Eideard

Daylife/Reuters Pictures used by permission

Dutch luxury sportscar maker Spyker may be the unlikely buyer of Saab but it is set to struggle with the real challenge: converting two loss-making companies into a profitable one.

After months of tortuous negotiations, Spyker sealed a deal with General Motors to buy Saab for $74 million cash and $326 million in deferred shares, sparking celebrations at its headquarters in the small Dutch town of Zeewolde.

Spyker CEO Victor Muller also bought out his largest shareholder, bank tycoon Victor Antonov, as part of the deal…

“It seems like a gamble. They’ve got the new 9-5, the 9-4X coming out next and the new 9-3 should be coming out in 2012, which could be quite lucrative, but whether they can attract customers back to the brand and make it profitable again is the billion-dollar question,” IHS Global’s Ian Fletcher said…

Hans van Rennes, Spyker’s vice president of marketing, said a Saab dealer sent the company a cake and one-time Saab suitor Koenigsegg called with congratulations. Outside, a Dutch television show organised a parade of old and new Saab cars.

“I still have a hangover but it’s a pleasant one because it’s from the champagne,” said Jantje Schaap, 50, a Saab dealer from the town of Lemmer who joined in the impromptu auto show.

And Spyker CEO Victor Muller and Saab head Jan Ake Jonsson were greeted with applause as they met with employees of the Swedish carmaker at a hastily organised rally in Trollhattan, the town in southwest Sweden home to Saab’s main plant and headquarters.

“I am really stunned to see all here today. Nothing prepared me for seeing so many people, so enthusiastic and it only confirms that we did the right thing,” Muller said to the around 3,000 staff crowding the stage.

RTFA for the not-so-boring details on financing. Both Spyker and SAAB have designers capable of both advanced engineering and contemporary industrial design. Yes, that means making stuff sell as well or better than it runs.

There probably are Swedish counterparts to Jonathan Ive hanging around town, looking for a gig.

Swedish sports car maker Koenigsegg says it has teamed up with Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co Ltd (BAIC) to buy Saab from its US parent company GM, a move that gives Saab access to China’s rapidly growing car market.

Koenigsegg Group said BAIC, China’s fifth-largest automaker founded in 1958, would become a minority owner in Koenigsegg Group as part of a memorandum of understanding signed between the two parties.

BAIC already has joint ventures with Daimler and Hyundai.

“Koenigsegg Group will own 100 percent of Saab Automobile. The aim is to sign a final agreement later this year,” it said in a statement.

The Swedish group had been short $412 million to complete the acquisition of Saab first announced in June, though the total purchase price has never been disclosed…

Saab aims to increase its annual sales to 150,000, and the deal also opens the door to the rapidly expanding Chinese market as the carmaker prepares to launch several new models next year, including its new 9-5 sedan.

“Saab has no real presence in China and through Beijing Automative we will have access to the Chinese markets,” Eric Geers said…

Under GM’s stewardship, Saab rarely posted a profit and last year lost $341 million.

Perhaps Saab will once again start building quality cars, attractive designs – instead of knock-off baby Buicks.

SAAB Turbo-Hybrid E85 concept

General Motors has reached a tentative agreement to sell Saab to the Swedish sports car manufacturer Koenigsegg.

GM said that as part of the deal there would be $600m (£367m) of funding from the European Investment Bank (EIB), guaranteed by the Swedish government.

It is the latest part of GM’s reorganisation, which is also set to see the Opel and Vauxhall brands going to Canada’s Magna…

Koenigsegg produces 18 cars a year and employs 45 people, and there has been some doubt as to whether it has the expertise to run Saab, which sold 93,000 cars in 2008.

Saab employs about 3,400 people in Sweden and about 12,000 other jobs in the country are dependent on Saab and its suppliers.

But GM Europe’s president Carl-Peter Forster said: “Koenigsegg Group’s unique combination of innovation, entrepreneurial spirit and financial strength… made it the right choice for Saab as well as for General Motors”.

The Swedish government has been keen to avoid bailing out its carmakers as long as they are owned by US parent companies.

That’s no surprise is it?

Personally, I’d love to see the other half of the original dangerous duo from Sweden back on the streets and highways. SAAB has the world of experience, tradition of building solid, safe motor vehicles – often advanced because of their aerospace roots.

Saab has become an Opel/Vauxhall/Subaru with a Saab skin
Daylife/Reuters Picture

The board of the Swedish carmaker Saab, which is owned by General Motors, has filed for reorganisation, seeking to create a fully independent business. The announcement follows Thursday’s extraordinary board meeting in which bosses considered the company’s future.

GM took a 50% stake in Saab in 1989 and gained full ownership ten years later. Within 2 years, Saab ceased being profitable.

Despite turning down GM’s request for support, a senior Swedish government official has said the government has not ruled out providing loan guarantees to Saab following its restructuring…

Stephen Pope, chief global strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald, believes GM “oversaw the destruction of the Swedish car company’s soul. Just look at the current ’93′ [model] as an example,” he said. “The ’93′ is just a Saab body skin placed on top of the Vectra from Opel/Vauxhall.”

An illustration of how poorly GM understands the cross-platform concept. Along with everything else they do wrong.