It’s true, we [the Netherlands and Sweden] are small northern countries. We don’t have big German conglomerates to help us out. I just felt like we have to stand together because we’re the same people, we have the same DNA.

Spyker CEO Victor Muller explains his firm’s racially-charged interest in Saab to the LA Times‘ Dan Neil, while somehow managing to avoid any reference to Chris Bangle. Does this mean Muller is OK leaving Saab production in Sweden as a term for the European Investment Bank Loan?

Absolutely. As a matter of principle. The only truly authentic thing about a brand is provenance. The [Porsche] Boxster is built in Finland, OK, no problem. But could they be built in Mumbai? Sure, they’d be 20% cheaper but nobody would buy it.

Sigh. Given Muller’s soft spot for ethnicity-based branding and the sale of 9-5 tooling to China’s BAIC, we’re going to guess that the Saab-Spyker deal isn’t going to work out so well. [Hat Tip: Thor Johnsen]

See this ad for Lancia and/or world peace? Now check out the first post-bankruptcy Chrysler brand advertisement here. Noticing any similarities? It seems that there’s trouble brewing in the Fiat family, and “Don” Marchionne has strongly suggested that the new boy to the family, Chrysler, could take over some of Lancia’s profile. Automotive News [sub] reports that the Chrysler brand will appear on Lancias (A.K.A rebadging) in many international markets, and that Lancias could become a niche marque.
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Automotive News Europe [sub] reports that Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has ordered a strategic review of the Alfa Romeo brand, citing declining sales and mounting losses. Alfa’s sales have fallen from 203,000 units in 2000 to 103,000 last year, and the brand has lost between €200m and €400m in each of the last ten years. According to Marchionne, Fiat’s sporty brand has undergone too many reinventions. “You cannot be a newborn Christian every four years,” he explains. “It’s the same religion, eventually you need to own a religion and carry it to conclusion.” The recent delay of the 147 replacement due to name-related issues was merely the latest trouble for the Alfa brand, which has struggled with aging products and underinvestment. According to Marchionne, Alfa faces two possible futures: retirement or rebirth… on Chrysler platforms?

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Courtesy of saabsunited.com comes this letter from Saab’s Swedish employees to General Motors.

[the following section was originally written in English]

To our owners, General Motors

We at Saab have lived with our brand and our cars for more than 60 years. It is a brand that accommodates great passion. Ever since the beginning in 1947, when engineers from the aircraft industry were lying on the floor outlining the body lines of the first prototype, we have been bearing the stamp of new thinking, desire for continuous improvement, willpower and commitment.

We call that “the Saab Spirit”, and during the last year it has been more evident than ever. We have not given up. In times of extreme uncertainty we have delivered and created new prerequisites for our company, and we have built a new vision where to bring our brand and our products. We believe in our future. We know we have the ability.

Trust us. Don’t count Saab out. Allow us to bring our roots into the future. It is not only important to us, but also to our 1.5 million customers around the world and all of those people passionate about our cars and our brand.

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It’s the day after the Saab-bomb exploded in Sweden, and the media are pouring all over it. Of course, all kinds of “car experts” and “auto analysts” are having their say. Saab workers are expectedly sad and disappointed. And everybody’s blaming everybody and anybody. The unions blame the government, the government blames Koenigsegg, Koenigsegg Group are blaming time and bureaucracy, and the public is generally pretty pissed off with GM. And it all seemed to have come as julekvelden på kjerringa. But what on earth happened? Who pulled the plug? Who said enough is enough? And why now, all of a sudden? The EIB loan was allegedly just around the corner. Will anyone else buy Saab? What about the Swedish government? GM? Does anybody even care? Well, the 500 or so who bought a new Saab in October care – what about their warranties?

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Pontiac was declared “officially almost all the way dead” at about 12:45 p.m. today, when a white, G6 sedan rolled off the assembly line in Orion Township. The Detroit News reports a distinct lack of “cake or commemorative banner or senior GM official on hand.” Media was not invited. The DetN notes:

Unlike the last Oldsmobile, an Alero signed by hundreds of plant workers and donated to the R.E. Olds Transportation Museum in Lansing, the final G6 models will be sold as part of a fleet order.

Nearly unbelievably, Pontiac’s “officially official” demise will be even more depressing: a Mexico-built G3 Wave (neé Aveo) to be sold to a lucky Canadian. For real.

[Hat Tip: supremebrougham]

No wonder GM decided it couldn’t give up Opel… it would have lost Buick as well! Expect this Buick Excelle (a rebadged Opel Astra in the style of the new Regal) to arrive in the US under a different name (and probably in sedan form only) around the 2012 model year.

