It’s something like this: “Hmmm, I’m bleeding from my hand, how do I fix that? I know!, I’ll chop my head off!! *ka-tchunk*”

When the NG900 was produced it (unfortunately) used a lot of carry over GM platform parts which were really not up task for a premium model and Saab had to try and do it’s best with them. Whoever buys Saab would have to incorporate their own platforms and engines into future models. Hopefully they would do a better job than GM. Saab by itself is not a viable entity and whilst people might dream, whoever buys it will have to incorporate into their own lineup of brands. Hopefuly they could do a better job than GM. GM’s performance with Saab this decade in particular, has been quite appalling..

Jeep could possibly replace Hummer in GM’s portfolio, but Viper is more or less useless. It’s basicly a very poor selling Corvette. I wouldn’t be surprised if Viper was sold off.

GM is most likely also interrested to get rid of their light trucks business, but doesn’t seem to be able to get the amount of money they want for it.

Markac: I don’t think you really realise the situation here. Saab perform important tasks for GM, and all Saab cars are based on GM’s jointly developed global platforms, engines and transmissions. Not only that, much development work is actually done by GM in Germany. The situation is not comparable with Jaguar as the companies in Premier Auto Group was much more independant from Ford than Saab is from GM. Sure, a buyer of Saab could possibly get the rights to use the current parts, but in the long term they basicly have to restart from scratch, building a new development center, new engines, platforms and so on. GM also would be forced to move development done at Saab back to GM, or at least separate that part of Saab to GM. It would be a very messy situation that most likely GM nor Saab would benefit from.

A much more likely situation is that GM increase co-operation between their different brands and makes Saab more ‘premium’ so that it can take up competition with for instance Audi, while Opel is moved upmarket to be able to compete more directly with VW. This also makes some more room for Chevrolet at the bottom, in the low price segment. Opels for the North American market will be rebranded as Saturn. Buick will most likely be placed between Saturn/Opel and Saab on the markets which it is sold at.

Actually, I wish GM owned Jeep, but besides that…Viper? Gone. Challenger? Gone. That’s enough to make me hope this never happens.

But I still fail to see much positives from such a move. Economies of scale would provide for some measurable savings (metals, parts, etc.), but the dealer bloat and debt burden may be overwhelming. We know very little about Chrysler since it went private.

My best guess is GM is looking to divest GMAC, deeply vested into the subprime crisis. If they end up picking Chrysler, they will likely close down the brand itself, keep Jeep, though I am not quite sure what they’d do with Dodge. To top it all off, there were reports GM had also approached Ford, although the latter declined.

Is Saab safe? I think it is, but I also hold the view that GM will look into selling the brand once the proper lineup has been introduced. It’s already been discussed here at length, but all the latest moves point to that. It is the potential buyers of the brand that worry me.

I proposed the following scenario earlier in the year and now it seems even more likely to happen. GM can use the new 9-5 as a brokering chip to sell Saab. It could supply the new owner cars built by Opel in Germany for a five year contract. The new owner would get the Trollhattan plant and maybe some assistance with infrastructure for a new 9-3 and a possible 9-1, or it may have to (or want to) go it alone. The 9-4x may or may not factor into the deal. GM could supply it to the new owner from Mexico or simply decide to re-badge it as a Buick or something. This is all quite possible as it is much the same deal that Ford did with the XM to sell off Jaguar. I’m sure the bean counters at GM have already looked at this.

Adam: doesn’t Ford only own a portion of Mazda (a majority stake)? Maybe they can sell to Toyota like GM sold their stake in Subaru to them.

From what I remember of the Cerebrus deal for Chrysler, Daimler basically PAID Cerebrus to take them off their hands. I would imagine that if there were a suitor for Chrysler (and I don’t see why there would be, with only the Jeep and Dodge Viper being really desirable) that they could have it pretty cheaply. How much you got in your wallet? That should probably be enough.

They have the same problems of legacy costs and too many dealers. It’s not like they compliment each other in any way. I think what would make the most sense would be for Cerebrus to sell Jeep and Viper to Ford and go out of business.

The biggest auto news of today is Ford is looking at selling off Mazda.

If it happens, my guess is that GM keeps only Jeep out of the deal, and shutters the rest. There is zero brand equity left in Dodge, and not very much at all in Chrysler itself. Having said that, my brother bought a brand new 300 a couple of years ago with a Hemi, and loves it dearly. Supposedly there’s a lot of E class underneath the 300, and I’d imagine Chrysler is in a bit of a pickle developing the successor to the 300 without having anymore access to Mercedes technology.