Saab head says five possible buyers identified
Two months. That's how long the world will have to wait for Saab to identify its new owner, according to Managing Director Jan-Ake Jonsson. Although he didn't specifically mention candidates, Jonsson told Automotive News Europe that, "There are about five we want to talk to. There are a couple more we are also looking into." Possible suitors include China's Geely Automotive and Dongfeng Motor Company, although there has been no official word from either. Private equity firms and representatives of retired Swedish workers have also expressed interest. Sweden's government, with an obvious stake in the company's future, has reportedly considered loan guarantees to the right successor.
General Motors said it will end ownership of the brand on January 1, 2010. GM bought 50% of the company in 1990 for about $700 million, and paid another $125 million for the balance in 2000. With sales down 35% in 2008 (and a loss of $340 million during the period), Saab's market price is expected to be a basement bargain.
[Source: Automotive News, subs. req'd | Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Xcountryflyer 6:30PM (3/04/2009)
Fire sale! No returns or exchanges accepted.
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Kareem M. Kamel 6:32PM (3/04/2009)
PLEASE DONT LET GEELY GET IT !
I've never drove a SAAB .. never even saw one in real !
but I kinda like it / respect it ... and the idea of its going to geely ( I am not against china but GEELY in particular ! NO )
They will rename it to Zaab! with a weird 16 colors logo and sell it in lime colors !
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BigWill 6:42PM (3/04/2009)
They'll have no need to rename it Zaab; they'll own rights to the real name.
I have to admit, though, my personal favorite Chinese auto ripoff name is Hongda.
Sektor 6:42PM (3/04/2009)
What is your beef with Geely?
tekd 10:48PM (3/04/2009)
@BigWill
HongDa isn't a ripoff name at all, because Honda doesn't sound anything like Hongda in Chinese, and the words don't even have vaguely similar meanings.
Honda sounds like Ben-Tian, while Hongda is Hongda in Chinese.
http://chineseculture.about.com/library/symbol/blcc_honda.htm
And Toyota is Fong-Tian, so even if a Chinese car company had a name that sounded like Toyota it doesn't mean it sounds anything alike in Chinese.
If you google Hongda you'll see that there's a bazillion companies with that name in industries that have nothing to do with cars. They're often not even the same words in Chinese, they just all spell out to Hongda in English.
Nobody in China calls Toyota or Honda by their English names-the Japanese characters for their company names are Chinese characters, so that's what they're called in Chinese. They're about as hard to confuse as "Big Red gum" is to "Backyard" (which is one plausible translation of Hongda and Honda). Literally impossible to confuse unless you're insane.
chris m 7:50PM (3/04/2009)
hello to all,
there could be real possibilities here. if done in the best interests of all, i believe that saab can not only be saved, but also thrive in the long run.
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Taglane 8:43PM (3/04/2009)
Hello to you. I agree, but they cannot be Chinese.
kthxbye
td 6:58PM (3/04/2009)
what's the vehicle in the background? an aeroX convertible?
Way to not cover that one, AB!
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PGAero 7:30PM (3/04/2009)
It's a 9-X Air. It's old news.
Taglane 8:44PM (3/04/2009)
Came out frickin last year.
Kitko 9:09AM (3/05/2009)
Saab aXerox ?
Chris 7:19PM (3/04/2009)
Yuck...I would NOT buy a Saab if they're owned by a Chinese company.
Which is a pity, since I'm a big Saab and Volvo fan.
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Taglane 8:45PM (3/04/2009)
I think it was a good idea for them to merge. They both have their strong points, and together, they could be the Swedish Kia/Hyundai.
tekd 10:51PM (3/04/2009)
Nobody buys SAABs as it is, thus nobody cares that you wouldn't buy a SAAB if it was owned by Geely.
On the other hand, maybe some Geely owners would consider a SAAB, and there are plenty more Geely buyers than there are SAAB buyers nowadays.
Chris 3:09PM (3/05/2009)
Well I don't think there's many Geely buyers here in America, or in Europe.
0mega 7:24PM (3/04/2009)
Is it sad that I interpreted this as Saab finding five potential new car owners? That would still be a miracle.
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weather_expert 7:37PM (3/04/2009)
you can't kill a horse twice. if a chinese company buys saab the brand won't end up worse than under GM.
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Joel 7:44PM (3/04/2009)
If who ever does buy SAAB can withstand another 18 months of hard times they'll make out in the long run. SAAB's have heritage and even if the designs have been a bit bland under GM's watch that heritage can be brought back. If a company from China or India buy it they'll be able to use the SAAB name and heritage in these emerging markets. SAAB can't do any worst than what GM has done to this once proud brand. In the late 80's and early 90's SAAB was a car to desire. The 900 convertible was a dream car. Then GM destroyed what made SAAB a SAAB.
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John Anderson 1:25PM (3/05/2009)
I don't know why people jump to conclusions w/o reading this stuff.
If Jonsson says there are 3 new Saabs ready; there are 3 new
Saab ready.....and these will NOT be GM-Saabs. These will be Saab
Saabs.
Production lines for these entries will be modern and far more cost-effective
than previous production lines.
I'm pulling for the Russians to buy into the company. (Detroit Free Press cites
the Russians as potential buyers)
Sweden would financially backstop the transition.
BigWill 8:36PM (3/04/2009)
The problem is that Saab hasn't been profitable for a long time. The last number I recall was from 2006 when GM said they'd lost around $4 billion on Saab; it wasn't profitable when GM bought it in the first place.
Unfortunately, with the shape Saab is in now, it's ripe to be stripped, i.e. the Chinese to move in, take the tooling to China, and start pumping out $12K Saabs. At the minimum, China should buy Saab if only to get their hands on some effective safety technology.
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