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Thread: GM sets end of road for Swedish brand Saab

  1. #1
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    GM sets end of road for Swedish brand Saab

    AFP: GM sets end of road for Swedish brand Saab

    I'm so sad. My car is a Saab and they're being discontinued and my major was discontinued at my alma mater earlier this year.

    The best part of 2009 for me was finding the love of my life.
    "He who has overcome his fears will truly be free."

  2. #2
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    I was about to post it.

    Well, GM can burn in hell as far as I'm concerned.
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
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  3. #3
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    The Swedish gubbermint should buy it.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ferrer View Post
    Well, GM can burn in hell as far as I'm concerned.
    Why don't you buy it then?
    If you should see a man walking down a crowded street talking aloud to himself, don't run in the opposite direction, but run towards him, because he's a poet. You have nothing to fear from the poet - but the truth.

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    I'm a SAAB owner and sad to hear it. However, I don't agree with the anti-GM attitudes I've seen on several forums. GM is doing what is needed to turn it's finances around. SAAB hasn't made any money for GM. It would be interesting to get the inside scoop on SAAB. I've never read a good account of what has been going on with SAAB during the GM ownership. My impression was that in the early years GM left SAAB largely alone and SAAB didn't do much. Then GM got active and tried force some action and products at SAAB. However, this didn't work out. Rumor has it that the 95 was twice supposed to be replaced with a new joint venture product. One was supposed to be a Fiat-SAAB thing but that fell apart when GM and Fiat parted ways. I'm not sure about the other (perhaps there was just one). Subi and SAAB were going to release an SUV together but that died when GM and Subi split up. I think the Subi-GM split was about GM getting cash to pay off the UAW.

    In any case, I think there were plans for decent SAAB cars in the works but they died. The stop gap products (the Trailblazer SUV and the Impreza) were all we ever saw. That certainly made it look like GM didn't care about the products. I suspect it was instead GM reacting to the loss of what ever they were developing for SAAB combined with the dealers demanding SOMTHING to sell.

    I hate to see SAAB go but I also hated to see Pontiac and Olds die off. I don't know why none of the deals went through. I've read some claims that GM wanted the deals to fail. I find that hard to believe. GM wants to extract the most value/lease liability from SAAB so that they can finish turning the rest of the company around. I can't see how letting SAAB simply die vs finding a deal was better for GM.

    Finally, do note that SAAB wasn't in great shape when GM got them. They had the 9000 which wasn't that new and the absolutely out of date 900. SAAB needed a partner because they couldn't make it on their own.

    Don't worry, SAAB will live on in their jets.

  6. #6
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    Sad, really sad.
    And yesterday when I saw the first official image of the 9-5 Estate I thought it was really good looking.
    I hope the new car will survive somehow, new Opel Omega, anyone?
    As far as the brand is concerned...Saabs suck the last years, no doubts on that. Even if I always liked the current 9-5 it was as old as myself and therefore having it still for sale was a good indicator of how things were going to end.
    The new 9-3 was just an average car, surely not a Saab, let alone a good replacement for the 900. Even if it is a good car, it was too average for such a peculiar brand. probably the same reason why the BLS (Cadillac) didn't sale well here since people in Europe expects something almost exotic from a Cadillac. Eventually the car (platform) performed pretty well, even if heavily modified, as the Fiat Croma, a truly average car, designed to be the horse carriage of the family and excellent at that I must say.

    So, Saab was dead since a while it seems.

    Damn, I was already imagining some sort of an uber Spyker designed Saab (as I did with Koenigsegg), but that would have been a Saab either, wouldn't it?
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    As far as I know, Saab was never a massive money maker, but a small car factory which made well enginereed cars and which could financially survive on its own. At least before the GM takeover.

    I'm gonna be simplistic, but globalisation, greed and regulations are killing many interesting car maker that we used to have.
    Quote Originally Posted by Wouter Melissen View Post
    Why don't you buy it then?
    Only if you bring the finance.
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
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  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ferrer View Post
    As far as I know, Saab was never a massive money maker, but a small car factory which made well enginereed cars and which could financially survive on its own. At least before the GM takeover.
    if that was true it would not have been taken over, it was an already ailing company. GM was not the correct remedy.
    "I find the whole business of religion profoundly interesting, but it does mystify me that otherwise intelligent people take it seriously." Douglas Adams

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    Quote Originally Posted by henk4 View Post
    if that was true it would not have been taken over, it was an already ailing company. GM was not the correct remedy.
    I'm not saying it was Saab's case, but not all companies are taken over because they need help. Sometime the firm that's the who's paying just wants to expand their bussiness.
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
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  10. #10
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    Failed american management style has led to a failed Saab.

    Five lessons that GM can learn from the Saab debacle - Drive On: A conversation about the cars and trucks we drive - USATODAY.com

    Can anyone tell me why american managers can no longer manage in a globalized world where competition is fierce?

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    Ferrer though, what if Saab had been sold? They woulda died anyways. I figure a sale woulda gave them a few months or years more but the fact remains that their perception is not good - surely better in Europe than North America but still not great as far as I understand. They were not really competitive cars.

    I don't mourn their loss, as they weren't very good (I never liked Saab to be honest) but I do feel bad for all those working for Saab that are gonna be out of a job.

  12. #12
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    A car should have a flavor, a soul, a certain look, and an attitude. All these factors are generally absent in american built automobiles because they are mass-maarket items.

    And the inability of american managers to understand the 4 factors so stated above, is the reason why their marketing efforts fail woefully at bringing and maintaining any prospective brand in the auto market.

    Advertisements are not a be all and end all endeavor. It is just a tool to draw customers to the show room so that they can see and test drive the vehicles for themselves.

    Unfortunately, GM marketing egg-heads beleive tv ads will solve all their problems.

    GM is a sad company and all the management of GM deserve to be sacked, fired, and flogged, immediately. While I am for bailing them out as Obama administration did, I still think the heart and source of GM's problems continues to be the inept management it has.

    GM couldn't even unwrap a Snickers candy bar to save its self from hunger and death. Sad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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    Quote Originally Posted by G35COUPE View Post
    Failed american management style has led to a failed Saab.

    Five lessons that GM can learn from the Saab debacle - Drive On: A conversation about the cars and trucks we drive - USATODAY.com

    Can anyone tell me why american managers can no longer manage in a globalized world where competition is fierce?
    Funny, Ford seemed to have done a good job fixing Mazda. BMW is generally really well run but they did a miserable job with Rover and Mercedes all but killed Chrysler. Unlike SAAB, Chrysler was fairly healthy before the Germans invaded. Perhaps you jumped too far with that conclusion.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Kitdy View Post
    Ferrer though, what if Saab had been sold? They woulda died anyways. I figure a sale woulda gave them a few months or years more but the fact remains that their perception is not good - surely better in Europe than North America but still not great as far as I understand. They were not really competitive cars.

    I don't mourn their loss, as they weren't very good (I never liked Saab to be honest) but I do feel bad for all those working for Saab that are gonna be out of a job.
    Why? A different approach may have solved all or part of Saab's problems. It also, in anycase, would've given Saab hope, which is the last thing to be lost. Dead doesn't solve anything. Saab, like many other car manufacturers, has suffered in the last years. But doesn't mean we should just give up, at least in my opinion.
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
    Visca Catalunya!

  15. #15
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    Many are already wondering if GM wanted to save it in first place, perhaps it was just a nice way to introduce all of us (Governments and workers mainly) to a very dark period, which would "help" assimilating this end.
    Hard to believe that, but surely GM did too few in the last years to make Saab easily profitable or even just interesting to be bought.
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