SAAB's future: it's over, again...

[Karl Roth]

They have no domestic industry anymore they have foreign companies producing vehicles in there country. Sound familiar?
The motor vehicle industry in Sweden ? Sweden.se
karl

oh yea American ones at that...

[2smartArizona]

I personally don' think any of these companies should be bailed out, but in this particular case maybe Sweden is willing to let Saab go as it is not even in the top 20 large businesses in their country. Volvo being #1. Maybe if it was Volvo, it might be different.

On the other hand, General Motors was listed as #4 in the Fortune 500 list of largest American Corporations. Maybe the loss of General Motors would have a more significant effect on the American economy than the loss of Saab for the Swedish economy.

Saab has 4100 people employed in Sweden.
GM has over 260,000 employees.

Saab made 136,000 cars in Sweden and Austria in 2007 for whole world.
GM about 3.9 million for the USA alone.

Volvo has nearly 100,000 employees.

I don't think Saab closing it's doors is going to destroy the Swedish economy. I would hate to see it go, as I have always thought of the Saab as a very interesting and well made car. I love putting the key in the same spot as on our smart cars too. Easy to work on and very safe to drive, losing the Saab will be a loss for auto enthusiasts and for the employees of the company, but in this day and age those companies that fail to change will die, and maybe GM will have to let them go the way of Oldsmobile at this point. Of course if GM lowers the price enough though, I am sure the Chinese will snatch up the company.

[DowneasTTer]

I have owned a Saab since my first 96 back in the 60's. These were great cars. In college I used to ice race the 96. That's what sold me on the cars themselves. Flipped it over on one turn. Rolled it back on its wheels and off it went again. Small dent on the top, a little smoke out the tail pipe for a short time and a not so believable story for my parents.... Currently have a mint 95 900se conv in the stable the last almost REAL Saab.. GM didn't do Saab any favors i.e. take a look at 9-2X and the 9-7X. Hate to see saab go but they haven't been saabs in a LONG time imho.

[RACNXTG3]

how come GM doesnt help them out i mean its their brand

[Neonspinnazz]

Poor Saab, when I went to the Auto Show yesterday they had a pretty large display, that didn't even have any concepts out (I think) but they had some pretty good cars out on display.

I wouldn't want them to die off, but Toyota and the new Venza on the other hand...

[brian r]

Originally Posted by winyan

Another example of the complete lunacy of the GM Mgmt team.

When it was purchased Saab was a wonderful car, (I've had 3). Now it's a psuedo sedan ugly thing; all thanks to the mismanagement of GM.

win

When I was in high school, my parents had a 99 EMS. It was an awesome car that was fun, plowed through our northern-Ohio winters, and was not in the shop for a single day except for consumable items and regular maintenance. I got it when I went to grad school and sold it when it was 12 years old with 175,000 miles on it.

My neighbors, on the other hand have 2 Saabs, an '05 and an '08. Fortunately we have a dealer 4 miles from our street because they're regularly at the dealer, sometimes waiting for parts over a week at a time. I'm told that out of warranty repairs are staggeringly expensive. At least they bought the '08 at "GM Employee Pricing", and got almost $10k off the price.

[forestacademy]

I loved the SAAB I had. That was the most sporty car I have ever had. Still cant beleive i didn't get any tickets in that thing. Used to open the sunroof when it was around 10deg out and crank the heat while crusing the back roads. I could haul so much in that Hatch back. It was enormous.

The Key plament of the smart brings aback those memories.

But just like Ford did with Jaguar ( I coudn't beleive the one they made that looked like the ford concord for $40k) GM washed out anything original about the car and made it bland and nothing special.

It might be a good thing for SAAB to go this way. It should free them from GM and give them a chance to get back to what they came from.

On another note, I always thought it interesting that Buick made the Buick Lesabre. It was always trying to be what I called the LeSAABre. right down to the reverse opening hood.
In the end GM took the SAAB and made it more like the Lesabre

[2smartArizona]

Originally Posted by RACNXTG3

how come GM doesnt help them out i mean its their brand

I don't know if GM can even help themselves at this point. They are looking for handouts whereever they can get them it would seem. Why not ask if the Swedish government would cough up some free cash?

[vwW12]

Originally Posted by brian r

I'm told that out of warranty repairs are staggeringly expensive

Here's a tidbit I've mused over before: my other car's dealer is VW-SAAB. There is a sign at the cashier's that says:

«VW Hourly Rate: $99» (was $98 until recently)
«SAAB Hourly Rate $150» (was $115 until recently)

Fairly nutty, I say: but then again, "Saab" mechanics have to know how to fix the German product (Opel) and the Japanese product (Subaru), so maybe they are double-experts?

[Karl Roth]

Saab is a General Motors Company, soon like Oldsmobile? It is GM filing the papers for protection from there creditors. Volvo cars are Ford products. The auto industry was the core of Americas industrial might.
karl