Newspaper says carmaker wants to sell its Saab brand, Saab has lost about 20 billion Swedish crowns ($2.90 billion) during its 16 year marriage to GM and sizeable staff cuts in recent years had made it impossible for it to develop and sell the volumes needed to be profitable on its own.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7023349/

Is GM trying to trim the fat by first getting out of the fiat deal, and now trying to dump saab?

 

NOT going to happen. GM has made big investments in SAAB and with the BLS being built at their plant, the SAAB/Subaru plan being worked out GM is holding onto SAAB for the long haul.

 

Honestly after reading the article and seeing first hand what GM has done for saab, i hope for the sake of Saab, it gets taken over by someone who cares. During the last 3 years, instead of putting features on cars, the 9-3 has suffered gM cost trimming, by getting rid of features, such as build in rear vents.


Saabists buy saab because of their features and feeling, however GM wants to make the next 9-5 in the States? lol. great!

 

The new 9-3 has actually been rather successful for Saab, and even though it is Epsilon-based (whereas the previous 9-3 was Opel-based), it still feels very Saabish to me. Have you driven one?

I don't think GM wants to, or should, unload Saab at this point.

 

1. Who would buy Saab? Would Ford want to pair Saab with Volvo to obtain a monopoly of Swedish Automotive brands? I really don't think so. In the end, the Saab of today is dependant on GM platforms and components and is a far less saleable company than the one GM original bought into.

2. GM's lost investment in Saab is tiny in comparison to the money Ford has been sinking into Jaguar. In fact, $2.9 billion over 16 years seems insubstantial compared to the $2.0 billion settlement (and the other weird conditions) that it took to settle with Fiat.

3. Fiat was originally the keystone in GM's European turnaround plan. The settlement with Fiat has been in the works for ages, but it seems as if a workable post-Fiat plan for Saab and Opel is still being haggled over.

4. Anyway you look at it, GM's European presence is going to be a lot smaller in the future than it was in the past.

 

Damnit...Im agreeing with him again...

 

Someone actually bought a Saab? Amazing. I'd deny it, too!