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[What's Burning?]

It's a sad day. The company that basically invented efficient aerodynamics in production automobiles, the beautiful lines of the 92, the 99 and my beloved 900, to this day, arguably the most iconic... scratch that, the second most iconic shape in automobile history.

We'll miss you.

[vlad]

That's how it goes... You make perfect cars = Bye, bye...

[myownalias]

What's happening to their truck making division, Scania?

Back to Saab, sadly these smaller brands simply can't compete against the volume makers like Ford and GM!

[bud]

Saab were owned by GM that's when the company started on the downward spiral.

[darwin dali]

Why doesn't one of the other manufacturers pick them up? Good name brand recognition and all...

[myownalias]

Saab were owned by GM that's when the company started on the downward spiral.

Yes, GM bought SAAB like they bought a lot of companies which caused the downfall of GM before being bailed out by the US government! The thing is that GM didn't do very much with SAAB, GM could have supported the brand more but elected to leave it alone to run itself, just under the GM banner, I believe SAAB would have ceased to be regardless of ownership!

Why doesn't one of the other manufacturers pick them up? Good name brand recognition and all...

In this market, car companies can't afford to buy something for the brand name; that doesn't make good business sense, buying a loss making enterprise is a bad idea. In a world of rising fuel prices, small cheap Japanese cars rule the new car market, even in the US, brands like SAAB simply don't fit in anymore.

[bud]

That's just the point, SAAB was fully owned by GM in 2000 they no longer had control of their own destiny from then on.

And now it was GM blocking a buyout offer by a Chinese firm, over not wanting GM intellectual property going to the new buyer. So in effect GM killed SAAB.

[scotty]

So it seems that Saab's owners didn't want their engineering to be under Chinese ownership, and that caused the deal that would have saved Saab to fall through.

Edit - bud said it already.

Last i heard of Saab before today was that Koenigsegg were gonna buy em, that would have been pretty crazy

[What's Burning?]

That's just the point, SAAB was fully owned by GM in 2000 they no longer had control of their own destiny from then on.

And now it was GM blocking a buyout offer by a Chinese firm, over not wanting GM intellectual property going to the new buyer. So in effect GM killed SAAB.

For some time in the mid 90's they were actually a very profitable part of the GM empire. The lack of innovation and true freedom of design, as Saab was forced to build cars around the existing GM platforms is what led to the demise.

[LewEngBridewell]

What's happening to their truck making division, Scania?

That's what I was wondering. The Scania trucks are all over the place, and they look pretty classy as well.

[madbrad]

It really annoyed me in those days when GM had to stick its fingers in everything.

They had 1/2 of Saab and then all of it, then Saab started sharing chassis like it was any other GM division.

Then when GM is in trouble and wants to shed the fat, the storied marques Olds, Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer, and Saab lose out. Of the last 2, one was an actual company and one was a brand bought from a separate company and built by that company on GM underpinnings. The axing of Hummer hurt them.

Had GM never bought Saab, they might have gone under on their own, or might have survived. Being owned by GM robbed them of that chance. They became a division that can be axed at any moment. It's criminal. The minute GM owned all of Saab, that possibility existed.

The last 2 years were spent with different people trying to own and save it, once Koenigsegg, the last being Spyker, most recently with Chinese investment. GM refuses any technology provision if the money is Chinese, and that is the death knell. What now happens to Spyker, who sold off the Supercar works and devoted EVERYTHING to making Saabs? The latest 9000 is a real sweet ride. The paint is barely dry on it. Does this wipe Spyker off the map?

[andrew]

What's happening to their truck making division, Scania?

That's what I was wondering. The Scania trucks are all over the place, and they look pretty classy as well.

The company I work for uses Scanias. All the drivers that come up from the depots think they're great.

[bud]

It really annoyed me in those days when GM had to stick its fingers in everything.

They had 1/2 of Saab and then all of it, then Saab started sharing chassis like it was any other GM division.

Then when GM is in trouble and wants to shed the fat, the storied marques Olds, Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer, and Saab lose out. Of the last 2, one was an actual company and one was a brand bought from a separate company and built by that company on GM underpinnings. The axing of Hummer hurt them.

Had GM never bought Saab, they might have gone under on their own, or might have survived. Being owned by GM robbed them of that chance. They became a division that can be axed at any moment. It's criminal. The minute GM owned all of Saab, that possibility existed.

The last 2 years were spent with different people trying to own and save it, once Koenigsegg, the last being Spyker, most recently with Chinese investment. GM refuses any technology provision if the money is Chinese, and that is the death knell. What now happens to Spyker, who sold off the Supercar works and devoted EVERYTHING to making Saabs? The latest 9000 is a real sweet ride. The paint is barely dry on it. Does this wipe Spyker off the map?

Spyker is up the shitter too I'd say. So why is GM against selling off only to Chinese? Are they afraid of mass produced cheaply made GM cars? I thought that's already happening

[madbrad]

In answer to your question bud I will cut and paste:

...Saab CEO Victor Muller said "the last nail in the coffin" was previous owner General Motors Co.'s rejection of a Chinese company's attempts to gain control of the ailing Swedish brand....

...As production stopped and salary payments were delayed, Muller fended off bankruptcy by selling Saab's real estate and lining up financing deals with investors in Russia and China. He bought time by placing the company in a reconstruction process under bankruptcy protection.

But the deals fell through, blocked by regulators or by GM, which was concerned that its technology would end up in the hands of Chinese competitors.

The final Chinese suitor, Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co., said it was hoping for a deal "to the last moment" but pulled out after the last proposal for a solution was rejected by GM over the weekend.

GM spokesman Jim Cain told The Associated Press Saturday that each new proposal "results either directly or indirectly in the transfer of control and, or ownership of the company in a manner that would be detrimental to GM and its shareholders."

In another email Monday, Cain said he had nothing to add "except to say it is unfortunate."...

[Fred_C_Dobbs]

It is a pity. The automotive world does seem to shun anything but conformity and mediocrity.

I once had a flat-mate with a Saab Sonett II and a 900. Both quite unusual, especially the Sonett, the only V-4 automobile I ever have driven.

But the company's assets won't evaporate overnight. If the market for the product still exists, and provided some corporate raider doesn't buy them up to dispose of them in dribs and drabs, is there not still some slim chance a smaller, sleeker SAAB could emerge from the ashes?