GM Not A Fan Of Chinese Saab Deal
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For those who have been keeping track of Saab’s crucible of a time trying to stay afloat as an independent automaker already know about its recent sales from Swedish Automobile to a pair of Chinese companies. China’s Pang Da Automobile Trade Co. and Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile would be nurturing the brand back to financial health, but the situation isn’t all sunshine and daisies for everyone. In fact, the party that has recently protested the deal was none other than General Motors.
“GM would not be able to support a change in the ownership of Saab which could negatively impact GM’s existing relationships in China or otherwise adversely affect GM’s interests worldwide,” said GM spokesman Jim Cain to Reuters.
Considering GM’s multitude of success in China, it’s easy to understand the desire for the company to maintain its cushion in the market from a business perspective. But how many strings will The General pull to keep Saab out of China? For the sake of the struggling Swedish automaker, hopefully none.
Source: Reuters
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They can always buy Saab back, I mean what’s 100 Million to the General these days.
Good point. Even if they did nothing with it it would only cost 100 million to keep GM technology out of the hands of the Chinese or other potential Saab buyers or partners.
Did Saabs sale to Spyker take intellecual rights along with it?
Yes but not the rights of GM developed vehicles.
It would never ever happen but GM could indeed buy Saab back relatively cheaply. The only way for the brand to be saved and be profitable would be for GM to shut down all operations in Trollhättan Sweden and instead build Saabs in the same factories as Opel/Vauxhall in Europe and along side Buicks and Chevrolets in the United States. The Swedish would not like it and probably the US Congress would balk at the Idea of GM getting entangled again with one of its off loaded unprofitable units.
You are a moron. The Trollhattan factory is/was one of the most efficient in Europe. It also came out that SAAB was only unprofitable because GM was playing with the books as to not pay tax in Sweden. SAAB is a great brand, and the only downside to it was GM’s extreme mismanagement. But go ahead and drink the GM-Kool-Aid if it it makes you feel better.
I actually agree with you, the moron comment was not necessary. GM did a lot of things wrong with respect to its management of Saab over the years. There is no reason Saab should be in the condition it is now.
But that is all history and a mute point.
Saab is about to die, or even worse, fall into the hands of the Chinese. My very hypothetical suggestion was that if GM were to buy control of Saab again it would need to cut costs drastically to make Saab profitable as quickly as possible. The logical step would be to produce Saab models along side other GM models utilizing the same platforms, just as the 9-4x is/was being built in the same factory as the Cadillac SRX. The 9-5 could be built along side the Buick LaCrosse and the 9-3 would of course be built along side the Opel Insignia or Chevrolet Malibu. The Trollhättan Sweden Factory would not be needed especially given the very low production numbers that a resuscitated Saab would likely have for the foreseeable future.
Finally, as I stated, this was a hypothetical suggestion and one that would not and could not happen given GM’s recent bankruptcy history. I like many would like to see Saab saved, but I do not want to see it fall into the hands of the Chinese like Volvo.