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The year is coming to an end and you may have noticed that things have slowed down a little here at TS. There are two reasons for that.
1) I’m pretty busy getting other work-related things in order. It’s been very frustrating and takes a lot of time. It’s one of the down-sides of not being able to do something like TS for a living: normal life gets in the way.
2) There just isn’t much to write about right now. Car reviews? What don’t you know about the 9-3 and 9-5? GM Rants? How many do you want in a week?
The fact is, I feel like we’re kind of in a holding pattern until there’s some news about Saab’s future. I’m a little saddened that it’s come to this, that this site is almost more of a company news blog than a Saab cars blog, but again, after almost 4 solid years without a new product, I feel like we’ve almost exhausted the various subjects that enthusiasts can cover.
Or maybe it’s just me?
——
Being the end of the year, the AutoExtremist has published his traditional year-in-review article, bringing together snippets from his columns all through the year.
It was nice to have the opportunity to drive the Pontiac G8, but it was sad, too, because despite the exclamation point-drenched car magazine covers of-the-moment touting how great the G8 is – and it is a damn good car, by the way – it won’t be enough to save Pontiac from its inevitable demise. GM’s ongoing circus juggling act – which revolves around propping up its divisional marketing and product aspirations on an as-needed basis – is finally unraveling in the worst automobile market the U.S. auto industry has seen in decades. GM is finding out the hard way that no matter how many excellent new products they’re able to bring to market, unless they can back those products with enough marketing and advertising horsepower it ultimately doesn’t matter. What good is a reinvigorated product offensive when the market is crumbling and you have too many divisional mouths to feed – and that’s before you even begin to address the competitive environment? Not much.”
That could have been witten last week, but it was written back in May, before any of the current happenings were really expected.
Essential reading for those who like AE and have an interest in the current downfall of Detroit.
——
And speaking of the Detroit carmakers and their current problems, they’re taking more and more measures to cut costs and hang on.
Chrysler are shutting down production:
Chrysler announced today that all plants will be idled at the end of production Friday, Dec. 19. Employees will not return to work any sooner than Jan. 19.
And GM have halted work on the factory under construction in Flint, Michigan that’s going to build the Chevy Cruze and Chevy Volt:
The delay reflects GM’s heightened efforts to reduce spending as its supplies of cash dwindle. GM is waiting for the White House to approve a bailout that will keep the automaker operating and avoid a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.
The postponement will allow GM to halt payments for construction materials, Basel said.
Both of those are from Automotive News.
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From Flickr. Eek!
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Aussie readers might find this one interesting.
I’ve mentioned Saab Ambassadors on this site before. These are the celebrities that car companies give a car out to and call on to attend some of their events throughout the year.
The Herald-Sun newspaper in Melbourne has a good list of the who’s who in vehicle ambassadors here in Australia.
——
A few weeks ago, a Swedish poll said that people were in favour of a nationalised Volvo. Saab weren’t included.
Today, a new poll says they’re not.
The survey said 49 per cent were against the state stepping in as a temporary owner, while 36 per cent said the favoured it, the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper said.
About 10 per cent were doubtful or undecided, the survey conducted by polling institute Sifo said. One per cent said the state could temporarily support only Saab and 3 per cent wanted the state to help Volvo.
Sifo surveyed 1,000 Swedes via telephone from December 10 to 15.
100% of the people named Swade that I polled for this post just wished it’d all happen quickly so we can move on.
–
17 responses so far ↓
1 Markac
// Dec 18, 2008 at 9:55 am
That ‘vert has a nasty rash!
2 David Blumberg
// Dec 18, 2008 at 10:41 am
Swade: What you used to do was excellent and what you’re doing now is excellent. You call it slowing down, but TS is still the best Saab site out there. I come here everyday for my daily Saab dosage and you never ever fail to deliver. Merry Christmas!
3 Karen
// Dec 18, 2008 at 10:42 am
Hi! year end blues cannot be helped by pink bublles on any Saab.
Gosh, I hope the Swedish parliament doesn’t formulate industrial/export policy based on a poll of 1,000 people!
This is what I tried to post on Wed night snippets but my PC kept crashing. About what the U.S. might do:
Everything the U.S. House and Senate tried to do last week was also to ‘prevent a disorderly bankruptcy’ because the immediate need for a bridge loan to GM and Chrysler was to pay the $8 BILLION currently owed to their parts suppliers. Those are the bills due by year-end.
Even the sales figures for November factor in the prospect of a disorderly bankruptcy, with Ford sales only down 30% (better than Toyota). Because, auto customers fear their warranties will become worthless if GM or Chrysler goes Chapter 7 (liquidation) instead of Chapter 11 (re-structuring).
TARP funds by law apparently have to go to financial institutions. GMAC is working through the process of becoming a bank,
Of course, Treasury could force any bank that has received TARP funds (Citigroup!) to provide bridge loans.
The Federal Reserve drop in overnight lending rate (bank to bank) and other actions are designed to unfreeze the credit that is hurting all auto sales right now.
