The Saab-Spyker Deal Explained
It’s been a looooong wait and lots of nail biting for Saab employees and Saab enthusiasts around the world, but GM and Spyker have reached a preliminary agreement on a Saab sale. The deal includes amongst other things the rights to the Saab brand of course, the Trollhättan production facilities (which was important to Spyker – more on that in a bit), the rights to produce and sell the existing 9-3’s, the new 9-5 and 9-4x models. Former Saab CEO Jan-Åke Jonsson, who was let go when the liqudation of Saab started, will be reinstated as CEO. He, and Spykers CEO Victor Muller have been named the heroes of this deal – Jonsson for his endurance and stamina “He didn’t walk out the back-door as liquidation started – instead he started nightly negotiations, writes Aftonbladet.se in a tribute to Jonssons’ role. And Spyker’s Muller’s charm and persistence have also been mentioned as a crucial part in securing Saab from GM.
THE FINANCING
Financing for the Spyker/Saab deal is not entirely known, but Victor Muller have allegedly contributed with private funds to secure the deal. But when di.se asks him, he gets secretive. It’s mostly financed through loans, he says, but he refuses to specify sources saying “it’s about my own shareholder structure.”
THE DEAL
Under the terms of the deal, the following will take place.
SPYKER’S PLANS
Spyker’s plan for Saab includes production and sales of the existing 9-3 models, the new 9-5 and the new 9-4x ASAP, hopefully during April. Muller also wants to produce Spyker cars at the Trollhättan facilties. Today, Spyker are collaborating with Lotus, paying millions per year for development recources. With Saab Spyker these costs can be kept in-house. In an interview with AutoMotor&Sport.se, Muller also says Saab will not release a 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8-series like Audi/BMW/Mercedes, but will instead concentrate on a few models. But he REALLY thinks the Saab Aero X is a model deserving to become reality. “At Spyker cars we know how to produce exclusive cars in small series, so…” he teases AMS
.
Will this work, though? What’s the difference between this and the Saab-Koenigsegg Deal? The Opel-Magna deal? The Saturn-Penske deal? The Hummer-Tenzhong deal? Time will tell, but for the first time in a long, long time, Saab at least has a future to look forward to.
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What's all this about 7 year partnership? Is this SAAB paying GM for engines, transmissions, steering and stampings and/or badge-engineered vehicles? That's not partnership, that is a suppy-relationship. edit: should be "supply-relationship", but I like the typo, so it stays in.
This really is like those B horror movies where the beast keeps coming back from the dead.