Bård Eker has given an open-hearted interview to Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, referred here at e24.no telling his version on the failed Saab-deal. Eker was one of the investors in the Koenigsegg Group’s bid for Saab, through his company, Eker Group – 49% owner of Koenigsegg Automotive. Here is his hindsight on the deal:

“General Motors made it very hard to buy Saab”, he says. “Saab wasn’t structured as a subordinate, it was completely swallowed into the massive GM body. And while you can remove a lung from a body, you can’t remove all the veins. And GM had not done the required separating job prior to starting negotiations with interested buyers. That was a contributing cause why things took longer time for us too”.

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Can’t we just be done with this Saab story? Reuters reports that Spyker has submitted a new bid to GM for Saab. And GM has commented on it. You can choose to ignore this story, safe in the knowledge that the odds of this deal coming together are not likely any better than the last one, or you can make the jump and read the details: Read More >

Sweden’s prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt had his fill of failed negotiations. Returning home from round-the-clock talks at the Copenhagen climate conference, he said that he saw the Saab collapse coming. Sweden’s prime minister is “unsurprised” by the collapse of the sale, says Reuters.  Asked if he was surprised, Reinfeldt  said: “No, the process was built around a loss-making company and an American owner that owned Saab for 20 years and made a profit in one of the 20.  It’s clear that it was not successful enough.” Sweden’s head blames GM for the failure.
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Marketing runs Amarok, as VW exhumes German 80s rockers The Scorpions to promote their new South American pickup.

A number of Texas cities are exploiting short yellow timing at intersections, generating significant additional revenue, according to a review of Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) data by TheNewspaper. The citation issuance rate at the nine intersections with the shortest yellow timing in the state was four times greater than the ticket issuance rate at locations that offered yellow times exceeding statewide averages.
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VW CEO  Martin Winterkorn is a superstitious man. He doesn’t want to add a 13^th brand to his (or rather Piech’s) large collection. (Coincidentally, 12 is the number of Piech’s children. More or less. Nobody is quite sure,) “There are some who knock on our door. Some really want to come under our roof as they see we’re on a good path strategically. But we are satisfied with the current line-up,” Winterkorn said to Wirtschaftswoche.  Specifically questioned about Volvo or (gasp) Daimler, Winterkorn answered: „There are many who would like to snuggle in VW’s cozy bed. Thank you, not interested.”  Instead, he’s re-thinking the line-up of his new acquisitions:  “I could imagine a smaller Cayenne derivative. Or a Porsche below the Boxster. This is under discussion.”
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There is an interesting analysis on Chinacarforums: China-produced Western cars tend to come out bigger than their Western siblings. Especially at the higher end. A made-in-China Cadillac STS is 124mm longer than the U.S. sister model. The wheelbase grew by 100mm. A Chinese Audi A6 L has gained 97 mm in length over the Made-in-Ingolstadt relative. A BMW 5-series, made at the Chinese joint venture with Brilliance, has gained a whopping 140 mm in length and wheelbase over the Bavarian model.
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Hide the liquor, hide the women (or not): The supervisory board of Porsche and Volkswagen will get new members, all the way from Qatar. Sheikh Jassim Bin Abdulaziz Bin Jassim Al-Thani will be crowned new member of the Supervisory Board of Porsche Holding SE. Officially, this needs the votes of the stockholders meeting which will take place on January 29^th. But trust me, it’s all done.
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Last year, Porsche gave Magna an eight-year contract to build the Cayman and Boxster models from 2012 on. Then Porsche went to Volkswagen. Then Opel came. VW was miffed and said “us or Opel.” When Magna’s Opel deal went poof, VW said Magna can come home, all is forgiven. Apparently not quite. Volkswagen (or Porsche, hard to say these days…)  want to use the factories of bankrupt Karmann which Volkswagen had bought and cancelled the contract. Magna cried foul and wanted money.

Now, the matter is official, writes Automobilwoche [sub].
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After a two year neck-and-neck race between battery makers LG Chem and A123, GM awarded its Volt contract to Lucky Goldstar – make that LG Chem, or rather their subsidiary Compact Power: Now the Lucky Guys are waiting for the thing to hit the road in large quantities. A123 was widely regarded as the far better technology, the Koreans most likely were cheaper – we’ll most likely never know.

Now, A123 cut a possibly much bigger and more lucrative deal. A123 is forming a joint venture with China’s top carmaker SAIC to build and sell battery systems for electric vehicles in the world’s largest auto market, and possibly beyond.
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My tribute to Saab was the Saab 96 Curbside Classic. But I’ll excerpt the first and last paragraphs here as well as my parting Saab memory: Read More >

The great thing about cars from seventies is that they make the cars from the fifties look…better. Here’s a nifty concept car from Chrysler, the 1956 (not so) Plainsman. It was Virgil Exner’s take on the wagon, and gave a glimpse of the direction Chrysler’s radical 1957 models would take. And it can be yours! It’s coming to auction on Jan 22. More shots: Read More >

I admit, I got it wrong with the Shelby Ultimate being the new Bugazzi. Something about the $740k price and the predictability (unoriginality) of it made me pull the trigger too fast. This better?

When Ford let Jaguar-Land Rover go, the betting odds on Tata’s prospects with the perpetually-mired firm were not exactly in its favour. Now it seems that Tata might have bought low, as JLR starts to turn a corner. The Liverpool Daily Post reports that the Jaguar-Land Rover group, owned by Tata Motors, had worldwide sales rise 30% last month. Wholesale and retail sales both showed strong growth. A spokesman said: “Despite the continuing economic uncertainty, we are seeing improved economic stability in most markets, especially the UK and China.” Read More >