Saab auto to be discontinued

[Sporkman]

GM to discontinue Saab after deal talks collapse

By DAN STRUMPF, AP Auto Writer

NEW YORK – General Motors Co. said Friday it will wind down Saab after talks to sell the brand to Dutch carmaker Spyker Cars collapsed.

GM said in a news release that issues arose during the sale talks that could not be resolved...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091218/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gm_saab

[starcannon]

Yeah, I had heard their buy out fell through; too bad, Saab made great cars, and the people that work for Saab are now displaced. I sure hope the economy turns around sooner than later.

[CharlesA]

Yeah, I had heard their buy out fell through; too bad, Saab made great cars, and the people that work for Saab are now displaced. I sure hope the economy turns around sooner than later.

Yeah, no kidding. :(

[sydbat]

This, on top of discontinuing Saturn, after getting bailed out. Nice. Buy Ford...at least they can run a business...

[speedwell68]

Yeah, I had heard their buy out fell through; too bad, Saab made great cars, and the people that work for Saab are now displaced. I sure hope the economy turns around sooner than later.

They were great cars before GM got involved.

[KeLa]

This, on top of discontinuing Saturn, after getting bailed out. Nice. Buy Ford...at least they can run a business...
Here in Finland there is a saying that if you own Ford you get heaven automatically because you have suffered enough with the Ford (my first car was saab 96 wich had ford engine, second and third (current) are Ford:))

I read today that Spyker is looking EU funding actually and not seriously saab production.
And earlier this week there was lot of newspaper writings about Chinese company that is interest of buying production technique of saab and production line equipments.
They were talking of two models of saab.

[LowSky]

Why is it so bad that a company stops making a brand? Its part of capitalism. The brand sold poorly and isn't worth producing. GM is restructuring and will lose money keeping a failing part of its business. Thats why it sold off Hummer, and got rid of Pontiac, Saturn, and Saab. It need to be profitable and to do that it means cutting off the dead limbs. If Saabs were so great people whould have purchased them. and now GM can keep the brand name and use it down the road if they like to.

I do feel bad about the workers invovled. Most of these people work in towns where only the manufacurer is the only source of employment. The towns never diversified their job market and now end up hurting because of this. Its a real shame.

[KeLa]

Why is it so bad that a company stops making a brand?
My first Saab that model name 96 was way before GM had anything to do with it.
The car was form 1973 and i don't remember when GM bought Saab and now that they have copied all goods from it to Cadillac they sell it, that's funny.
Best laugh a long time i got when i watched Top Gear episode when guys were going to be a dj's in afternoon radio show and Richard Hammond get Cadillac to go with and others mocked it that it's all Saab :popcorn:

[geogur]

Saab has some serious issues thats why it`s being let go . they have no engine or wiring to call there own . just a body style that is ugly! who cares if they are gone ? it was a quirky brand that went no where.

[[h2o]]

who cares if they are gone?
You might want to take a trip to Trollhättan, Sweden, and repeat that statement to get a definite answer. :P

Seriously though. I am sad that they go, since a lot of people will be out of work and since it seems like bad management from GM:s side is what brought this in the first place, and not that they made bad cars (which they don't). Let's just say that I am quite sure GM is not very popular here right now.
On the other hand I think this is better than letting the (Swedish) government pump money into a dying business where the owner screwed up.

[DougieFresh4U]

I can remember when living in Orlando, Florida there was a suburb (Winter Park) that used Saab as their Police cars. People made jokes about if they wanted to be 'chased' around by a Saab they would move to Sweden

[sports fan Matt]

I am just sad to hear this.

[MooPi]

Wow people bad mouthing Saab ? Saab made great cars that were a bit of an oddity. They were kinda ugly. But underneath was usually a good stable platform. Drove one when I was very young some 30 plus years ago and loved it. To bad it was a buddies dads car and we were joy riding.

[pelle.k]

Wow people bad mouthing Saab ? Saab made great cars that were a bit of an oddity. They were kinda ugly. But underneath was usually a good stable platform. Drove one when I was very young some 30 plus years ago and loved it. To bad it was a buddies dads car and we were joy riding.
Saab has always had that effect on people. They were born out of the airplane industry, and always had a "different" look and feel than other cars. IMO they did rock, before being bought up by GM.
Same thing with Volvo. They were great before being bought up. Now it's pretty much hit and miss with their models. Some are great, some are doomed to fail from the beginning.

