GM Sells Saab to Tiny Swedish Custom Automaker

GM's failed bid to unload Swedish automaker may spell its doom

(NEWSER) - GM’s bid to sell its Saab unit to a small Swedish automaker has fallen through after Koenigsegg pulled out yesterday, citing costly delays in the closing process. Saab’s managing director tells the Wall Street Journal it’s “premature” to write the employer of 4,000 off, but one GM exec isn’t so optimistic. “Saab has been identified as a brand GM would divest itself of, one way or another,” he says, and the next likely step is to shutter it. More»

After another failed sale, GM will begin 'orderly wind-down,' it says

(NEWSER) - GM has failed in a last-chance bid to sell its Saab unit and will now settle the Swedish automaker’s debts and “wind down production and the distribution channel in an orderly manner.” A deal with Dutch sports-car maker Spyker just fell through, a month after the sale to Koenigsegg also went belly up. Issues that came up in due dilligence could not be resolved, a GM exec tells the Wall Street Journal of the Spyker sale. “The due diligence required to complete this complex transaction could not be executed in a reasonable time. In order to maintain operations, Saab needed a quick resolution.” More»

The G.M.-owned Swedish automaker seeks a buyer to save itself

(NEWSER) - As governments around the world have propped up their automobile companies, typically paternalistic Sweden has answered Saab’s plea for help with an unexpected reply: “No.” No bailout, no takeover. The town of Trollhattan in southwest Sweden now faces economic catastrophe akin to Detroit’s decline as its 54,000 people will lose 4,000 jobs overnight if Saab collapses, the New York Times reports. More»

(NEWSER) - Saab applied for protection from creditors today, after parent company General Motors said this week it planned to cut the company loose, Bloomberg reports. In a process much like Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the Swedish automaker will restructure and look for funding with the goal of spinning off from GM or being sold; GM said several days ago it would dump Saab, after 2 decades of losses, unless the Swedish government offered a bailout. More»

Company's US sales off 28% in '08; Swedish government in talks

(NEWSER) - Ford is looking to cut costs wherever it can, and that might mean selling off its Volvo unit, the Wall Street Journal reports today. US sales for Volvo dropped off 28% in the first 10 months of 2008, and Ford, bleeding cash, plans to trim down and focus on its namesake brand; it’s already sold off other luxury brands like Jaguar. More»