you were any good at the game yourself, you wouldn't be worried.

The deal would have given their competitor their platforms which they still use though(which also seems to be the only thing the Chinese were really interested in). Not sure why it's so hard to understand that.

 

[Keef]

It isn't, but the end result was it killed Saab. Perhaps they should have simply kept the company and ran it themselves.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Heads up:

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/12/20/saab-suspends-all-warranty-coverage-cars-to-be-sold-as-is/

 

[Mike Rotch]

BINGO 👍. I rather protect my company, what GM did was right.

👎

When GM went belly up, they ran to mama (i.e. government to get a bail out), but when Saab went belly up, GM did everything to aid their demise by shooting down any takeovers.

The deal would have given their competitor their platforms which they still use though(which also seems to be the only thing the Chinese were really interested in). Not sure why it's so hard to understand that.

Last time I checked, GM were not in direct competition with Chinese manufactuers. There are hardly any US cars in China (the German manufacturers got in first). And there are not any Chinese manufacturers in the US. So what exactly is GM afraid of?

 

[Northstar]

👎
Last time I checked, GM were not in direct competition with Chinese manufactuers. There are hardly any US cars in China (the German manufacturers got in first). And there are not any Chinese manufacturers in the US. So what exactly is GM afraid of?

Is it really not that obvious or is blind hatred for GM shining through?

If the Chinese makers were to get the platform they could easily make a model based on it and sell it world wide more cheaply than the GM counterpart therefor taking sales from GM.

Basically, just because they aren't direct competitors now, doesn't mean that wouldn't change if they got a hold of a major platform.

 

[E28]

Is it really not that obvious or is blind hatred for GM shining through?

If the Chinese makers were to get the platform they could easily make a model based on it and sell it world wide more cheaply than the GM counterpart therefor taking sales from GM.

Basically, just because they aren't direct competitors now, doesn't mean that wouldn't change if they got a hold of a major platform.

If the Chinese got their hands on the platform they'd still have to make a more desirable car on top. It'd be just as easy for them to get someone else's platform and use them to compete with GM.

 

[Mike Rotch]

Is it really not that obvious or is blind hatred for GM shining through?

If the Chinese makers were to get the platform they could easily make a model based on it and sell it world wide more cheaply than the GM counterpart therefor taking sales from GM.

Basically, just because they aren't direct competitors now, doesn't mean that wouldn't change if they got a hold of a major platform.

You throw the word 'hatred' around far too easily

You also disregard that Chinese manufacturers don't already buy car models and reverse engineer them to build "new" Chinese models. At least this way GM would have gotten some money from a sale and Saab would remain, along with its worksforce (much in the way Volvo does).

 

[Northstar]

If the Chinese got their hands on the platform they'd still have to make a more desirable car on top.

You say that like GM makes desirable cars.

I think people just want to lay all the blame on GM(they are partially to blame) because they don't want to admit that Muller had no clue what he was doing and if he did he certainly wasn't ready financially.

You throw the word 'hatred' around far too easily

How is once, easily?

And rather apparent in this thread that it's the way it is.

You also disregard that Chinese manufacturers don't already buy car models and reverse engineer them to build "new" Chinese models. At least this way GM would have gotten some money from a sale and Saab would remain, along with its worksforce (much in the way Volvo does).

Who is to say they won't just change one or two things and claim it as their own leaving GM with nothing?

There is also a huge difference between Volvo and Saab, mainly the people that bought Volvo know what they are doing and have the money to do it as well.