Our Daily Saab: Dead? Undead?

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Swedens’ Dagens Industri has it from “several independent sources” that Victor Muller is ready to throw in the towel, and that Saab-owner Swedish Automobile NV will declare bankruptcy this afternoon at the court in Vänersborg. Dagens Industri has not reached Muller.

The usually well informed Sveriges Radio asked around and found nobody who could corroborate the story. SR found a few that say that nothing is in the bush.

One source told Sveriges Radio:

“It is not true at the moment. It depends on whether the Chinese are paying or not.”

Which brings us back to the mysterious transfer slip.

Asking around in China was likewise unproductive. A “do you understand what’s going on at Saab?” was always answered with a “No, do you?”

Saabsunited breaks its self-imposed silent period (that didn’t last long), likewise cannot confirm the nasty rumors spread by the nasty Dagens Industri, but as a precaution says the fat lady in the dressing room is actually Twiggy:

“But even if it were to be true, please keep in mind that it is in no way the end of Saab. Several companies have risen out of bankruptcy and are today very successful! Lets wait and see what happens!”

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Its_Magic Its_Magic on Dec 12, 2011

    Dagens Industri claims that Youngman transferred $5 million to Saab: http://ttela.se/ekonomi/saab/1.1463327-saab-ska-ha-fatt-in-pengar And the will receive another 20 million euro on Wednesday and another 10 million euro before the end of the year. We will see what happens tomorrow.

  • Sen Moloney Sen Moloney on Dec 12, 2011

    Oh for goodness sake, you people are absolute...ly entitled to your opinions and I, as a decent human being must respect that. I must respect that you seem to believe that Saab is some kind of evil corporation, I must respect that you believe that Saab is the automotive industry's equivalent of the Soviet Union and that when it fails the people of the world will no longer have any problems. Oh Europe debt crisis, gone. Oh starving children of the world, fed. Oh peak oil, solved (which is kind of ironic seeing as Saab was one of the few that was actually investing greatly in the R&D of alternates). Yes, the day that Saab fails the world will finally be a peace. The people bound by Saab's evil reign will be enlightened by the words of wisdom coming from the holy pages of TTAC and will now be free to conform to the homogenous mindset shown here day after day. You know, there once was a day when people actually hoped that a little guy would make it, even if just to prove that it was possible, that the world wasn't a dictatorship of overpowering conglomerates flush with all the riches one could dream of. But alas, there is no room for individuality in a world of homogeny. There is no room on the playground for the unpopular kid. So when you see him, bash him. And when he hits the ground curled up in a little ball pleading for you to stop, kick him in the face, break his little nose, and when you've finished, leave him there to die. Nobody will care, nobody wants him here anyway right?

    • Acd Acd on Dec 12, 2011

      At this point Saab isn't an evil corporation, it is just a corporation that can't sell enough of its product or raise enough money to continue keeping the business going. Thousands of car companies have failed: Saab will just become the most recent. No one will invest in the little guy if it looks like failure is imminent.

  • TriShield TriShield on Dec 12, 2011

    I don't honestly believe anyone here from the author of these posts to the commenters truly believe that about Saab. What is seen by most people here is simply the writing on the wall and it's been there a long time regarding Saab's situation and real place in the business, which is by all rights it should be out of business. The corporate governence provided by Spyker and VM since taking it over from GM has been nothing short of completely ridiculous. It should be apparent to anyone with any shred of objectivity or eyes in their head that VM has gotten himself in way over his head. What really made anyone here think that a company that wasn't even a bit player in the global marketplace could effectively manage and fund a large operation like Saab where billions of dollars and the management and global toybox of General Motors failed? The whole idea that Spyker could do this was completely silly, which I said at the time on Autoblog. Even if GM had allowed the Chinese to take over the company and they gave them billions in funds it would change nothing about Saab's actual sales (which are low), much too low to sustain the operation as is without serious cost cutting or moving most of it to China. If that had happen would Saab still be Saab? I don't think so, it'd be similar to what MG is today, a label stuck on Chinese cars from China. Is this what real Saab fanatics actually want? I happen to like Pontiacs a whole lot, especially the classic ones, but as a fan I recognized the name's best days were far behind it and while some of the newer cars gave hope the writing was on the wall for that brand as well. The best thing for it was to discontinue it and cherish the great cars that did wear the name. Perhaps Saab fans should find the maturity to do the same.

    • See 1 previous
    • Pch101 Pch101 on Dec 12, 2011
      @Sen Moloney GM failed because it is GM. And GM was able to acquire SAAB because SAAB itself was failing. If I remember correctly Skoda wasn’t exactly a world class brand when VW took it over, and look at it now. Fortunately, VW had the good sense to realize that Skoda's best use was a low-cost producer of tweaked VWs. With German labor costs being what they are, there was a market for such a thing. GM didn't do well with Saab, it's true. But if GM had had its act together, then Saab would probably now more closely resemble BMW than anything similar to what Saab used to be. GM should have borrowed the three-tier product model from the Germans, and moved Saab up market so that it was a direct rival with BMW, Mercedes, Audi and Lexus. Near-luxury sold at a discount just isn't much of a niche. It didn't work for the Swedes, it didn't work for GM and it isn't going to work tomorrow for anyone else.
  • Ingvar Ingvar on Dec 12, 2011

    Even if the money arrives, the conditions of that agreement may not survive scrutiny. It all boils down to selling the company to the Chinese without saying so on paper. Because GM wouldn't simply accept that kind of deal. So, Muller would likely continue to stand as a frontman, while the company would the facto be taken over by the Chinese. Would the court accept that kind of shenanigans? Would GM silently accept?

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