What you said were “eggs-xactly” what I was thinking. GM would not position Saab for sale unless it “fattened the calf [or your preferred livestock]” first. Suspending or delaying development of new and/or replacement models would definitely hold no appeal to prospective suitors.

In addition, I firmly believe GM has no real benefits selling Saab brand. It’s their only global “conquest brand” (along with Caddy these days) and the best instrument in their arsenal to bring over would-be buyers looking at competing brands.

1) GM North America and GM Europe are two different things. Under the circumstances, GME is probably doing fine. With such a lean operation today, most of Saab’s losses surely must come from R&D. Opel is probably on break even, and Chevrolet (aka Daewoo) is selling like crazy.

2) From what I have seen in Swedish media, journos are just repeating what has been said in publications like the Automotive News. I haven’t actually seen any quote from anyone at Saab or even GME about this. Does it affect all brands or just GM North America (an entity that is obviously bleeding)? Has it something to do with the negotiations with Chrysler and/or US Government?

3) Autotelegraaf seems to have had a lot of Saab news in the past, and it have been close to the truth as far as I can remember. Maybe they do have a good source a Saab for some reason?

Here’s an example. The B6 Audi A4 came along a year AFTER the 9-3 SS. It got a much more thorough facelift than the 9-3 just recieved, and got a whole new stable of engines for 2005.5 with the B7 revision. Now, Audi just released the B8, which is a completely new design, despite sharing some previous engines.

I know Saab doesn’t have the resources to run this kind of schedule, but they need to make some attempt to be competitive. The 9-3 SS is a great car, but sales will dwindle with a design that old. It’s just life.

-Rogan

With the benefit of hindsight, I think C900 production should have been continued for another year whilst Saab got the new platform sorted or perhaps better still, Saab should have premiered the platform used in the upcoming mid nineties Vectra. This would’ve delayed the GM900 even further, but it might have been a much better car for it?

The Saab 9000 still sold well right up until it’s demise, but the same can’t be said for the 9-5 which is now selling in almost hand built numbers. I think this will happen much sooner for the 9-3 SS.
If Saab try to sell it beyond 2010, it will have the same problem it has with the current 9-5 and it certainly doesn’t the cult status or quirkyness to fall back on.

The original 900 hatchback took ages to put together. So much so that it was almost handbuilt and in sales slowed down and it was GM that saved the bacon. The GM 900 was beautifully designed but it was not a Saab. Where did the sharp handling of the T16 go? The ride was bloody awful and it rolled like a boat in a force 10 gale.

I really dont have a solution to Saabs current problems. The 9-5 should have been out in 2005 and we should be looking at a new 9-3 in 2009 and that baby Saab in late 2010 but GM appears to have lost interest and I feel its too late now. Whats the point of introducing an SUV that nobody wants?

GM has trampled all over Saab’s brand image by trying to sell Cadillacs in Europe. GM has obviously screwed up with this strategy (dont even get me started on the pickup truck and SUV debacle) and now the whole company is in the sh*t.

It hurts me so much to say this but I think Saab is toast. GM doesnt know how to market the company properly and now its too damned late.

I sure hope I am wrong though. I love my Saab and really want to be able t replace it in about 6 years with a 9-5 that is about three years old. I hope it happens!!

The original 900 hatchback took ages to put together. So much so that it was almost handbuilt and in 1988 Saab sales slowed down and it was GM that saved the bacon. The GM 900 was beautifully designed but it was not a Saab. Where did the sharp handling of the T16 go? The ride was bloody awful and it rolled like a boat in a force 10 gale.

I really dont have a solution to Saabs current problems. The 9-5 should have been out in 2005 and we should be looking at a new 9-3 in 2009 and that baby Saab in late 2010 but GM appears to have lost interest and I feel its too late now. Whats the point of introducing an SUV that nobody wants?

GM has trampled all over Saab’s brand image by trying to sell Cadillacs in Europe. GM has obviously screwed up with this strategy (dont even get me started on the pickup truck and SUV debacle) and now the whole company is in the sh*t.

It hurts me so much to say this but I think Saab is toast. GM doesnt know how to market the company properly and now its too damned late.

I sure hope I am wrong though. I love my Saab and really want to be able t replace it in about 6 years with a 9-5 that is about three years old. I hope it happens!!

I’ll bet that some things are delayed and some things are changed, but others aren’t.

I’m inclined to believe that the developments that are more or less complete are still on track and the others that are longer term have been suspended in favor of more immediate pay back projects.

Counter to the comments above, suspending development on specific near-term models likely means that they will NOT sell. Think about it — who would buy a car company that has nothing going on? You buy a car company for what’s in the pipeline, especially a small-volume OEM like Saab.

Think about selling a house — you don’t turn off the A/C and let the yard grow. You paint, you shine, you fix the things that are broken, etc. That is, you actually turn UP spending just a little to make the asset seem more valuable and more attractive than it was just a few months ago. Companies are no different.

GM wants to keep Saab. Saab is a great brand to build on. If they sell it’s because the banks will force them to AFTER the bankruptcy is declared.

If Saab was to be sold, I think that a deal would be struck to supply the 9-5 from Opel for around 5 years or so, leaving the new owner to concentrate on other new models at Trollhattan.
I think this is similar to what Ford is doing with Jaguar for the XF. Of course other models when they arrive, would unlikely be GM based and probably after 5 years or so, the 9-5 would again be replaced using the new owner’s architecture.