Saab will live to see another day:
Sweden’s Koenigsegg, maker of some of the world’s most expensive sports cars, has struck a deal to buy loss-making Saab Automobile from General Motors, the companies said on Tuesday.
In one of the most unlikely pairings in automotive history, the tiny sports car firm of 45 staff is expected to take over a company that employs around 3,400 staff, a cherished Swedish brand that became a national icon for stability and reliability.
GM Europe said on its website the deal included an expected $600 million of financing from the European Investment Bank, which would be guaranteed by the Swedish government.
Other terms were not disclosed.
As we’ve discussed before, I have a special fondness for Saab.
Marc
Congraatulaations, Saab.
JGabriel
OT, may be an item of interest for another post – Jim DeMint is endorsing Charlie Crist’s opponent, Marc Rubio, for the Republican Senate primary in Florida.
DeMint is quickly becoming my absolute favoritest GOPer, DeMint being the same one who provoked Specter into leaving the GOP by telling Specter he’d be supporting Pat Toomey.
And the purity spiral continues …
.
Dino
Heaven to drive, hell to fix.
pharniel
wonder if saab cars, those few that make it to top gear, will now be getting the koenereroeereererenreing treatment of having the name extended to ridiculous length for comedic effect.
The Grand Panjandrum
Nice. Now maybe Saab can go back to building Saab’s instead of Chevy’s with a Saab skin.
El Cid
I look forward to Saab’s next 200mph front wheel drive carbon fiber coupe hatchback.
whiskey
swedish automobile always broken
Bill E Pilgrim
@Dino:
Hey come on now. When I had mine, fixing it was easy. I used to do it every day.
I got to drive it now and then too.
Okay I admit it. This is a Saab story.
I loved it actually. And had bought it cheap figuring I’d enjoy fixing it up.
Heh.
Punchy
What’s with the damn Swedes and their penchant for inserting so many “a”‘s in their words?
Signed,
ABBA
Tim Fuller
What El Cid said.
Maybe they could at least redesign the things not to look like the automotive equivalent of a Winnebago. That would help. They were too quirky looking even for hippies.
Enjoy.
peach flavored shampoo
Ha! Saab’s got egg on their….letterhead.
greynoldsct00
This is excellent news. Hopefully they get back to their quirky roots.
SteveinSC
We had a grad student a while back and for a graduation present his dad gave him his own Saab. Within a couple months, this penniless young man was presented with a $3000 bill to fix the transmission. I’ve heard, first hand, other Saab horror stories. GM might have made the marque worse, but it’s hard to see how.
Jon H
@JGabriel: When my sister lived in South Carolina, she picked up the idea that My Little Pony is satanic, with all the different colors having special occult meanings.
The state is beyond help.
Trollhattan
Swedish ownership was better than any outcome I dared to wish for. I was expecting some unheard of Long Dong Motors Ltd. to scoop up the tooling and literally Shanghai it.
Maybe I’ll get a shot at owning another one. For the record–hatahs–I’ve owned three: A 99EMS that I drove for nine years and traded in perfect running condition for a 9kT, which I owned for thirteen years and sold–again in perfect running condition and at present have a 9^5, halfway through year ten. I do quite a bit of work myself but don’t have much to do, and have never had a repair approaching a grand (except after I t-boned a read-ligh running Taurus–now that was expen$ive). There’s generally a lot of room in the engine compartments and it’s pretty easy to get at stuff–not everything mind you but a hell of a lot easier than our Audi. And the best part is I’ve never endured life driving a kitchen appliance with wheels.
Mr Furious
Huzzah! This news means I will once again own a Saab (or hope to). It almost certainly means more of a return to roots than most other buy-outs, but it could also mean a price point out of my reach…
Either way, I’d be holding out for a used model.
Mr Furious
@Trollhattan:
Yeah, from the sides. My 900 had access from the front eliminated by the clamshell hood (cool-looking, but a pain in the ass). But then, since the engine was backwards and all the belts and pulleys were against the firewall and impossible to reach, it didn’t much matter.
I paid $6,000 for my 900S and probably paid my mechanic a similar total over it’s lifetime, but it got me over 200,000* miles and I loved every one of them.
*Not counting the 70K it had when I bought it.
Trollhattan
From the now-you-tell-me file: loosen the hood hinge mount bolts and it pops right out. Stow it on a blanket on the roof while working. Reverse when done. My standard drill for working on the 99 (once a mechanic shared the tip!).
Anyhoo, yeah, loads of fun to drive and own, even when they’re raiding your wallet. Back in the day they were arguably as technically advanced as anything on the road, but GM kinda lost that thread by minimizing the influence of the Swedish engineers. Luckily they didn’t get rid of them entirely, so there should be a core for the new owners to work with. Turbos for the new age!
scarshapedstar
-George Carlin
p.a.
Had the the auto business been spun off? Saab (makes?) made jet fighters also, I believe. A national security issue?
ThresherK
When GM started the “Born From Jets” tagline, IIRC, they then shortly after started to put, in no-see-um print at the end of TV ads, that SAAB autos and jets are no longer connected.
Trollhattan
Yup, there’s the aerospace side
http://www.saabgroup.com/en/index.htm
And Scania trucks, too
http://www.scania.com/
Free lutefisk with every three orders!
Chris Johnson
Match made in heaven. Look at some of the Saab workers ;)
weeeee!
Chuck Butcher
Saab’s problems didn’t surprise me, they just were lacking in broad appeal but the Opel mess is truly a mess.
kmeyer57
Best cars available in the 80’s, kinda went to crap after that.
Brian Griffin
@Trollhattan: I figured with a name like ‘trollhattan’ that you must be a saabophile of some sort.
In case anyone here cares, here are some shots of one from each company, taken at koenigsegg’s factory in ’06:
http://www.saabsunited.com/upload/images2009/06/saab_koenigsegg_-/DSC_0242.jpg
http://www.saabsunited.com/upload/images2009/06/saab_koenigsegg_-/DSC_0210.jpg
not sure which one I like better.
I understand GM is retaining some ownership so that they can have future access to saab’s alternative fuels and green technologies that saab was developing independent of gm. one of the new owners sums up the company pretty well: “This is neither a luxury or a people’s car, but it has its own niche — a bit of postmodern comfort, sporty, but with environmental thinking,” von Koenigsegg said.
pseudonymous in nc
GM wanted a foreign luxury marque; Ford bought Jaguar, so they went with Saab. Ill-fitting from the start — Saabs were always quirky, sorta sporty drivers’ cars. And yeah, you basically need to put aside 50% of your budget into the repairs. A kind of Scandinavian Alfa.
The Aero-X concept (pictured next to the ‘egg in Brian Griffin’s photos) is apparently in the Transformers sequel. Oh well.
The Golux
I too have a fondness for Saabs – really old Saabs. I’ve owned four: a ’68 model 96 two-stroke (a can of oil in the tank plus eight gallons of gas when refueling), a ’68 model 96 V4, a ’67 model 95 two-stroke (the Worlds Ugliest Car, at least until the advent of the Aztec), and a ’69 Sonett (the homlier one, with a four-speed on the column). You never see any of these on the road because the floor and doors always rotted out. But they were a ball to drive.
I’d had my heart set on a VW Bug for my first car, but my father took me to his usual dealer, who sold Saabs and Volvos. I was skeptical, having always thought they were just weird, but the salesman let me drive it home for the night and I was hooked.