SAAB Abandoned By GM, Files Bankruptcy.

[Sprint XR8]

FRANKFURT — Saab, the Swedish maker of road-hugging sports cars and sedans, filed for bankruptcy on Friday as part of sweeping restructuring plan by its parent, the General Motors Corporation.

Saab, which G.M. said would become an independent business by 2010, went to a Swedish court for protection from its creditors, and said the company would — with assistance from the Swedish government — reorganize to pave the way for private investors to buy all or part of it.

Saab’s application for bankruptcy was later approved by the Swedish courts.

“We explored and will continue to explore all available options for funding and/or selling Saab, and it was determined a formal reorganization would be the best way to create a truly independent entity that is ready for investment,” the managing director of Saab, Jan-Ake Jonsson, said in a statement.

Saab also said that the company “would continue to operate as usual.”

But in the hours after the filing, it was unclear whether the Swedish government would support the company, with government officials seeming to rule out financial assistance as part of what Saab said would be a three-month process of retrenchment.

“Support in the form of money is not on the agenda,” a spokesman for the industry ministry, Hakan Lind said, according to Reuters.

Saab lost about 3 billion Swedish crowns or $343 million in 2008 and said it would lose a similar amount this year. But the immediate cause of the filing was G.M., which decided to shed the Saab brand, as part of are structuring that will see massive job cuts and closure of several brands in exchange for access to government cash.

G.M. acquired a majority of Saab in 1990 and bought up the rest a decade later. But the company has been dogged by losses, despite widespread acclaim for its products.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/21/bu...ss/21saab.html

[Tles]

wow, changing world. Sayonara Saab. Next I guess FIAT will want to 'technical Partner' with SAAB so they can offer small Saabs and big Fiats.

[GT0336]

Sad news.

[XR6_190]

Not good, but watch this space, surely their will be more to come.

[barbarian]

pathetic excuse for a auto manufacturer, if you continue to make boring old cars with dull designs this is the end result you get, good riddance i say

[snappy]

Originally Posted by Tles

wow, changing world. Sayonara Saab. Next I guess FIAT will want to 'technical Partner' with SAAB so they can offer small Saabs and big Fiats.

I believe fiat is merging with chrysler.

[schnoods]

Originally Posted by barbarian

pathetic excuse for a auto manufacturer, if you continue to make boring old cars with dull designs this is the end result you get, good riddance i say

I reckon, in the last 25 years they have just had continual facelifts....

[snappy]

I cant remember ever seeing a saab i liked the look of . Happy to be proven wrong

[4Vman]

Originally Posted by snappy84

I believe fiat is merging with chrysler.

that's a bit like shuffling deck chairs on the titanic...

[Sprint XR8]

Will GM Abandon Europe?
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/...temp_top+story
The dismantling of General Motors' (GM) huge stable of global brands has begun. The company's Swedish Saab unit went into reorganization Friday, Feb. 20, preparing it for a spin-out from GM.

At the same time, GM is exploring options for its German Opel unit, including a possible sale. When GM unveiled its restructuring plan to the U.S. Treasury Dept. on Feb. 17, company President and Chief Operating Officer Frederick A. "Fritz" Henderson said that everything is on the table with regards to Opel. Opel is Europe's fifth largest brand.

A "Second-Tier Player"?
The net result could eventually be a much smaller GM. That's true not only in the U.S., where GM is shrinking its archipelago of factories, but also globally, as the automaker pares away business units whose contribution has been minimal at best. Take away Opel, Saab, and some of the U.S. brands that GM is phasing out and you're looking at a GM that sells about 6.5 million cars and trucks a year, compared with 9.4 million in 2007 and 8.4 million last year.

If GM off-loaded Opel—a big if—what would be left is a GM that retains its U.S. business while focusing its remaining global brands—namely Chevrolet, Buick, and Cadillac—on emerging markets like China, the rest of Asia, India, Russia, and South America. "Without Europe, GM almost becomes a second-tier player," says Joe Phillippi, principal of AutoTrends in Short Hills, N.J.

Investors kept backing away from GM. In mid-afternoon trading, the stock was down 9.5% to $1.80 a share, giving the company a value of just $1.1 billion.

Saab has already been given the ejector seat. GM has spun the company out and is negotiating with the Swedish government for loans to capitalize it. Meanwhile, the Swedish courts are trying to find investors to take it over and other creditors to give Saab more capital. If no new owner or investor group is found in three months, the company could be liquidated.

