SAAB sold to Koenigsegg

[LeonOfTheDead]

Who/what the hell are you? A spambot?

All your replies are simplistic and utterly pointless.

I'm pretty sure you missed his threads

[fisetdavid26]

I'm pretty sure you missed his threads

I've seen a few...

So pointless.

[Ferrer]

Some had interesting discussion, though.

[LeonOfTheDead]

Some had interesting discussion, though.

sure, but not thanks to him, who isn't even coming back to read all the comments against him.
If you are going to create a thread to raise discussion, do it well.
Copy and paste is for quickly-dieing blogs.

[Ferrer]

sure, but not thanks to him, who isn't even coming back to read all the comments against him.
If you are going to create a thread to raise discussion, do it well.
Copy and paste is for quickly-dieing blogs.

Certainly, all of what you say is true.

However it's better than no discussion at all, I'd say.

[LeonOfTheDead]

Certainly, all of what you say is true.

However it's better than no discussion at all, I'd say.

that's obvious.
We might as well post more important news before he does.

[cargirl1990]

y'all should nominate me as the Worst Thread Creater Ever and the Worst Ultimate Car Page Member Ever.

[Roentgen]

y'all should nominate me as the Worst Thread Creater Ever and the Worst Ultimate Car Page Member Ever.

well... at least you're friendly

Anyway, I reckon my perfect 2 car garage would be a Saab Turbo X sportswagon, and a Lotus Exige/Evora.

Not likely that I will afford any of them... but still... it's good to dream

[cargirl1990]

well... at least you're friendly

Anyway, I reckon my perfect 2 car garage would be a Saab Turbo X sportswagon, and a Lotus Exige/Evora.

Not likely that I will afford any of them... but still... it's good to dream

aww! thank you! you friendly as well. infact many on here are pretty much friendly! yeah, a Saab ain't half bad. that wagon looks sick! ( in a good way sick. ) and a Exige/ Evora would be awesome too!

[Dino Scuderia]

Finally final.

General Motors Co. has reached a binding agreement to sell its loss-making Saab Automobile AB unit to Swedish sports car maker Koenigsegg Group AB, though a number of funding hurdles still need to be crossed.

The move, announced early Tuesday, comes two months after the companies signed a letter of intent, and will give Koenigsegg rights to produce the next generation of Saabs free of charge.
[A Saab dealership] Bloomberg News/Landov

A Saab Automobile sign at a dealership; the unit is set to be sold to Swedish sports car maker Koenigsegg Group AB.

The deal ties up another loose end in GM's global restructuring as it nears the sale of a majority stake in its core Opel and Vauxhall European assets.

While the purchase price is effectively zero, a disposal of Saab hinges on the Swedish government providing guarantees for loans from the European Investment bank. "The reality is the deal needs to clear a few more hurdles," said one person familiar with the deal.

Saab sought protection from creditors in February amid GM's efforts to sell or spin off the unit. The U.S. company had hoped to complete a transaction in June, but is now targeting a September closing. Saab is one of four brands -- alongside Hummer, Pontiac and Saturn -- being sold or wound down by GM.

Saab's creditors in June approved the auto maker's proposal to pay 25% of about 10.5 billion Swedish kronor ($1.46 billion) in debts, including almost 10 billion kronor owed to parent GM, and the rest to auto suppliers and the Swedish government.

The sale agreement includes a pact on the transfer of technology and services between Saab's new owners and GM.

Dagens Nyheter, a Swedish newspaper, said the deal's terms would also see GM write off the money it used to support Saab earlier this year, and machinery and production equipment will be transferred to the new owners.

Saab last year sold fewer than 94,000 cars, down from about 125,000 vehicles in 2007. Its best-ever year was in 2006, when it sold 133,000 cars, making it a tiny player in the global auto industry.

WSJ

[LeonOfTheDead]

...ops

After riding in on a white horse, Koenigsegg Group AB has pulled out of negotiations to buy Saab from General Motors, leaving the Swedish automaker's future very much in doubt. In a brief statement issued by GM (available after the jump), president and CEO Fritz Henderson says that the company is "very disappointed with the decision to pull out of the Saab purchase."

