This week while your eyes are wide shut: Our daily round-up of the news that happened in other continents and time-zones. TTAC provides round-the-clock coverage of everything that has wheels. Or has its wheels coming off. Note: For all of this week, WAS will either be late, or non-existent. I’m in Germany on business and will post as time allows. They woke me up for the Chinese story, so you get WAS on time today.
It’s official: Saab for sale. Long predicted by TTAC, now confirmed by GM’s Frederick Henderson: Saab will be sold. If no buyer is found, they will be shuttered. Automobilwoche (sub) has the story.
Sweden to bail Saab and Volvo from hell: According to AFP, “Sweden will come to the rescue of its US-owned carmakers crippled by the financial crisis, Saab and Volvo, to secure the future of an automobile industry which accounts for 15 percent of exports.” Details are yet murky. There isn’t much more than a “we want to keep that here and to protect it,” announced by Frank Nilsson, a spokesman for Sweden’s enterprise and energy ministry. Anything akin of a bank rescue package is definitely being ruled out by Nilsson. But he “can guarantee that we will have car manufacturing in Sweden.” Interesting undertones: Volvo is officially up for sale, Saab is, see above, on the block also. According to the report, “no matter who ends up as the owner, the [Swedish] government is committed to supporting the industry.” How? When? For whom? Stay tuned.
Volvo doesn’t want to buy Volvo: Ford bought the Volvo brand from Swedish Volvo Group. Their chairman Finn Johnsson doesn’t want them back. He told Swedish financial daily Dagens Industri via AFP that they are not interested, and that the Swedish government shouldn’t buy Volvo either. Johnsson: “The state knows nothing about the car industry and Volvo needs an owner that can increase sales and cooperate with suppliers on components and development.” He thinks, Renault would be a fine partner. It’s Swedish for “Up urs.”
Revenge of the hedgies: Overlooked in yesterday’s reports of catastrophic US car sales, but noted by Automobilwoche: Porsche sold 46 percent less, their Boxter is nearly unsaleable with a 73 percent reduction. Exactly 161 of the poseur Porsches changed hands in November. BMW is all grins: Their Mini had a boom of 43 percent.
And the greenest of the green is? It’s Toyota. At least in Japan. For the third year in a row, Toyota is the leading manufacturer in Nikkei’s 12th annual environmental management rankings, followed by Toshiba and Hitachi. According to the Nikkei, “environmental awareness increased in 2008 because it was the first year of the five-year period covered in the Kyoto Protocol.” The Nikkei also notes that “the automakers and electronics firms near the top of the standings received high marks for their wares and pollution control measures, thanks to firms’ competition to develop products that consume less fuel and power as well as their response to European regulations restricting the use of chemical substances.” Polite as they are, the Nikkei doesn’t mention that the US signature is missing from under the Kyoto agreement.
Bridgestone tired of Tennessee plant. Japanese Bridgestone is in talks with unions to suspend production of tires for passenger cars and light trucks at its La Vergne, TN, plant. Production is scheduled to stop at the end of June. About 500 of the 1,700 employees will be out of work. Bridgestone already scaled back output at five North American plants. “The La Vergne site was singled out for cutbacks due to its high personnel costs,” the Nikkei (sub) says.
Mitsubishi hatches hatchback. They launched the Galant Fortis Sportback at the Japanese public, their first new hatchback offering in Japan in 12 years. The automaker is targeting monthly sales of 500 units, says the Nikkei (sub.)
Tata on public begging spree: As the Detroit 2.8 go to DC for tax payer’s money, India’s Tata is taking the direct approach: Tata takes it to the people themselves. Tata Motors has taken what the Nikkei (sub) calls an “unusual step of appealing to the Indian public for cash as India’s third largest carmaker struggles to refinance its acquisition of Ford’s luxury Jaguar and Land Rover marques early this year.” Tata offers to pay as much as 11 per cent annual interest to those willing to enter into a fixed deposit scheme with the group. Any guesses how this would work for the D2.8 ?
Germany looks at a bleak 2009: The German Verband der Automobilindustrie (VDA,) the club of Automakers in Deutschland, doesn’t need a crystal ball to predict only 3.2m units sold for 2008. And they see their misfortunes even sinking depper in 2009, to 2.9m unitsif all turns out according to plan, Autombilwoche reports today. Of course, that means fewer jobs, says the VDA in the direction of a do-nothing Berlin.
