Here’s the latest in the ongoing Saab live-or-die conundrum: it looks like GM has extended its December 31 bidding deadline for the Swedish brand to January 7. At least that much was said by Spyker Cars CEO Victor Muller, who is widely believed to be in charge of the boutique automaker’s plan to buy Saab. Muller has also told Reuters that he believes there are still several parties in the bidding process.

The extension of the deadline means that production of the all-new 9-5 and 9-3 convertible will begin on January 1, 2010, with Saab spokesperson Eric Geers saying, “We have the orders and we have to deliver them as usual. We also have the orders for the 9-3 and others. The factory has to continue again… we are preparing the wind-down process. At the same time we are open to options, to bids that come in. Therefore the deadline has also been dropped.”

So it looks like we will have to wait until next year to see how this will end. For what it’s worth, this particular blogger hopes that Saab doesn’t die and is picked up by Spyker, which seems to be looking forward to taking ownership of the 60-year-old Swedish brand and work its magic. This news comes after Spyker extended its offer to GM for Saab indefinitely. Of importance here is GM’s silence in all of this, especially considering how close we are to its original end-of-the-year deadline. Something must be abrewin’…

[Source: Reuters via Autoblog]

2010 Saab 9-5

2010 Saab 9-5