That will hardly be a big loss for GM. Saab sold just 93,000 cars around the globe last year. The spin-out will mark the end of nearly 20 years of ownership by GM. The auto giant bought 50% of Saab in 1990 and the rest in 2000. Under GM, Saab rarely made money and GM could never really give it the kind of product and marketing muscle it needed to take it beyond a small, niche brand.

Opel: No Buyers in Sight
Selling off Opel would be a more wrenching divorce. Its headquarters in Russelsheim, Germany, does the basic engineering work for GM's global compact cars and midsize family sedans. GM would have to relocate the basic engineering of those kinds of models either back to Detroit or to its Korean GM-Daewoo operation. Plus, GM would lose the global scale for those models. Opel and its British Vauxhall brand sold 1.5 million vehicles globally last year, mostly passenger cars.

GM hasn't lined up any possible buyers for Opel. Armin Schild, regional manager for the German metalworkers union IG Metall, who sits on the Opel supervisory board, said a sale to another carmaker or an equity stake owned by the German government are possibilities. "I wouldn't exclude any automakers," Schild said in an interview. "It could also be companies in [Central] Europe or Germany that could use the dealers and market positioning. We need such a business model."

To be sure, GM may have the Opel business for a long time. Even though the company is open to a sale, its options are narrow. One investment banker who works on auto industry mergers says that there are no buyers for Opel right now, but down the line it could happen.

Other Options
German labor would welcome a deal if it helped guarantee job security. Plus, the German workers and managers have long thought that Opel was too tightly managed from Detroit. A divestiture of some kind "would give us independence from a company that was too centralized," says Schild.

Opel's options could be less dramatic. GM is also looking at partnerships with other automakers and borrowing money from European governments. In its plan for Treasury, GM said that the company should be profitable in two years, but Opel's biggest problem now is liquidity.

In any case, GM is exploring all options to raise cash and simplify its business. If GM can survive the downturn, it could emerge as a leaner, more focused, and profitable company. But a lot has to go right between now and then. And GM will certainly be smaller.

[AUIIForte]

Originally Posted by barbarian

pathetic excuse for a auto manufacturer, if you continue to make boring old cars with dull designs this is the end result you get, good riddance i say

I agree with you. I also never got the idea why cars that where manufactured in Sweden for Swedish conditions had front wheel drive and not 4WD?

[drew`SEVNT5]

Originally Posted by snappy84

I believe fiat is merging with chrysler.

Buying out Chrysler, to my understanding..........

[Bossxr8]

I can't see how they could sell Opel, if they can sell them then they can easily sell Holden too.

[Molloy]

Lol saab.

[Sprint XR8]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

I can't see how they could sell Opel, if they can sell them then they can easily sell Holden too.

SAAB, Opel, Vauxhall and Holden are subsidiary's of GM and are more easily spun off than divisions of GM, like Chev, Cadillac, BPG.

[Bossxr8]

I don't know why GM even bothered with Saab. They have never been very big and they have been losing money for years. GM have not bothered to invest much in them either, they just rotted along with cars that are based on decade old platforms.


LOL at the first line in the OP, that Saab make road hugging sports cars. :

[CAT600]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

LOL at the first line in the OP, that Saab make road hugging sports cars. :

+1

Adjo SAAB.

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by snappy84

I believe fiat is merging with chrysler.

Fiat took a 35% stake in Chrysler

http://www.fordforums.com.au/showpos...2&postcount=26

[vztrt]

Saab may be bought by Koenigsegg

http://www.caradvice.com.au/32609/ko...y-saab-update/

General Motors has today announced that Swedish supercar manufacturer Koenigsegg is the current front runner to buy out GM’s struggling Saab brand.

As we reported last week, Koenigsegg has been interested in Saab for some time. We suspect the reason is to have a mass production facility to build its upcoming electric car under the Saab umbrella, giving the company access to the worldwide market in the near future.

According to reports on Swedish television, Koenigsegg alongside Norwegian investors have recently signed a letter of intent to take over Saab. GM had already given up on Saab in February of this year when it put the Swedish brand into the equivalent of bankruptcy and cut ties that go back two decades.

Currently GM is undergoing a massive restructuring process which means shedding Saab, Hummer and Saturn. The old GM also gave up trying to sell its medium-duty truck business this week and announced its termination.

According to the Financial Times the successful buyer has an interesting contract to deal with. As part of the deal GM will provide US$500 million in assets and cash, plus production equipment for a new Saab model. GM will also leave the US$150 million of cash already in Saab’s account as is.