Our daughters have a beautiful first name that must not be associated with a car, so let us unite to bring pressure on a multinational which is going to destroy this pretty name for our children. It is a scandal that they are able to use common first names for products

Sébastien Mortreux of Auby complains about Renault’s use of the name “Zoé” for a new electric car, being shown in concept form. French parents are rising up in anger, reports the Times of London, signing online petitions protesting Renault’s choice of a name that recently became one of Frances most popular. Now, I don’t plan on ever having children, but if I did, “Twingo” would have to be at the top of my list of potential names. Besides, as a Renault spokesfolks point out, the practice has good precedent, dating all the way back to Emil Jellinek’s 1902 decision to name a car after his daughter, Mercedes. Plus Renault already has the Clio and Mégane. And really, would these people be any happier if the car was named something like Bipper Tepee?

Of course, that day could come as soon as next week, when GM’s board holds its monthly meeting. And unless a serious bid shows up post-haste, Saab will most likely be euthanized at that point.  In the meantime, GM’s management is happy to keep the Swedish government hanging on. “I talked to GM last night and my impression is that they have not given up hope,” Joran Hagglund, state secretary at Sweden’s Industry Ministry tells Automotive News [sub].  But after the months of wrangling to get the Koenigsegg deal where it was when it fell apart, Sweden’s government acknowledges that “for every day that passes the challenge gets bigger and bigger.” While we await word on Saab’s uncertain future, and worry about how the boys at Saabsunited are holding up, we’ve dispatched our man in Sweden to sort through the hand-wringing and recrimination in the Swedish press and report some key findings. Frankly though, this is feeling like the end of the line for Saab.

The Saab deal’s death today marked the third attempted brand sale by GM to go down in flames since exiting bankruptcy. Whether the decision not to sell Opel was a good one remains to be seen (big time!), but at Saturn’s Spring Hill, Tennessee plant, which goes on standby this week, there’s less ambiguity about the situation. Meanwhile, Wild-Ass Rumors that Brilliance will rescue the Saturn brand have been chased by MSM scaremongering about a Chinese-owned GM, lending special irony to the fact that GM’s only brand-divestment success is the $150m Hummer-to-Tengzhong deal which is still pending approval by the Chinese government. Volvo nearly found a home in the Middle Kingdom with Geely, but things are crumbling and new bids are expected. Which means all of Detroit’s orphaned brands are still up in the air, at best. Long-term worries about the strength of the US market may be to blame, although the advanced state of the Hummer deal works against that theory (as Hummer’s viability lives and dies in the US market). Maybe the Chinese mandate for auto sector consolidation has potential Chinese buyers focusing on shoring up their domestic status. Or maybe the Chinese realize that brand equity must be earned, not bought. That appears to be the lesson to be learned from the rise of Hyundai and Kia. Fueled by mainstream design a true compact-to-luxury product range, and a relentless focus on product, they may well herald a decline in the importance of brand strategy. For an industry that practically invented the idea of selling a product without actually mentioning the product, this could be an interesting adjustment.

A press release [via sys-con.com] confirms that Koenigsegg has withdrawn from negotiations with General Motors over the sale of Saab. Fritz Henderson shares his disappointment:

We’re obviously very disappointed with the decision to pull out of the Saab purchase. Many have worked tirelessly over the past several months to create a sustainable plan for the future of Saab by selling the brand and its manufacturing interests to Koenigsegg Group AB. Given the sudden change in direction, we will take the next several days to assess the situation and will advise on the next steps next week.

Why did Koenigsegg pull out? A brief statement by Koenisgegg is all we have to go on at the moment. “The time factor has always been critical for our strategy to breathe new life into the company,” the firm tells Reuters. Which leaves… BAIC? Absent any other obvious interest in the Saab brand though, GM now finds itself with two messy restructurings in Europe.

Ford were mighty relieved when it managed to off-load it’s British marques, Jaguar and Land Rover, to Tata. Now after 1 year and 9 months of ownership, causing the normally profitable Tata Motors to fall into a £41 million pound loss and falling sales, how do you think Tata are feeling about the purchase of JLR? Sad? Depressed? Suicidal? According to steelguru.com, Ratan Tata is surprisingly optimistic.

If we assume that the global meltdown is a phenomenon that will be over in the near term, I think we will look back and say that these are very strategic and worthwhile acquisitions. There were many questions raised regarding whether these two large acquisitions Corus and JLR are worthwhile and whether the prices were right in terms of being at the top of the market, virtually. My view on that is that if you want to buy a house and that house is of a particular value, then it may not be there if you wait

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