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General Motors agrees to sell Saab to Swedish sports car maker Koenigsegg

edesignuk

edesignuk

Moderator emeritus
Original poster
Mar 25, 2002
19,232
2
London, England
No more than that at the moment. Just a headline.

Capture.PNG

edit: ok, small article now appeared:
General Motors has reached a tentative agreement to sell Saab to the Swedish sports car manufacturer Koenigsegg.

GM said that as part of the deal there would be $600m (£367m) of funding from the European Investment Bank (EIB), guaranteed by the Swedish government.

It is the latest part of GM's reorganisation, which is also set to see the Opel and Vauxhall brands going to Canada's Magna.

Saab filed for reorganisation under Swedish law on 20 February.
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BBC.

I'm surprised though. Who backs Koenigsegg's finances? They're a very high end super car maker (very low sales volumes), odd move :confused: edit: This question now partly answered by the published article. EIB funding, backed up by the Swedish Gvt.
 
I imagine this is to allow Koenigsegg to get closer to the targets set for average CO2 production across a companies entire car range.

It may also signal a return to the Saab of old who used to make fun and interesting cars unlike the boring badly made rubbish they've made for the last 15 years.
 
Well apparently there have been a few recent Saabs that have been pretty good, but brand image is everything, and when you're tied with GM, your reputation is going to take a beating anyway. It's hard to separate all the crap cars from the odd gem.
 
robbieduncan said:
I imagine this is to allow Koenigsegg to get closer to the targets set for average CO2 production across a companies entire car range.

It may also signal a return to the Saab of old who used to make fun and interesting cars unlike the boring badly made rubbish they've made for the last 15 years.
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We sat in a few models at the last car show here in DC. We basically looked at each other and said "It just doesn't feel like a Saab." I hope it's a win move for the company.
 
Abstract said:
Well apparently there have been a few recent Saabs that have been pretty good, but brand image is everything, and when you're tied with GM, your reputation is going to take a beating anyway. It's hard to separate all the crap cars from the odd gem.
Click to expand...

Maybe in the US you were getting different cars. Here in Europe the 9-3 was just an Opel/Vauxhall Vectra in drag. The Vectra wasn't particularly good to start with. I mean cars like the old-school 900 turbos. Something exciting, different and a little dangerous.
 
Koenigsegg produces 18 cars a year and employs 45 people, and there has been some doubt as to whether it has the expertise to run Saab, which sold 93,000 cars in 2008.
Saab employs about 3,400 people in Sweden and about 12,000 other jobs in the country are dependent on Saab and its suppliers.
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I hope they can pull it off.
 
cosmokanga2 said:
I hope they can pull it off.
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It'll be interesting. Saab has been a brand in want of a purpose for all these years GM owned it. Perhaps Koenigsegg can find some way to leverage other automakers for hardware and come out with interesting things in the way that Lotus has done with some of their more recent oeuvres.
 
alphaod said:
Why wouldn't the Swedes want their brand back?

Besides you can't possibly expect the Swedish government to directly buy Saab back, so they finance a real automobile company like Koenigsegg.
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And I think that's pretty cool, since I had first heard it was some financing fund. At least it's in the same industry. GO SAAB, kick ass cars btw !!!
 
alphaod said:
Why wouldn't the Swedes want their brand back?

Besides you can't possibly expect the Swedish government to directly buy Saab back, so they finance a real automobile company like Koenigsegg.
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I thought Sabb was a british company? Learn something new every day :rolleyes:

Wish i could be the 49th employee at Koenigsegg :D
 
robbieduncan said:
Maybe in the US you were getting different cars. Here in Europe the 9-3 was just an Opel/Vauxhall Vectra in drag. The Vectra wasn't particularly good to start with. I mean cars like the old-school 900 turbos. Something exciting, different and a little dangerous.
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Yes indeed, agree completely; the old Saabs were great cars, stylish, beautifully designed and yet just that bit different from BMW/Mercedes. I seem to recall reading that their ancestry was from the aeronautical industry.

alphaod said:
Why wouldn't the Swedes want their brand back?

Besides you can't possibly expect the Swedish government to directly buy Saab back, so they finance a real automobile company like Koenigsegg.
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Exactly. It's a good move, and I'm delighted to learn about it; I'd love to see new stylish sophisticated Saabs on the road.

