Saab Sales Saga: Despite Reports, GM Says Saab To Be Shut Down As Planned

It seems that this Saab sell-off/wind-down process will never come to an end. Here’s a brief summary of the events so far, in chronological order:

• Summer 2009: GM announces decision to rid itself of Saab, setting a deadline of December 31, 2009 – by which it wishes to either sell the Swedish brand or send it to the automotive graveyard to join Pontiac, Saturn, and Oldsmobile
• Fall 2009: GM begins accepting offers for Saab
• September 2009: GM enters into negotiations with Swedish supercar maker Koenigsegg
• October 2009: Negotiations break down between Koenigsegg and GM (full article)
• November 2009: GM begins negotiations with Spyker Cars, a Dutch company that manufactures a small number of exotic automobiles that command $200,000 or more. Last year, Spyker produced 43 vehicles and lost $24.8 million euros ($35.7 million USD) (full article)
• Dec 15, 2009: GM sells tooling and technology for olSaab der 9-5 and 9-3 models to BAIC (full article)
• Dec 18, 2009: Negotiations break down between Spyker Cars and GM. GM announces it will shut down Saab, putting 3,400+ Saab employees out of work, mostly in Sweden and affecting 1,100 Saab dealerships worldwide. It has thus met its December 31, 2009 deadline to make a decision about the Swedish brand (full article)
• Dec 20, 2009: Spyker Cars resubmits offer to GM for Saab where it believes it has resolved all the issues that prevented a successful deal. Spyker sets a deadline for GM to accept this offer for December 21 at 5:oo pm. (full article)
• Dec 20, 2009: GM releases press release saying it has received multiple offers for Saab since the time it has announced plans to shut it down. Will not comment on said offers (full article)
• Dec 21, 2009: Spyker Cars extends deadline for acceptance of its offer “indefinitely.” (full article)
• Dec 30, 2009: Rumors that GM has extended the bidding period for Saab to January 7, 2010 hit the wires, confirmed by Spyker Cars CEO Victor Muller. Reports surface stating that Saab production is to resume. Saab employee quoted confirming such reports. (full article)

So here’s the latest development in the Saab saga: GM spokesperson Tom Wilkinson said that the automaker will not comment on reports suggesting an extension of the bidding deadline for Saab to January 7 and that the shut-down process will continue as planned: “During the wind down process we’ve heard from a number of people with proposals for Saab, and we’re going to evaluate the proposals as we start the wind down.”

Saab spokesperson Gunilla Gustavs gave a somewhat contradicting answer, saying GM’s decision to wind down Saab still stands while The General entertains offers, but the December 31 deadline is “no longer a magical date” where a GM decision should be expected.”

So there you have it: Saab will continue the wind down as planned, but it seems that GM doesn’t want to close slam any doors just yet as it peruses through offers it has received since announcing the wind down. That begs the question: what of the reported restart in Saab manufacturing?