Before you read this, bear in mind that this flies in the face of the interview I did wth Eric Geers from Saab just last week, but be that as it may, Business Week are reporting the following in the lead up to GM’s homework being handed in to the US Congress in the next 24 hours or so.
GM is trying to work out a sale of Saab, BusinessWeek has learned. For several months, GM has been shopping the brand to Chinese, Indian, and Russian carmakers, as well as to the Swedish government, sources familiar with the talks said. Saab Managing Director Jan Ake Jonsson and GM-Europe President Carl-Peter Forster have been leading the efforts to find a buyer, or at least get someone to take the company off GM’s hands……
…..In a statement issued on Monday, the Swedish government said it was willing to consider its options and was talking to the carmakers. “The Swedish government has to be worried about this,” says David E. Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich. “In the case of Saab, they won’t want to lose that facility in Trollhattan [Sweden].”
GM has about 5,000 employees in Sweden, most of whom work in the Saab factory in Trollhattan, where the 9-3 and 9-5 models are built. GM has shelved plans to build the 9-5 at its plant in Russelsheim, Germany, since the brand’s future is under review…..
…..GM started shopping the brand more aggressively during the past several months, after Chairman and CEO G. Richard Wagoner Jr. announced plans in July to save or raise $15 billion in cash through cuts and asset sales. So far, there has been some interest, but the global recession and credit crunch makes it tough to get any kind of deal done…..
……Saab would be the easiest of GM’s brands to ditch. Many of its dealers are already paired with Cadillac franchises.
Let me take you back to the interview I did with Eric Geers a few weeks ago.
Eric had this to say about the Saab 9-5 at that time:
Eric Geers: First of all, we never officially indicate when we’re going to launch new products, but as I said earlier, there were so many speculations that in the end, dates end up almost living their own lives. So as long as a car hasn’t yet made it to market, it’s very difficult to talk about a delay.
There are always re-timings when you are developing a product. There are always timing issues for various reasons. What we did say is that the 9-4x has been delayed a little bit but the 9-5 is currently completely on schedule.
TS: So the 9-5 is on schedule from your perspective?
EG: Yeah.
We went on to chat about the 9-5 in a context that I can’t share on this site, but let me tell you that at no time was there a mention of the 9-5 being delayed, and there was certainly no mention whatsoever of it’s production at Russelsheim being shelved.
Ths Business Week article says that they’ve been shopping Saab around for some time, which would indicate that the plans for the 9-5 to be removed from Russelsheim’s forward planning would have also been around for some time. I’m sure that Eric would be familiar with this, yet I can assure you there was nothing of the sort mentioned in our conversation.
It’ll be interesting so see which way this one goes.
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Thanks Tim!
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every few hours i check trollhattansaab.net theres worse news every time. im hoping this is all speculation.
Whoa, that’s a BIG EFFING BALL to drop, if the BW story is true.
Sure is tough to make out what’s what these days when there’s so many stories floating around, some are consistent and some are conflicting. Thank God we have Swade to sort everything out for us.
Keep us up to date, Big Guy. Maybe the Djup Strupes out there can help shed some light on this.
Trying to sell Saab without the new 9-5 would be extremely difficult. If it’s as good as we’ve been led to believe, then it’s a major selling point for Saab like the XM was for Jaguar and I don’t think they could get a sensible price without it. Under those circumstances, I would guess that GM is basically trying to sell the brand name only, otherwise any buyer for Saab would have to race to create a 9-5 replacement. The 9-3 has only a limited life before needing replacement and I guess we can scratch the 9-4x too?
Very bizarre if EG was sitting and lying to swade.
My thoughts exactly, Ken.
I’ve tried to call Eric just now and he’s in a meeting (wouldn’t you love to be a fly on the wall in that room).
Well, if they not gonna build the new 9-5 in Rüsselsheim, then we should have heard that from the unions in Germany…
Guess EG just had to hold the flag high even if the ship is sinking. I trust media more in the dark days we are facing. Sorry Swade who is to trust these days:-(
Ford made it very clear yesterday that they want to sell Volvo. Even the price is set 2,5 Billion dollars which is aprox. 40% of what Ford payed some years ago!
Hey swade, how about make a donation button for the aquisition of SAAB?
if they sell the brand for a billion euros all you need is 200,000,000 donations of €5.00 each 
If the 9-5 is further delayed or postponed say goodbye to SAAB. The 9-3 is not good enough to support the company on its own and there are lots of people, me included, that are waiting for the 9-5.
If I dont hear an official announcement within the next 3 months I will buy elsewhere, probably an Audi or BMW as both have excellent diesel engines which offer performance and ecomony. I dont want to, but I am tired of waiting.
Jan Åke Jonsson said a few days ago that the 9-5 will be released next year ?
Hold on everybody.. Lets just wait and see.
The thing is that once they start production of the 9-5 in Russelsheim, it will be harder to sell Saab. Now a buyer can buy Saab with the plans of the 9-5 and probably the necasary production equipment and put it’s own staff on the job.
As every car manufacturer has too much staff for the moment, it would be silly to buy a brand but give employment to an other car manufacturor …
Maybe they’re just waiting to present the 9-5 untill they have a buyer for Saab.
The only thing this article shows is that the common American journalist has gone completely mad.
They all tumble over each other to make u these kind of stories, which probably bear no truth at all. But there are so many stories made up that they are starting to believe them theirselves. The motto: “if there are so many stories like this, there must be some truth in it!”
Remembers me of the story my great-grandfather told me when I was little. Living at the seaside he told me the story of a guy who started to tell people that a ship had stranded. Some believed him and started walking to the beach. In the end there were so many going to the beach that he started asking why they were going to the beach. “because a ship has run ashore!” Then he went also to have a look…..
The bottom line: do not believe everything they tell you.
I was tossing and turning in bed last night thinking with all this news Saab sales are toast. Who is gonna buy a car from a manufacturer whose future in North America, and the world, is in doubt? As much as I love my car I am beginning to wonder how I am going to get parts if something goes wrong. Now I visit my favorite site on the ‘net to read that the new 9-5 is shelved.
Lets be realistic ladies and gentleman – Saab is done!
It ain’t over until the fat lady sings.
Can’t they tool up in Trollhättan to build the 9-5 where it should have been built in the first place?
Journalists are spreading rumours just like kids in a schoolyard. Journo 1: “the 9-5 will appear Q4 2009 or Q1 2010.” Journo 2: “the 9-5′s been delayed!” Journo 3: “the 9-5′s been shelved!” and so on…
Lots of brands sell cars made by other companies. Even Saab has sold cars made by Lancia, Chevrolet, Subaru, Valmet and Magna Steyr.
Some rumour still alive that new 9-5 will be shown in Geneva -09. GM europe has confirmed that for some finnish dealer, but lets see… Find that information from forum of finnish saabclub.
Hold up.
Saab without a 9-5 or all of the R&D facilities isn’t worth anything- it’s just another brand, and it’s definitely a buyer’s market for automakers out there. The 9-3 alone is not enough to sustain the entire brand.
Any automaker worth their salt willing to buy Saab will be demanding the R&D staff/facilities, the factory in Trollhattan, and a GM contract pledging to build a 9-5 and 9-4X until the transition is complete.
BMW did the same thing with Land Rover in its transition to Ford; they provided the Range Rover’s engines for a few years before Ford could find one of its own to drop in there.