It is unclear what will happen to the brand now, but if Saab fans can hold on to any hope, GM says it will "take the next several days to assess the situation and will advise on the next steps next week." It is worth noting that this is different from the brief announcement that GM issued when Roger Penske's group pulled out from buying Saturn – GM immediately announced that they would begin "winding down" the brand. There was at least one other serious bidder interested in purchasing Saab previous to Koenigsegg becoming the preferred purchaser, but it isn't immediately clear if they are still interested, or if their financial backing checked out to begin with.

We suspect that even if Saab is unable to survive as a brand, someone will step in and purchase the assets to the already tooled-up forthcoming 9-5 sedan – perhaps the Chinese – and potentially the newish 9-3/9-3X as well.

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/11/24/b...rand-future-up

KFL didn't like what you did there.

DETROIT -- General Motors confirmed today that the proposed sale of its Saab subsidiary to Koenigsegg Group AB was terminated at the discretion of the buyer.

"We're obviously very disappointed with the decision to pull out of the Saab purchase," said GM President and CEO, Fritz Henderson. "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."

[Ferrer]

I hope Saab doesn't die.

KFL didn't like what you did there.

We may have to step in...

[Kitdy]

I don't often make predictions but I think Saab is dead. I feel bad for the workers for Saab, but Saab was losing money I bet (maybe attributable to GM management) and I think Koenigsegg's purchase of Saab woulda just ended with them in the poor house too.

I think it's probably a good decision for them to have walked away from the deal. It woulda been a money pit and maybe woulda robbed us of future Koenigseggs.

[LotusLocost]

I don't often make predictions but I think Saab is dead. I feel bad for the workers for Saab, but Saab was losing money I bet (maybe attributable to GM management) and I think Koenigsegg's purchase of Saab woulda just ended with them in the poor house too.

I think it's probably a good decision for them to have walked away from the deal. It woulda been a money pit and maybe woulda robbed us of future Koenigseggs.

Well, Saab hasn't had a positive result in the whole of it's history, except for one year.. Though, GM management hasn't done anything to improve that situation for sure. As far as I know, very few of GM's brands have made any good results at all, in the last few decades. (?).

And I think your assumptions of Saabs future with Königsegg is a bit shallow. A Saab management with the visions of the owners of Königsegg could have been fruitful for Saab, they have visions that suits Saab. The quantity over quality style that GM has been running isn't the best for a small brand like SAAB, it has practically ruined the small brand. The soul, the passion, the quality that it was ones known for, went out the window as fast as shared GM platforms and engines came inn. It might have been the only solution back then for Saab, so I don't blame them for going into it. Of course, the "new" Saab would share alot of components with someone, even GM. That's how the car industry works today. But, I think that the shared components would be under a more critical eye, before they would be picked.

I feel sorry for the deal going bust, though, I have a small hope still, that this is a move from Königsegg to speed things up. Reading what the owners are saying in media up here, things where very complicated and slow with GM from day one, and time was running out. Königsegg had set a deadline for the deal at 30. Nov, and they feel that they are so far away from the completion of the deal, that they backed out. I hope that we see another ending to this.

[Kitdy]

And I think your assumptions of Saabs future with Königsegg is a bit shallow. A Saab management with the visions of the owners of Königsegg could have been fruitful for Saab, they have visions that suits Saab. The quantity over quality style that GM has been running isn't the best for a small brand like SAAB, it has practically ruined the small brand.

This could entirely be the case - maybe I'm not giving Koenigsegg's ownership of Saab a fair shake. But as far as I saw it, their plans were to increase the prices of Saabs and decrease quantity. I for one doubt that this would have been effective in North America where the market is already flooded with luxury vehicles and Saab does not exactly enjoy a great reputation.

Do you think that Saab's reputation in Europe coulda been turned around fast enough to make it profitable before it was forced itself and potentially Koenigsegg into insolvency?

You said Saab had never had a positive result in it's history - if this is true, then that pretty much means that even when Saab was a quirky, individual quality company it still didn't make money. Would a return to Saabs former ways and / or a move upmarket really save Saab? Could Koenigsegg with limited resources have made it competitive with the Germans, and in North America, the Japanese? I may not be an industry insider, but I don't think so.

Do you?

EDIT: I know you and I have much more limited information than the insiders in this former deal had, but let's say this was your company's money you were using to buy Saab. Would you buy them based on the information given and and track record that Saab has?