Get otherworldly drunk: Sapporo Breweries have brewed a small quantity of beer using barley grown from seeds cultivated for five months on the International Space Station, the Nikkei (sub) reports. The 100 liters of space-based beer are served to special guests only. For those who think drinking doesn’t mix with driving: Sapporo uses the space seeds to make barley tea, too. Also for ceremonial purposes only. Don’t even think it to drink it.
For Volvo, the best sollution seems to be what I have said all along, a tripartite discussion between Ford (and Volvo Cars), Renault-Nissan and Volvo Trucks.
Volvo Trucks buys Renault Trucks from Renault, Renault buys Volvo Cars from Ford. It’s a win-win solution. Volvo Trucks becomes the largest truck manufacturer in the World, Renault can finally own their sought after Volvo brand, and Ford gets some cash.
And more news from Sweden: Secretary of Industry, Maud Olofsson, says that the Swedish government works day and night to find a solution for the car industries problems, but that a government takeover is out of the question. It is not upon the government to run a car manufacturing business, she says. Not even as an intermediate step, as the taxpayers wont know for how long that would be, or how much money they would be out for, in the end.
Goodbye Saab!! Having owned a 2003 9-3 and visiting the dealer at least 15 times and watching the depreciation crater good riddance!
No real surprise about Saab. As it is, I struggle to find a reason to justify its existence in the face of Infiniti and Acura. GM just didn’t have a clue as to what to do with that brand.
I’m still laughing at the idea of GM asking the public for cash… you know, without the convenient governmental middleman.
Hmm finally some good news GM is dumping Saab.
I’m still confused how come they don’t dump GMC? Isn’t everything under GMC’s lineup something that Chevrolet already makes? THAT seems like a waste of cash to me.
…He thinks, Renault would be a fine partner…
Oh, sure, one financial basket-case makes a perfect suitor for another. Madness, I tell you! Sheer madness!
Subaru would make a good choice, if they weren’t effectively beholden to Toyota. Another choice, oddly, might be Honda. Acura has zero traction in Europe and not a whole lot in Japan. Using the Saab nameplate to hock nicely-trimmed, front-drive Hondas is no worse than hocking badly-trimmed, overpriced, glitchy Opel Vectras.
I think the smartest option would be if Opel were to split from GM and use Saab as it’s premium brand. After all, GM seems to be doing it’s damndest to NSFW up the European market in general, and Opel in particular, by dragging in Chevrolet and Cadillac to stomp all over Opel and Saab. If I were Opel’s directors, I’d be trying my hardest to cut myself free of GM, or at least force GMNA to stop screwing with an otherwise-healthy European market.
I think Subaru should buy Saab. They could give the brand the corky-sport engineering backbone it always needed.
Or just let in die.
It’s not just Saab that they don’t have a clue about. GM has no idea what to do with any of its brands. Which is why they’re in the position that they’re in.
I had lunch with a former co-worker yesterday. She bought a new RAV4 recently, but she wanted to buy an H3. I told her she was smart to have bought the RAV4 because Hummer won’t be around much longer anyway, but Toyota will be.
“Another choice, oddly, might be Honda. Acura has zero traction in Europe and not a whole lot in Japan.”
Not a bad idea, especially for the European market, In the US though Acura and Volvo are pretty much direct competitors. Probably the biggest roadblock is Honda’s distrust of partners and acquisitions. Honda has stayed clear of foreign entanglements ever since they got stuck bad by Rover. I think Honda is still pissed off that the Chinese Roewe has a bunch of Honda DNA in it.
I’ve yet to understand what GM has been doing with Saab here in the UK.
Chevrolet Europe I get. But we keep getting the Cadillac range foisted on us, when the nameplate means nothing, ZILCH. Yeah I’m sure the CTS is great or whatever, but most Brits picture a Cadillac as a large pink thing with white leather bench seats and tailfins.
Meanwhile, Saab withers and dies.
What a waste.
as usual only psarhjinian has any rational comments.