Koenigsegg will have to put in a similar amount of money (although reports say it could be less) and if it’s successful in turning Saab around it will pay GM back the US$500+150 million.

The electric car Koenigsegg is expected to release next year is called the Quant. A project between Koenigsegg and NLV Solar AG. The car is claimed to manage 500 kilometres on a 20 minute charge, if Koenigsegg can bring even half of that promise to the market with a new Saab model, we will see a lot more Saabs on the road in the near future!

[vztrt]

GM agrees on SAAB sale

http://www.caradvice.com.au/32820/ge...-sale-of-saab/

GM agrees SAAB sale to Koenigsegg

Financially challenged US carmaker General Motors has announced that it has agreed with Koenigsegg Group AB to a Memorandum of Understanding for the purchase of Saab Automobile AB, its loss making Swedish automotive arm.

GM says the deal with the consortium, led by Koenigsegg Automotive AB, will secure Saab’s future.

The sale, expected to close by the end of the third quarter of this year, includes an expected US$600 million funding commitment from the European Investment Bank (EIB) guaranteed by the Swedish government.

Additional support is to be provided by GM and Koenigsegg Group AB to fund Saab’s operations and product program investments.

This includes plans to launch several new products that are in the final stages of development.

Saab filed for reorganisation under Swedish Law on February 20, and GM says this tentative agreement is a key milestone for Saab to successfully emerge from its reorganisation process.

“This is yet another significant step in the reinvention of GM and its European operations,” said GM Europe President, Carl-Peter Forster.

“Saab is a highly respected automotive brand with great potential. Closing this deal represents the best chance for Saab to emerge a stronger company.

“Koenigsegg Group’s unique combination of innovation, entrepreneurial spirit and financial strength, combined with Koenigsegg’s proven ability to create world-class Swedish performance cars in a highly efficient manner, made it the right choice for Saab as well as for General Motors.”

As part of the proposed transaction, GM will continue to provide Saab with architecture and powertrain technology during a defined time period.

In addition, Saab plans to produce its next generation 9-5 models in the Saab production facility in Trollhättan, Sweden.

“The proposed agreement will enable us to maximise the brand’s potential through an exciting new product line-up with a distinctly Swedish character.

“Today’s announcement is great news for Saab’s current and future customers, dealers, suppliers and employees around the globe, said Jan Åke Jonsson, Managing Director of Saab Automobile AB.

A statement by GM and Koenigsegg says the sale will be subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of applicable regulatory, governmental and court approvals. The statement says other terms and conditions specific to the sale are not being disclosed at this time.

Koenigsegg currently has less than 50 employees and turns out only a handful of $1 million super cars a year.

GM, which filed for Chapter 11 protection June 1, put Saab up for sale after deciding to cut its 20-year ties with the brand.

Saab produced nearly 100,000 cars last year, about 1 percent of GM’s global output. GM has held talks with a number of potential buyers for Saab, including Fiat and Chinese carmakers.

[vztrt]

Some more on the sale

http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-n...0616-cgh1.html

Saab to be bought by sports-car Koenigsegg
Pia Ohlin
June 16, 2009 - 10:14PM

US automaker GM said on Tuesday it is selling its beleaguered Saab Automobile to Swedish luxury sports car firm Koenigsegg, ending a 20-year tie-up which brought Saab a single annual profit.

"General Motors Corp. and Koenigsegg Group AB, a consortium led by Koenigsegg Automotive AB, today confirmed the details of a memorandum of understanding for the purchase of Saab Automobile AB that secures Saab's future," GM said.

It said the deal would "secure Saab's future."

GM, now in bankruptcy protection in the United States, put Saab up for sale in February as it bids to slim down its range of brands and become profitable again.

The Swedish company has been undergoing a legal reorganisation process since February 20.

Koenigsegg, founded in 1994 by Swedish businessman Christian von Koenigsegg, has just 45 employees and produces 18 high-end sports cars a year for more than a million euros (1.4 million US dollars) each.

"Koenigsegg Group's unique combination of innovation, entrepreneurial spirit and financial strength, combined with Koenigsegg's proven ability to create world-class Swedish performance cars in a highly efficient manner, made it the right choice for Saab as well as General Motors," GM Europe President Carl-Peter Forster said in a statement.

"Closing this deal represents the best chance for Saab to emerge a stronger company," he said.

The sale is expected to be completed by the end of the third quarter.

