The Sad End of Saab
It’s pretty much as clear as it can possibly be that China’s BAIC will cart off the used tooling of the 9-5 and 9-3 models, and possibly others to Beijing, and then that’s the end of Trollhättan and Saab, Reuters reports.
Other assets of the brand, including its headquarters will be liquidated, more than 3,000 Saab jobs in Sweden will go bye-bye. The Saab car brand will be retired.
GM is still talking to other suitors for Saab. But after ages of hand-wringing, GM now wants a deal to be closed by end of December, which in the world of deals is tomorrow morning. Says Reuters: “Although the Swedish government could still intervene to tip the balance, those tough conditions and the fast timetable make it more likely that a partial sale of Saab to BAIC will be the only viable option for GM.”
BAIC would still be interested in buying Saab as a whole, but GM doesn’t seem to want to sell the brand and future technology off to China.
On Friday, BAIC obtained a $2.93 billion line of credit from the Bank of China.
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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I've owned 5 Saab's over the past 30 years (out of the exactly 100 cars I've owned), and I personally absolutely loved every one of them. IMHO, Saab is another example of the GM anti-Midas touch - whatever GM touches seems to turn to crap. Of course, every car company is a business, and must be profitable. No matter how cool and neat and desirable a car is to hard-core gear-heads like me and the rest of us here on TTAC, it has to be a money-maker. Despite that, I think Saab is a great example of the difference between a small successful company and a big failure. The Saabs I loved (1970's-1990's) were unique. They offered things that no other car did. For those that remember the original Saab 99, or 900, or even the 9-3 of the 1990's, they were an amazing combination of fun to drive, practical, luxurious, and reasonably priced. The old ads from the 1970's were absolutely true: you really could fold the back seat down and carry furniture in it. I did it many times. Take the 9-3 Viggen (1999-2002), maybe the last Saab with vestiges of the old, true Saab in it (and my favorite). It was a (reasonably) high performance car that was an absolutely blast to drive. Yet, it was also (relatively) luxurious and comfortable enough to do an all-day drive and arrive feeling comfortable. It looked unique, there was nothing else quite like it on the road. Plus, it had that great hatchback design. What other sporty, fun to drive, fairly fast, reasonably economical (I regularly got 32 mpg in highway driving) can you carry furniture in? It was a car you could both have fun on the twisties, and then fold down the back seat and carry a table, big screen TV, chairs, etc. No other car could, or can, do that. Saabs used to have character. They had personality. Yeah, they were "quirky" with the overplayed ignition switch on the floor, etc., but they had soul. They were just plain interesting, but also fun, comfortable, practical, economical, and reliable (until GM filled them with second-rate bits from the Malibu). Saab was never going to be a major player. But, they had their niche, and it worked well enough for them for the better part of 40 years. They appealed to the well-educated, liberal, quirky, somewhat sophisticated buyer (the stereotypical "Vermont college professor"). And you know what? There was absolutely nothing wrong with that. That was the kind of buyer who wanted a car like Saab, and they bought enough of them to make the company a successful small business (for a car company). Until GM came along and tried to make it into a big car company. GM, with their infamous arrogance, delusion, complete lack of grasp of reality, and being totally out of touch with so many market segments (other than maybe trucks and Corvettes). They just didn't understand Saab's demographic, and tried to make it into something it wasn't. With abominations like the Malibu-ized 9-3, the monstrosity 9-7 Blazer, and the pathetic Saabaru 9-2 Imprezza (which was a good car, just not a Saab). They destroyed the uniqueness of the brand. They completely gutted why Saab buyers (like me) bought Saabs. They turned it into yet another bland, undistinguished, low-quality GM division pawning second-rate junk. And the Saab buyers went away. So instead of letting Saab continue as a (reasonably) successful small car company, GM butchered it and tried to turn it into a bigger company - which failed. And with the loss of Saab is also lost the precious gem of a car that no one else has made since. The world will go on. But, the 100,000 or so people who used to buy Saabs, who loved them and appreciated them for their unique and irreplaceable personality, will always miss them. Sometimes in business, wanting to be BIG and be all things to all buyers is the wrong formula. I think it is better to be successful and small to a core group of fervently loyal buyers, than to dilute your personality and just be another ho-hum failure. Goodbye Saab, I'll miss you.
Saab buyers reminiscing about their cars from the '80s are just like muscle car buyers reminiscing about their cars from the '60s. The car was often their first car, and a first car is going to be great in a person's mind even if it comparatively sucked. And just like muscle car buyers Saab buyers have to defend their cars to the death because they've wrapped up their identity in the car. An attack on the car is an attack on the person. Saab failed because it made crappy uncompetitive cars, plain and simple. The (independent) company never developed an AWD system. Saab never brought its quality up to German levels, much less Japanese levels, and Saab was an embarrassment next to Volvo's legendary durability. Like people have said above, Subaru is what Saab could have been if Saab had the talent to make reliable cars and had the engineering skill to develop a competitive AWD system to make up for the failings of FWD. Saab should consider it an honor that it got to sell one Subaru, a Saab made correctly, before it was put out of its misery. GM didn't kill Saab (and I'm no fan of GM). In the late '80s there was no future for overpriced, poorly built FWD cars. The Japanese were making affordable, reliable FWD cars. And the Hondas handled well. I am an educated liberal, but I've never needed to drive a poorly made FWD car to prove it. When people wrap up their identities in their cars their judgment of their cars becomes blurred. Saab is dead, Saab owners aren't. Subaru has a full lineup of amazing cars that they can now move onto. Alternatively, better RWD manual transmission cars are being made now than have ever been made in history, with ESD and snow tires to make it through winter. Or you can buy a Prius. Making any of those choices will, if you have an open mind, show you how comparatively bad the Saab really was. There is a wonderful automotive world out there beyond the rose colored glasses.
I would have let this go but I can't let the accusation that I drive a Camry stand. Currently I have an NA Miata daily driver. Historically I've had a 240SX, 318i sedan (fun when it worked, but horrible European reliability), MR2 Spyder and G35 sedan, all manual. Camrys are what people have to rent when their Saabs are in the shop. Re: Owning a Saab: I've never poked myself in the eye with a fork either, some things I don't need to personally experience.
So you've owned mostly secretary-type cars (Miata, 240, MR2, 318)?