I doubt the U.S. Pentagon ($15 billion is a rounding error for them) can just buy up GM inventory and ship it to Iraq. I bet 100,000 picck-ups would boost the Iraqi economy. Is there a Saab dealer in Kurdistan? perfect geography for Saabs.
Cheer up.
4 PT
// Dec 18, 2008 at 11:58 am
$50 billion would seem to be a rounding error for a certain New York fund manager named Bernie. Whats $50 large between friends anyway? Its Christmas after all. No more crazy than GMAC becoming a bank. Why not separate the businesses and have GMAC float ( great time for an IPO) and then GMC can become the healthcare pension fund that it really wants to be.
Any manufacturing could be sold to private equity with finance from GMAC ( they’re a bank now remember…) who could hardly do any worse. Plus, they won’t have any other customers. Bernie Mayhoffer (?) could step in as Chairman to either board – or both for that matter. Or maybe Dubbya could do it. They’re both going to have a lot of time on their hands and are experts at maintaining a straight face under any circumstances.
Why hasn’t anyone thought of this before?
5 bizhaoqi
// Dec 18, 2008 at 2:11 pm
You’re doing great as always, Swade. Please keep up the good work–I’m addicted. And I’m quite sure I’m not the only one!
6 1985 Gripen
// Dec 18, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Hope things start going better for you, Swade.
The sad thing about the TARP funding is it appears so far it hasn’t accomplished what it set-out to do: stimulate the credit markets. Despite getting billions of taxpayer money, financial institutions are sitting on that money rather than lending it again. This is what Chrysler and Ford cited as the reason why sales were so slow in November when they announced the halting of production at their factories today. The $700B (the bill was actually $850B as passed as all kinds of pet project funding was tacked-onto the bill, with the sponsors knowing that Bush couldn’t veto it a second time) was doled-out apparently without any kind of assurance the institutions would lend it. Heck, it almost seems like it would have been more of an economic stimulus to give that $0.7 TRILLION back to the American taxpayer rather than these financial institutions.
Earlier this year the federal gov’t gave every American citizen an “economic stimulus check” (I think for a married couple it amounted to like $1,200 and $600 for unmarried citizens). Unfortunately, that was when gasoline prices were sky-high and it’s speculated a good deal of that money went to the ExxonMobils and Chinese consumer electronics manufacturers rather than the American mom-and-pop small business owner. You can bet that American’s won’t actually sock that money away, we spend it, baby!!!
As for idling of the Ford and Chrysler plants: I’m sure the union employees are getting a month’s worth of fully-paid vacation, right? It’s not like the auto manufacturers are saving on the labor costs for that month. I’m sure they’ll make sure to turn-off all the escalators and voice mail systems in the factories in a “penny-wise, pound-foolish” ploy.
Last thing, Swade: since Saab news is slow and you’re working on other things, why don’t you just continue to maybe post one post a day for a while? We all love TS, but don’t want you to feel like it’s an obligation.
7 Bruce
// Dec 18, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Two quick points:
1. I think the GM factory in Flint is intended to build the 1.4 liter engine, not the Cruze or Volt themselves.
2. Stopping the production lines saves a lot of money. If I recall correctly, labor costs are only about 10 or 15% of the cost of building a car, unionized or not. They need to keep the buildings heated, but the flow of parts grinds to a halt, truckers and parts manufacturers are also forced to shut down, l etc. We should take no glee in this. Whatever the workers get in their layoff arrangements will save them from losing their homes.
Saab needs GM to survive this, not to go under.
Cheers all,
Bruce
8 wfg
// Dec 18, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Swade: Now, its time to say something! So far, I am so far a quite customer from Austria (no we dont have kangaroos there
) and enjoy every day reading Sawde’s news and gossipy around Saab, may favorite car company. But now its time to take action and to say “Thank, Swade”! Thank you for this great Saab site, for your enthusiasm with which you fuels our hopes on our beloved Saab company, and the quality and way of writing. I truly enjoy it very much and, just like David, I pick up my daily Saab dosage from your site.
Ok, as you wrote, there is probably no story that has’nt discussed so far around Saab, so what about that: Why not making Saab a Swedish-Austrian company? Ok, it sound crazy at the first glance, but consider that,
!
