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Saab To Shut Its Doors
A last ditch attempt to sell Saab to Spyker Cars has failed, forcing General Motors to announce “an orderly wind-down of Saab operations”
The demise of the very distinctive, if slightly quirky Swedish car maker is a direct result of the Global Financial Crisis and General Motors plans to dispense with its non-performing overseas assets.
GM said it would close Saab dealerships around the world, although it would honour warranties and provide service and parts to Saab owners.
It is likely that Saab owners will suffer from heavily depreciating values, at least in the short term, though some may regard them as future collectors items.
We suspect, however, that hefty discounts will be offered to new car buyers if they are brave enough to want to purchase such a future rarity.
The Worst Failures
We’ve had some pretty bad cars foisted on us in the past. We’ve also had some pretty awful marketing failures.
We’ve listed our top five here:-
THE LEYLAND P76
It’s aim was to knock Holden, Ford and Chrysler off their big car perches – and it failed miserably
THE DATSUN 120Y
Boring! Yet is sold over 2 million worldwide. Why?
THE MORRIS MARINA
Another Leyland disaster trying to play catchup.
AU FALCON
How a styling studio and the research dept. got it so wrong, and Ford never recovered.
MITSIBISHI 380
The car that was to save Mitsubishi local manufacturing and pay back Government grants. It didn’t.
For the full story on the top five failures, and a list of the ‘also rans’ (or didn’t) click here
Now Saab Stays With GM
After GM’s about turn by withdrawing from the sale of their German offshoot Opel, and their British brand Vauxhall just three weeks ago, now comes the surprising news that they will continue to own their Swedish carmaker Saab.
General Motors announced last June that they had reached agreement to sell Saab to Swedish ultra luxury sports car maker Koenigsegg, and most thought it to be a ‘done deal’ until recent doubts surfaced about whether it would be completed.
And, indeed, today Koenigsegg announced that it had come to the ‘painfull and difficult conclusion’ that it has to abort the purchase.
GM’s response is that it is ‘very disappointed’ with the decision.
Speculation is now rife over whether GM will continue to keep Saab in their camp along with Opel and Vauxhall, whether they will seek another buyer or simply close it down.
Whichever way they choose, this news will do nothing to assist Saab in getting back into the black after some disastrous sales performances
Breaking News-GM to Keep Opel,Vauxhall.
The on again/off again saga on the sale of German car maker Opel and its British counterpart Vauxhall has added a further twist today when giant US carmaker announced that it will not now sell its European offshoots.
It was finally announced in September, after months of speculation that GM would sell 55 percent of Vauxhall and Opel to a Canadian led consortium.
Since then politics has played its inevitable part with governments and unions seeking work and plant guarantees.
However GM stated today thet the reason for withdrawing from the proposed sale is that ‘ the business environment has improved’.
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