The financial details of the deal were not disclosed, but GM said it included an expected 600 million dollar funding commitment from the European Investment Bank, guaranteed by the Swedish government.

"Additional support is to be provided by GM and Koenigsegg Group to fund Saab's operations and product programme investments," GM said.

Saab sold 93,000 cars worldwide in 2008.

It owes 9.7 billion kronor (1.3 billion US dollars, 924 million euros) to GM -- its largest individual creditor -- as well as 347 million kronor to the Swedish government. Other creditors are owed 647 million kronor.

Saab employs about 3,400 people in Sweden, and about 12,000 other jobs in the country are dependent on it through suppliers.

GM said it would continue to provide technology to Saab during a "defined time period," and added that Saab would produce the next generation of 9-5 models in Trollhaettan in southwestern Sweden where the company is based.

Commentators in Sweden have questioned whether Koenigsegg has the financial muscle or industrial know-how to run Saab.

Koenigsegg is backed by a Norwegian financial tycoon, Baard Eker, whose holding company Eker Group holds a 49 percent stake in the sports car maker.

Eker told Norwegian media at the weekend that "several investors" were backing his bid to buy Saab, but would not disclose their names.

Sweden's government had in recent months refused to follow Washington's lead in bailing out its automakers Saab and Ford-owned Volvo Cars over fears the money would end up in the pockets of the US parent companies.

Swedish Enterprise Minister Maud Olofsson welcomed Tuesday's news, saying it put an end to months of uncertainty about Saab's future.

"It is good that Saab's ownership issue is now settled. This is an announcement that the company's employees, Trollhaettan, the Vaestra Goetaland region and the government have all been waiting for," she said in a statement.

The head of the IF Metall metal workers' union, Stefan Loefven, said meanwhile the deal was "clearly a different ownership solution."

"But perhaps that is just what is needed to exploit the hidden values within Saab. We have all along said that we want to see an owner who wants to and who can develop Saab and its operations in Sweden with research and development as well as production," he added.

GM bought 50 percent of Saab Automobile from Saab-Scania in 1990, snapping up the rest of the company a decade later.

The car unit posted a 2008 net loss of 3.0 billion kronor (241 million euros, 341 million US dollars at the time), as sales dwindled due to an ageing product line and a collapse in demand as credit lines tightened.

It last made a profit in 2001, the only year it was in the black in almost two decades of GM ownership.

© 2009 AFP

[vztrt]

Go Auto article on sale

http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mell...2575D80005DB3A

Supercar minnow swallows Saab

Sweden's Koenigsegg does deal to acquire Saab from bankrupt GM within months

By RON HAMMERTON 17 June 2009

SPORTSCAR-maker to the rich and famous, Koenigsegg, will take control of fellow Swedish car-maker Saab Automobile from General Motors under the terms of a memorandum of understanding announced today.

Producing less than 20 top-end supercars a year at a factory employing just 45 people in southern Sweden, Koenigsegg Automobile AB will close the deal to buy Saab – which employs about 3400 people and makes 93,000 cars – once details have been sorted later this year.

The sale will be funded by a $US600 million ($A757 million) loan from the European Investment Bank, guaranteed by the Swedish government.

Saab is the third GM brand to be dispatched in a week, with Hummer being swallowed by a Chinese engineering company and Saturn going to US motor industry and transport mogul Roger Penske.

The next shoe to drop will be the biggest – GM Europe’s Opel and Vauxhall. Canadian-based automotive supplier and contract assembler Magna International is believed to be the frontrunner to buy the European operation, with support from Russian interests, including car-maker Gaz.

Announcing the “tentative” Saab deal, GM said it would continue to provide Saab with architecture and powertrain technology for a defined period, which it did not specify.

It said Saab planned to produce its next-generation Saab 9-5 in the Saab production facility at Trollhättan, Sweden, adding that other models were in the pipeline.

GM Europe president Carl-Peter Forster described the sale of Saab to Koenigsegg as another significant step in the reinvention of GM and its European operations.

“Closing this deal represents the best chance for Saab to emerge a stronger company,” he said.

“Koenigsegg Group's unique combination of innovation, entrepreneurial spirit and financial strength, combined with Koenigsegg's proven ability to create world-class Swedish performance cars in a highly efficient manner, made it the right choice for Saab, as well as for General Motors."

The purchase of Saab marks a dramatic rise for Koenigsegg founder Christian von Koenigsegg, 36, who founded the sportscar company in 1994 at the age of 22, sketching the designs himself.