1st, the 9-3 convertible is already produced in Austria,
2nd, there is plenty of capacity for building cars considering that Chrysler might give up production in Graz at Magna, which would be an interesting partner,
3rd, in Austria a big Opel production site exists also that produces several Opel engines, probably for some Saab to (I don’t know)
4th, having AVL in Graz, Austria offers one of the leading technology companies in engine design etc.,
5th, Austria is still a pretty wealthy country, probably supporting new options for there troublemaking, yet Chrysler industrial sites,
6th, being located in central Europe very close to Germany, it might be an attractive location,
7th, there are a lot of companies in Austria, Hungary and Slovenia that are engaged with car manufacturers and I guess they would be interested also,
8th, not as much as in Sweden but still, alternative energy is an important issue in Austria and looking on heating devices, nowadays almost 100% are designed to use natural alternatives to oil/gas in rather very sophisticated systems,
9th, there are still some old boundaries between the industries of both countries,
10th, I don’t say the name, but there are pretty potent potential companies that might be interested to join an economically-oriented but still sportive car company,
11h, yeah, how about that, a Saab built in Graz would be probably made next to the new Aston Martin, clearly the one and only car I would let my beloved Saab in the garage, at least at weekends,
12th,…
and finally, I WOULD LOVE IT
By the way, I am driving an almost 10 years old 9-5 Aero (BSR) with almost 200 kKm now and appreciate this very very reliable, powerful, decent and economical car, that, in all this time, never let me down, every day very much. I am just afraid to have to let it go one day….and not being able to buy a new Saab anymore.
Merry Christmas to all of you and might the New Year be a great one for all of us and Saab to. wfg
9 swade
// Dec 18, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Thanks for your thoughts, gents. Things OK here, just a bit busy and I need a holiday. One of the important things I’ve found doing this sort of thing is keeping momentum. Once you stop, traffic stops and it’s very hard to get back on the horse. I think Christmas will provide a good opportunity, though.
10 ctm
// Dec 18, 2008 at 6:26 pm
I think we all have a bit of a mixed feeling at the moment. I can’t imagine there not being a Saab car manufacturer. And we don’t know how close things are (or have been). No wonder it’s sometimes hard to keep the spirit up. What annoys me the most are all the stuff in main stream media that one day say that Saab should stay, and the next expect it to be closed down tomorrow because it has no value. Almost everyday I see headlines about rumors that just turns out to be the usual bs, but as things are you never know for sure… It makes me tired and grumpy. Heck, the only sound reporting on all this are the interviews here TS with Eric Geers!
The Christmas break is surely needed this year. Swade, just keep posting what you want and relax. Hopefully things have cleared a bit in a couple of weeks time.
11 albert
// Dec 18, 2008 at 7:17 pm
OK Swade take a break!!!!!
You’ve done a great job this year especially.
And if we see only one post (or even less) a day, we be more than happy. Christmas time is coming and for the financial people the end of the year is also coming with lots of work. So spend some time with your family instead of your webfriends.
And @wfg: I heard that Magna showed interest in taking over Saab. That could be something although their current way of producing cars makes them vulnerable (see the discussion about the convertible production).
12 Ken H
// Dec 18, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Hey, how about some Cadillac reviews?
Maybe not.
Maybe it would be nice to write about non-Saab stuff also, and with Christmas coming up there should be plenty to doodle about.
13 Markac
// Dec 18, 2008 at 8:52 pm
wfg: I think that Magna Steyr would make a good part owner for Saab as part of a consortium. They obviously have some feeling for the brand. I even think GM should retain about 20% of Saab and remain as a parts supplier for at least a few years. Let’s face it, it’ll probably be close to five years before a new owner of Saab could make a Saab car that’s completely GM free. Having GM as a part owner for that period would be beneficial.
Hopefully the Whitehouse will approve some bailout funds for GM so it can proceed to an orderly Chapter 11 bankruptcy, re-structure itself and sell off Saab to a buyer that’s really interested in doing something with the brand. What really scares me is that without help, GM could go straight to Chapter 7 which would mean a firesale of assets, liquidation and Saab would then likely be sold off to whoever first steps in and makes a (barely) reasonable offer. Then Saab’s future could be very difficult indeed.
14 Black Saabath
// Dec 18, 2008 at 9:14 pm
When Daimler-Chrystler split up, Chrystler lost its european premium brand; I guess Saab is
GM-Chrystlers only premium brand that doesnt overlap with its other brands in terms of consumers.
The thought of combining GM-Chrystlers factories, model programs, R&D is a good, and man there are alot of brands that needs to be merge under a new name to “market the hell” out them.
- Combine the exClusive high end all-american iconis brand; Chevrolet – Cadillac – Chrystler
- Merge the miD range; Dodge – Daewoo – Buick – Opel + Vauxhall + Holden + Pontiac + Saturn
- Package the ultimare macho machines together; Hummer – Jeep – GMC
- Slash by selling off 49 % of Saab, and make it the independant brand it needs to be.
15 Gunnar
// Dec 19, 2008 at 12:28 am
Bon courage, Swade.
16 Dippen
// Dec 19, 2008 at 3:15 am
Swade: do take a break! ,i am happy with one post /day even if i am a TS-addict. (still pushing the “update” on my rss-reader on my phone
)
I agree with ctm post.
17 Ron57RC
// Dec 19, 2008 at 5:27 am
Swade, take it easy and have a well deserved rest.
The site is one to be very proud of and I can see from others’ comments that it is held in high regard by many. That people such as Eric Geers are happy to speak at length with you in itself speaks volumes and I doubt that other sites have such rapport with those at SAAB.
Take the foot off the gas a little, recharge your batteries and long may Swade and SAAB reign.