[KeLa]

I can remember when living in Orlando, Florida there was a suburb (Winter Park) that used Saab as their Police cars. People made jokes about if they wanted to be 'chased' around by a Saab they would move to Sweden
Or did they mean to Finland, because before Ford Mondeo as police car here they used Saab 99 ;) (There is many persons from Finland living in Florida.
But seriously speaking of Saab was and is fast and good car.
I remember that Saab it was either model 92 or 96 that they get straight out of production line and put rally gear on it (lights, roll bars etc) and won a rally with it. And there was a test run in USA with Saab i think it was model 900Turbo where they took 3 production model straight from production line and put them to circle an oval race track and all did a average just over 200 km/h speed in 24 hour run.

To my opinion it's good car and it's sad if it's going to be history.

[KeLa]

Saab has always had that effect on people. They were born out of the airplane industry, and always had a "different" look and feel than other cars. IMO they did rock, before being bought up by GM.
Same thing with Volvo. They were great before being bought up. Now it's pretty much hit and miss with their models. Some are great, some are doomed to fail from the beginning.

My favorite was Saab 96 (in finland it has so many nick names that no other car has ever get close to it. My favorite was "family sports coupe")
And with Volvo last good looking model was 164 from sixties. (Volvo's nick name here in finland is "World's fastest tractor" and that's from how it was used here in old days :))

[speedwell68]

Wow people bad mouthing Saab ? Saab made great cars that were a bit of an oddity. They were kinda ugly. But underneath was usually a good stable platform. Drove one when I was very young some 30 plus years ago and loved it. To bad it was a buddies dads car and we were joy riding.

Like I said, before GM got involved they were great cars. The old 900 Turbo was an awesome car and the original 95. But in later years they were just re-shelled Vauxhall/Opel cars like the Vectra. For a start they went from RWD to FWD and used dog awful GM 4 cyl engines.

[KeLa]

Like I said, before GM got involved they were great cars. The old 900 Turbo was an awesome car and the original 95. But in later years they were just re-shelled Vauxhall/Opel cars like the Vectra. For a start they went from RWD to FWD and used dog awful GM 4 cyl engines.
Saabs have been FWD from the beginning, at least i have never seen RWD Saab (Dreamed on one on way back)

[pme 72]

I worked for a dealership from 1975 to 1981 first in the shop as a mechanic and later in parts/service desk. I got a 99 in 76 and have been driving one since, 3 - 99's, 2 - 96's, a 900 and now a 9.3.

Here in the northeast they seem to be popular. They are great in snow. They are solidly build. Our dealership had a video of a 96 surviving a trip down a ski slope. There was another set of pictures of a 99 being dropped upside down on its roof from about 6 feet up. Solid car but I guess not a great profit maker for GM. Obviously all I saw at the dealership were the cars that needed service but I had good luck with all of mine.

The 9.3 is the most fun to drive of them all. It is quick and athletic feeling.

What sad news.

[pme 72]

They recently released an SUV that is probably AWD and they briefly offered an AWD model that was built in conjunction with Subaru. All the others were front wheel drive.

[Sporkman]

Maybe not...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091220/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_sweden_saab_sale

[Exodist]

This, on top of discontinuing Saturn, after getting bailed out. Nice. Buy Ford...at least they can run a business...
As much as I have always been a GM user, sydbat is dead on with Ford MoCo being a better ran company. Lately GM has been a big let down.

[KeLa]

They are great in snow.
Agree with that 100%
I know only one case when 96 was stuck on snow, it was mid winter and plenty of snow on the road and it started to pile the snow under the car and eventually front tires were up in the air.
One case when i was going to work in the morning (i hadn't yet changed to winter tyres (spiked ones) and there was one BMW driver stuck in the snow and he asked help and with a rope i pulled it out of the snow and after that guy checked what kind of tyres i had and was amazed to find out that i used summer tires.

[jrusso2]

I used to ice race a saab 99 and it was a solid car. Got it stuck pretty far into the snow bank at times, but it was rock solid chassis.