Well, not so wild ass, obviously. Other than getting sued by disenfranchised Saab
dealers—which isn’t so much of an issue now that Uncle Sam is paying for everything—why wouldn’t GM shutter Saab? When it comes to buying car brands, no one is. Or will be. For a very, very long time. If ever. And GM needs to show its Congressional overlords that it’s doing something about something™. So we’re passing along a tipster’s assertion that yesterday’s resignation of Percy Barnevik from GM’s Board of Directors signals that the axe is about to fall on the Born From Jets brand. The divine Mr. B. was born just (pronounced youst) outside Trollhättan. If he ever wants to show his face in Sweden again, he has to distance himself from the author of Saab’s neglect, abuse and final destruction. You know, GM and its Board of Directors . . . which he joined six years after GM scarfed the Swedish brand, during which time it produced the America-only 9-7x (a TTAC Ten Worst winner). For that alone, I’d be worried.
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So not even the Chinese want Saab? I kinda thought Saab might help the Chinese develop vehicles that are less than lethal during the moment of impact.
Every time I see one of these posts my mind goes into vulture mode, and I need a winter car:
“how cheap can I get a 9-7 V8 with AWD?”
“Or a 9-3 Turbo X?”
“Or a 9-3 wagon?”
What took them so long? In the US, Toyota sells more Camrys in two days than Saab sells of all three of their models in a month, and European sales aren’t much better. GM’s losses on the Saab brand must be huge.
I gotta feel sorry for Saab. I always liked them. But I guess GM was just clueless what to do with them. I don’t know how much money they lose, considering that at this point they’re more or less rebadged Opels.
That’s too bad, but not surprising. There is (was?) simply no reason to by SAABs at the price points GM was trying to con people into swallowing. Any loaded SAAB over $32k is comedy.
Seth, the answer is that you can get a 1-year-old Saab for next 50% of MSRP.
I’m driving a 2009 9-3 loaner (for my 9-2x in service) and boy am I getting no fond memories of my parents’ old 900. Its not luxurious enough to compete even with optioned out mid brand products from VW or Toyota, nor does it have the appeal/quirkiness of the old hatchback. My 9-2x is clearly further emblematic of Gm’s issues in handling Saab (“let’s charge 5k more than the exact same WRX!”) but at least I got mine on the cheap.
Now I’m not sure ANYONE could have convinced the northern suburban mom (the original niche) to switch back to Saab during or after the SUV craze but this current car does nothing for anyone.
qfrog:
The problem isn’t really with the safety of China’s designs, they steal best Korean and Japanese designs.
The problem is that not all Chinese manufacturers have learned that spot welding is not an area where unlimited $1 an hour unskilled labor can trump automation.
Seth L:
9-2x – They can be had very cheap, and Subaru’s sales were actually up in January, so they should be around to service your car for a long time.
Time to get my 9-7X Aero STAT!
GM plans to spin off Saab and let it swim or sink. In a nutshell, the Swedish government will provide loans to a more-independent Saab Automobile AB in exchange for all production moving back to Trollhattan (the 9-4X excepted, I presume). This year, Saab would need around 100 million euros to order the tooling for the NG 9-5 and will probably pay GM to have the 9-4X produced for them. GM will in turn pay Saab for any work done by its engineers (mostly XWD, safety, DI and turbocharging).
You could of course argue that their chances of surviving the swim are slim, but it is by far a much better option than being held hostage by GM for much longer. Saab has the engineering and production capacity to attempt this, the problem has been GM never really provided the financial resources thusfar. Saab also has the benefit of not being grossly overweight, unlike Volvo, since they’ve done a lot of fat trimming during the past couple of years.
History has seen a few loss-making, miss-managed on the verge of bankruptcy European automakers make it through and thrive – BMW and Audi are two examples.
Let’s see.
It cost GM $1B to terminate thousands of Oldsmobile franchises. There are only hundreds of Saab franchises.
It costs about $1B to develop a new vehicle. Maybe more to do it right. When Saab sells less than 100k cars per year, they need high revenue from each sale to justify staying in business. Is there any Saab worth as much as a BMW or Lexus?
They give union workers huge buyouts to leave because it is cheaper than continuing to pay them for not working. GM should shut Saab down and let the dealers sue.
In exchange for financial help from the Swedish government, cut Saab loose. It does not compete with GM. Let my people go, oh GM pharoah.
Anyone who thinks that Saabs sell for the same price as BMW and Audi are very uninformed. Compare the price of a Saab 9-3 to a Passat.
If Saab does escape from GM’s (slipping) clutches, they are going to have to gear up for a bumpy ride.
I guess everyone has a SAAB story. 92 9-3 SE bought used for 8K. Fun to drive…quirky but fun. At 60K the side window motor went out, followed by the water pump. The ignition switch started to fail causing the engine not to turn on reliably. Then, thoughts of sludge and turbo bearings going south made me reconsider the entire project. I could see where the SAAB was taking me, so after keeping it a year, I found someone to buy it from me for $4500. Best sale of my life, I think.
Great news for Saab, with Swedish bailout money they will succeed. They make solid cars, I own two of them and both gave me minor problems these 9yrs.
I am still hoping for a SAAB Volvo union. Note that I say ‘hoping’ not ‘expecting’. They’ve always been brands I have had a fondness for despite never having owned one.
It seems again that Ford was ahead of the curve over GM. They have shed for some money their foreign captives save Mazda which they need and volvo. GM who has held on will get nothing for Saab and will probably have to leave money on the table to get out. But the smartest guy in the World was Zetsche at Daimler; He hung Chrysler on Cerebus, who will also be considered wise men if they can hang it on Uncle Sam. Who will the taxpayers hang chrysler on?
Saab might have only “hundreds” of dealers in the US, but it is not primarily a US brand and has 80% of it’s sales in other markets so, it will have to recompense those dealers as well. It could prove quite costly for GM to shutter Saab, and it will get little help from the Swedish government if it does do so. Anyway if GM does decide to shutter Saab, I hope the US government decides to shutter GM.