Saab doesn’t make anything in Sweden anymore. Well, it makes a 9-5 at the old plant, but that car is ancient. The 9-5 successor (which was supposed to be introduced this year or next) was to built in Germany. The 9-3 is built in Germany. Saab sales in Sweden are still good, and there is a bit of brand equity there. Not sure where the engines are made now, but I think the 9-3 engines are just opel or GM.
Saab would make some sense as a Opel sub,but Saturn makes even more sense.
I see Saab being sold to the Chinese for branding (like MG) or to a private Swedish investor group.
GM has done a pretty good job with Saab. I don’t like the new 9-3s, but it is a compromise between using standard GM bodies and selling a near-luxury car. And they have improved it every year. Saab has also given GM a new lease of life on small turbo engines. In terms of platform management, who would think that the 9-3, the Pontiac G6, chevy Malibu and Caddy BLS are all the same car? (the 9-3 and BLS are obvious if you sit inside).
I hope Volvo soldiers on in some form, as I might like to buy a C30 someday.
And by the way, Boxster has an s in it.
Saab doesn’t make anything in Sweden anymore
What’s worse is that Saab doesn’t even design anything anymore. Saabs are rebadged Opels at this point, and the Trollhattan plant is effectively an Opel assembly.
This isn’t really a bad thing, per se: Opel and Saab make as natural a pairing as VW/Audi, Peugeot/Citroen, Fiat/Alfa and such. Where it all goes wrong is GM’s ham-fisted attempt to sell Daewoos as Chevrolets, push Opel upmarket and hock Cadillacs to Europeans who want them about as much as North Americans want Saabs.
Here’s the solution: stop pushing Opel upmarket and get Cadillac the hell out of Europe, take a loss on the cheaper, decontented Astras and Corsas instead of “leveraging” crap like the Kalos/Aveo and don’t make the Vel Satis mistake and push the Insignia into Audi territory: let Saab fight that battle instead.
You can tell GM is run by cost accountants who love nothing more than to “leverage” platform design costs across multiple models and brands. It looks wonderful on paper because you’re making the development costs go down, but in reality it drives up the marketing costs and wrecks sales. One of the reasons Opel and Holden have been reasonably successful is that they haven’t succumb to the kind of brand dilution that’s crippled GMNA. Why GM sees fit to duplicate North America in Europe (or why Volkswagen seems intent to follow them) just blows the mind.
Not sure where the engines are made now, but I think the 9-3 engines are just opel or GM.
The 9-3’s engines are either the turbo’ed 2.0L Ecotec (HHR SS Solstice GXP/Sky Redline, Cobalt SS), commodity Opel diesel, or a turbo’ed version of the Cadillac HF 2.8L six. That blown six was the last original thought to come out of Saab proper. The 9-5 still uses the Saab H engine, which, I might add, gets better mileage and makes more power than the blown Ecotec.
In terms of platform management, who would think that the 9-3, the Pontiac G6, chevy Malibu and Caddy BLS are all the same car? (the 9-3 and BLS are obvious if you sit inside).
Epsilon is a good platform, and GM has done a better-than-average job of making them distinct, but they’re still too close for comfort. The Aura, G6 and Malibu are their own toughest competitors, as are the Insignia/Vectra, BLS and 9-3. With the Lacrosse and 9-5 scheduled to join the party (and the Impala, if GM survives), it only gets stupider.
You see the same stupidity with the 9-4, Vue/Antara and SRX/BRX. Or the Outlook/Acadia/Traverse/Enclave and soon-to-be Escalade. Again, just because you can leverage a platform across a bunch of models it doesn’t mean you should.
psarhjinian’s sentiments echo much of mine.
My own take is the GM “plan” is so North American-centric that I wonder if they’re saying the same thing overseas….the idea of making Cadillac their ‘global’ lux brand has no credibility, given the one-model Caddy lineup (CTS) with any hint of international marketability. And how soon could they change that? BLS? Yeah right.
Even with all their troubles, Saab had a market (however small) in a greater number of countries than Caddy does, or is likely to. Even by the time that situation could change significantly, GM will have blown it’s share of loan guarantees several times over.
For those who think drinking doesn’t mix with driving: Sapporo uses the space seeds to make barley tea, too. Also for ceremonial purposes only. Don’t even think it to drink it.
NASCAR makes it’s money by mixing cars and beer (myself included). :)