Cheers
 
mkrishnan said:
It'll be interesting. Saab has been a brand in want of a purpose for all these years GM owned it. Perhaps Koenigsegg can find some way to leverage other automakers for hardware and come out with interesting things in the way that Lotus has done with some of their more recent oeuvres.
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me too! i bought a saab last year and i love it....but not alot of word about servicing and questions...kinda feel left in the dark :rolleyes:
 
Scepticalscribe said:
Yes indeed, agree completely; the old Saabs were great cars, stylish, beautifully designed and yet just that bit different from BMW/Mercedes. I seem to recall reading that their ancestry was from the aeronautical industry.
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Correct -- Saab was originally an aerospace company and diversified into cars (loosely like BMW did) in the 40's. I believe (link) that Saab Automobiles was a part of this conglomerate until GM took control.

Their fighters include the Gripen, still in service in a number of defense forces:

Swedish_JAS-39_Gripen_landing.jpg


And also the Viggen, a jet fighter made up to the beginning of the 90s.

Saab_JA37_37447_Swedish_Air_Force_Marcel_van_Leeuwen.jpg


AFAIK, it's from this Viggen that the Viggen branding on some performance Saabs comes, such as the Saab 9-3 Viggen.

01.saab.9-3viggen2drhatch.350.jpg
 
Thanks for the pictures and for confirming what I had remembered reading. Actually, I remember seeing an ad for Saab which used to appear in glossy magazines around 20-25 years ago and which depicted a Saab car and jet fighter side by side and compared their joint ancestry. At the time, I was blown away by the ad and by the sheer understated elegance and yet awesome power of the car.

Cheers and good luck
 
mkrishnan said:
Correct -- Saab was originally an aerospace company and diversified into cars (loosely like BMW did) in the 40's. I believe (link) that Saab Automobiles was a part of this conglomerate until GM took control.

Their fighters include the Gripen, still in service in a number of defense forces:

Swedish_JAS-39_Gripen_landing.jpg
Click to expand...

"Still"? The Gripen is a 4.5 gen fighter. About as modern as a modern combat aircraft can be short of the American F-22 and F-35.

I always thought the little touches that SAAB used to make on their cars as a nod to their aircraft heritage were cool - "jet mode" with only the tach and the speedo illuminated.

I think this is too little, too late for SAAB. K'egg manufactures what, ~200 cars a year? And SAAB has been saddled for the foreseeable near term future with the old GM platforms.

I'd love me some SAAB, but they haven't produced anything I've wanted to buy in a long time.
 
I hope with Koenigsegg at the help SAAB's future models recapture the quirkiness and fun of the 900 Turbo's of the 80's. The SAAB 9-3 XWD is a step in the right direction. Bring back the Viggen.
 
Signal-11 said:
"Still"? The Gripen is a 4.5 gen fighter. About as modern as a modern combat aircraft can be short of the American F-22 and F-35.

I always thought the little touches that SAAB used to make on their cars as a nod to their aircraft heritage were cool - "jet mode" with only the tach and the speedo illuminated.

I think this is too little, too late for SAAB. K'egg manufactures what, ~200 cars a year? And SAAB has been saddled for the foreseeable near term future with the old GM platforms.

I'd love me some SAAB, but they haven't produced anything I've wanted to buy in a long time.
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and the American F-22 and F-35 are way shorter than the Eurofighter Typhoon :)

I had a 9-5 Aero was a fricking awesome car, beautiful to drive, i loved the night mode also where it was just speedo and rev monitor that were illuminated, was so cool when driving home on the motorway at night.

Long live Saab, nice cars, maybe Koreningsegggghahshahsgasgagagagagagagagagagagagagag (top gear reference) may be Saab's parent/luxury/sport brand.
 
Signal-11 said:
"Still"? The Gripen is a 4.5 gen fighter. About as modern as a modern combat aircraft can be short of the American F-22 and F-35.
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Sorry, sorry! I thought it was a plane that had just gone out of production, not one that is just coming into production, and thus the "still." I'm not trying to insult your airplane....
 
garybUK said:
and the American F-22 and F-35 are way shorter than the Eurofighter Typhoon :)

I had a 9-5 Aero was a fricking awesome car, beautiful to drive, i loved the night mode also where it was just speedo and rev monitor that were illuminated, was so cool when driving home on the motorway at night.

Long live Saab, nice cars, maybe Koreningsegggghahshahsgasgagagagagagagagagagagagagag (top gear reference) may be Saab's parent/luxury/sport brand.
Click to expand...

Yes, drove a 9-3 for a few months, and I loved that car. Didn't even need to turn on the radio...
 
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