The automaker's website says von Koenigsegg began dreaming of creating sports cars at the age of five, when he watched a Norwegian cartoon about a bicycle repairman who builds a race car.

Last year, the company made just 18 cars at its factory on a former air force base at Angelholm, on the Swedish south coast.

Its top-of-the-range 400km/h-plus Koenigsegg CCXR is regarded as one of the world’s most powerful production cars, propelled by 750kW when running on E85 biofuel.

It is also one of the fastest cars in the world, rivaled only by the Bugatti Veyron. The CCXR can accelerate from zero to 100km/h in 3.1 seconds, and hit 200km/h in 13.7 seconds.

The hand-built cars command between $1.3 million and $1.6 million, depending on specification, and, naturally, must be pre-ordered.

The company also keeps an eye on the environment, not only designing all its cars to run on E85 ethanol-petrol blend, but also to achieve remarkable fuel economy for a supercar.

Koenigsegg also hopes to build electric sportscars, unveiling the sleek 275km/h Quant at this year’s Geneva motor show.

The sale of loss-making Saab was a key plank of GM’s plan to restructure the company after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on June 1.

Saab also has been in bankruptcy protection as GM tried to find a buyer. It announced recently that it had whittled down the bidders to a field of three.

[Fairlane]

There may be hope for SAAB now. They just need to go seriously upmarket, big time. Forget fighting off Volvo, Alfa, Lancia and the Frenchies. I just dont know if Konesenigggggggggggg will be able to raise the capital needed for a restrcutre, Id imagine they get the company for nothing, and GM will have to erase their debts, but from there...

They really need to do a Jaguar and start selling cars 100K plus, I rekcon they could find a profitably niche selling luxury convertables/roadster, something like the Porsche Boxster/Cayman. Use their platforms but with AWD and an emphasis on Turbo everything.

[R-Design]

I agree, it's a great fit. Koenigsegg's already given them something that they've been seriously lacking, 'street cred'.

They've already gone up a few notches in my book (although they did start at zero).

[Riksta]

Originally Posted by barbarian

pathetic excuse for a auto manufacturer, if you continue to make boring old cars with dull designs this is the end result you get, good riddance i say

Each to their own I guess, but I really like the look of the current model wagon they've got out on the market. Seen a few of them around and everytime I see one I look twice.

[Peuty]

As if you will see anything Koenigsegg in a new Saab ever. Just because they bought the company, doesn't mean the cars will be anything like the CCX.

[Mark351]

I'm sure Christian would like to embellish future SAAB design with his own ideas

[shakows]

Originally Posted by snappy84

I cant remember ever seeing a saab i liked the look of . Happy to be proven wrong

SAAB only ever made 1 good looking mode of transport

[robertjp]

That's not doing SAAB aircraft any justice since the precursor the the viggen was a good plane (one of the first STOL if I am not mistaken brakes of to 10km in 100 seconds, and the one before that the draken.

Robert.

[vztrt]

75% of saab's debt is ritten down

http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-n...0618-cipf.html

Saab gets 75% debt writedown
June 18, 2009 - 11:49AM

Swedish carmaker Saab gained a key legal decision in its bid for survival-by-takeover when a court okayed a writedown of 75 per cent of the company's over 10 million crowns ($A1.64 billion) in debts.

The decision by the court in Vanersborg handling Saab's insolvency came a day after US car giant General Motors had agreed on a deal to sell Saab to the tiny Swedish sports car company Koenigsegg.

GM accounts for 90 per cent of Saab's debt, with the US company agreeing to a writedown of 75 per cent of the volume in order to help pave the way for the Koenigsegg deal.

Saab had filed for protection from its creditors last February in the wake of GM's announcement that it was cutting its ties with the Swedish carmaker by the end of 2009.

In the meantime, the small local sports car maker Koenigsegg emerged as a potential buyer.

Saab chief executive Jan Ake Jonsson said the company would be able to pay off the remaining 2.5 billion crowns ($400.1 million) in debts out of the its own funds.

According to Christan von Koenigsegg, the future chief stakeholder in Saab, the goal is to trim back production from the current 130,000-150,000 cars yearly to around 70,000.

The target is to return to profitability with the mix of lower production and the sale of "more exclusive models," he said.

Koenigsegg is making its final takeover decision contingent on another piece of the Saab rescue puzzle, an envisaged $US600 million ($A757.1 million) from the European Investment Bank to help underwrite production and new development costs.