SAAB going bankrupt

[glen e]

And be careful. I understand from some industry insiders they are not going to be honoring existing warranties - any cars still in stock are to be sold "as is"....

a bad situation....

[C. Charles Hahn]

Supposedly GM is stepping up to cover the remaining warranty on any Saab vehicles built while they owned the brand. That`s all, though.

Since the 2011-12 9-5 is so new, I wouldn`t be caught dead buying one... parts availability is going to be pretty much zero aside from anything borrowed from the GM parts bin. Not too many spares of Saab-specific content exist.

[Subaroo]

I heard GM is stepping up to keep the Chinese from buying Saab out so that the Chinese can`t use the Saab technology (not sure what technology) against the GM cars overseas being sold overseas. I also heard that getting Saab parts should not be a problem as the parts division of Saab is doing quite well. Currently the only parts that may have issues are parts where Saab owed money parts to some of the parts mfr`s so it will take some time to transfer the manufacturing to other mfrs.

Apparently this is a critical time for Saab. Now that some of the debt is gone due to the bankrupcy, there quite possibly might be other buyers that step up to the plate. Otherwise the manufacturing of the vehicles will be done. I wonder if this affects the military jet part of Saab?

I just heard all this today from a friend that has been involved with Saab for a long time (sales, service, parts for 35+ years).

[Todd@RUPES]

I dislike stories like this. The new 9-5 looked sweet and apparently was quite a good performer. My heart goes out to all of the employees of Saab as well.

[glen e]

SAAB has been in trouble for years...mainly from the public`s perspective. My brother was a rep for them in 5 diff states and they were always the odd man out. We both worked Dallas for a time, and I was the BMW rep and he the SAAB rep. In the biz, there is what we call the "mental shopping list" - that most people had. When 90% of the public would go looking for luxury imports, they went to BMW, Benz, Lexus, audi, Infiniti and Acura - pretty much in that order. The other guys sell to eclectic people who like the diff type stuff. They never could fill their showrooms with the Mainstream shoppers. We always would compare traffic counts from the weekend and I was always 5 to 1 vs his dealers.

I don`t agree with the above, but it is "the way it is"...Lack of volume killed SAAB in a down market.

PS - I`m retired BMW of NA, Porsche NA and American Honda for 35 years....just fishing and detailing now (LOL)

[viOlaziOne]

I dislike stories like this. The new 9-5 looked sweet and apparently was quite a good performer. My heart goes out to all of the employees of Saab as well.

those are the real losers here .. rough losing your job especially in this economy :(

[glen e]

I agree....their ad guy is a good friend of the family.

[sc_S13]

it`s too bad...SAAB was finally looking way good. I feel bad because my friend just bought one, so I hope GM honors warranty and takes in some of those employees!

[Reality33]

This story really bothers me. I have always loved SAAB and still want to buy a 9-3 SportCombi Aero (unless I found a blue 9-3 Viggen...mmmm)

Back in Sweden, SAABs are everywhere. Most cars on the road are either Volvos or SAABs. They are everyday cars that people love and use.

And I think this is what hurt the company so much. When GM bought them, they changed SAABs from just a good car to a luxury marque. They removed so many of the options from the cars and only brought over the higher end models. You could not get the ones with the smaller engines and manual trannys, you only had the option of a $40k price tag and all the extras.

In Sweden, I can buy a 9-3 Sport Combi TiD with a manual for about $29k. (you can get a petrol powered version with a turbo 4 for about the same price) I think if we had all these options over here, SAABs would have sold more.

Ford did the same thing with Volvo.. remove all the standard more everyday models and options and only bring over the higher priced luxury ones. I feel this mind set is what really hurt SAAB overall and has been a long time coming. SAABs are still being purchased and driven like mad in Sweden, but in a country of only 9 million, that can`t support a car company overall.

I still think to this day what Koenigsegg would have done with SAAB if GM would of sold to them....

-sigh-

[CT3]

Sad story. My brother lost his job a few years back when the GM plant he worked at was shut down.