Saab's Gentlemen Callers

Michael Martineck
by Michael Martineck

The Wall Street Journal and CNBC are reporting that sweet little ‘ole Saab Automobile AB—one of the many motors that is General—has not one, not two, but twenty, count ’em twenty, suitors at the door. GM expects to part with the Swedish car-maker before the end of June. The Vanersborg district court has agreed to extend a period of protection from creditors in order to give it more time to restructure. No creditors objected so Saab now has until May 20 to find a new stranger on who’s kindness she can rely. Saab lost about $370M in 2008 and predicts similar luck this year. Court-appointed administrator Guy Lofalk said, in a court filling, “During the reorganization Saab plans to begin negotiations with creditors on writing down the company’s non-prioritized debts by about 75 percent.” With that, Saab expects a positive cash flow in 2011 on production of 150k cars. Of course, no one is naming any of the supposed twenty interested parties. The Swedish bureaucrat in charge of Saab, Joran Hagglund, said he believes Saab has three to five “serious” suitors. GM says these things need to be secret. So keep it under your hat, will ya?

Michael Martineck
Michael Martineck

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  • DweezilSFV DweezilSFV on Apr 06, 2009

    Direct hit, Ingvar. So true.

  • David C. Holzman David C. Holzman on Apr 06, 2009

    I want to know the story behind the photo--or is it a photoshop job?

  • Robert.Walter Robert.Walter on Apr 06, 2009

    And two seconds later, the little yellow SAAB car found itself on WreckedExotics.com

  • John Horner John Horner on Apr 06, 2009

    I just had a look at the online inventory of the three remaining Saab dealers withing 100 miles of here. Yikes, all of them still have multiple new 2008 models sitting on their lots. One of the three isn't showing any 2009s! Maybe that is just a problem with their website, or maybe they gave up and stopped ordered any more Saabs. Ouch.

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