GM is prepared to place SAAB in a company of its own, provided Swedish govt. gives loan guarantees.

The Swedish govt. is not, neither for love nor money, prepared to face the risk to be sitting with a factory producing not only cars but constant deficits - with the exception of 1993-94 SAAB hasn't delivered a profit since 1987 :eek:

Nothing definite yet, but bancruptcy is round the corner. It will be a devastating blow to 4,000 car workers and a whole Swedish town. Considering the company results during the last decades probably not much to be done about it

I don't care much about the 9-5s or 9-3s. But SAABs where found everywhere when I was a child, I owned an old 95 estate for a brief time, and it's a significant part of Swedish cultural heritage and motor sport history that will be lost :(

Wasn't the 95 a two stroke that did very well in rallying?

In terms of recent SAAB's - most have been platform re-hash's of vectras or astras and the 9-5 is based on the ancient tipo-quattro platform so you couldn't really called them SAAB's and they would probably not be missed by the world at large.

Having said that some of their more recent concept offerings indicated that they were getting some of thier mojo back so in that respect they would be missed.

Ah well another one bites the dust... survival of the fittest and all that.

Wasn't the 95 a two stroke that did very well in rallying?

Almost - the legendary Erik Carlsson "on the roof" preferred the "hatchbacks" 93 & 96 to the estate (95). He won the RAC rally in 1961, 1962, 1963 and the Monte Carlo rally in 1962 and 63 in the SAAB 96 - yes, a two-stroke, three-cylinder engine: 850cc and 55 BHP or so when rally tuned... Later on (1967 onwards) it was equipped with a Ford V4 four-stroke engine (that's what I had).

Was that the same Ford V4 that was in the Consul?

Was that the same Ford V4 that was in the Consul?

Exactly (It was good enough to let Erik Carlsson win the Czech rally in 1967).

It will be a shame if SAAB go under, but probably not really surprising. I never owned one, but I always liked the 99's, particularly the Turbo!

Under GM ownership, much of what made a SAAB a SAAB has been lost and the mediocre Vauxhall underpinnings used in the 9-3 & 9-5 have prevented the company competing with the likes of BMW, Audi & Mercedes, etc, where the profits are to be made.

It's a similar story with Jaguar - as good as the Mondeo chassis is (was), in many ways it prevented the X-Type being a proper Jaguar and the sales (and profits) reflected that.

In both cases, lower end models were used as the basis for "premium" products and it didn't work, whereas VW/Audi seem to have more success by using high end underpinnings for lower branded models, e.g. Skoda Octavias, Seat Leons and the new Seat Exeo, etc.

Chap at work was a Saab fan. He's had two 9-3s from new. Sold the first to get a diesel.

He hates the newer model. Reckons it's completely inferior to the older model, worse seats, cheaper trim not reliable. Plus he thinks he's had pretty awful service from the dealer which has included them leaving his disabled wife to find her own way home when the car was kept for warranty work.

If it wasn't for the catastrophic depreciation he'd have changed it some time ago.

Just one opinion, but I don't know anyone else who has one.

Saab's been gone ever since they slapped the badge on a vectra.

Wonder what this will do for Makefish's warranty?! :eek:

Saab will be fine. The Swedes will buy it back into the main Saab group if things got that far.

Vauxhall and opel though....

Lovin' mine, looks like I got in just at the right time

Oh and Jason, the beauty of company car ownership means I could give a cr*p about the warranty ................................ servicing on the other hand

Saab's been gone ever since they slapped the badge on a vectra.

because the mk4 and mk5 golf are renouned for being light, efficient good handling cars so putting a larger, heavier body on it like the octavia obviously makes it the perfect vehicle

swmbo's old vectra was a bit boat like but that was a low spec 8 year old car that had done 140k miles with very very little maintenance by the previous owner but her new vectra is a very nice car to drive and handles pretty well, no worse than my octavia really.

GM is prepared to place SAAB in a company of its own, provided Swedish govt. gives loan guarantees.

The Swedish govt. is not, neither for love nor money, prepared to face the risk to be sitting with a factory producing not only cars but constant deficits - with the exception of 1993-94 SAAB hasn't delivered a profit since 1987 :eek:

Seems the Swedish Government have other priorities...

GM has also put its Saab business up for sale' date=' and "given the urgency of stemming sizeable cash demands associated with Saab operations" is requesting Swedish government financial support prior to any sale.

However, on Wednesday the country's Enterprise and Energy Minister Maud Olofsson told Swedish public radio that "voters picked me because they wanted nursery schools, police and nurses, and not to buy loss-making car factories"[/quote']

At least our Government have their priorities right...

I've only owned one SAAB and it didn't even last a month before the sensonic clutch developed a fault which rendered it un-economical to repair. It hasn't stopped me lusting after the old SAAB 900 turbo (classic). They're a bit ugly but there's just something about them. Every so often I find myself trawling ebay and autotrader for them.

Saab will be fine. The Swedes will buy it back into the main Saab group if things got that far.

I'm pretty sure they won't. The "main Saab group" (the original Saab company) is an aviation/military technology company, why should they want a loss-making car factory? It's the car that profits on the fighters' reputation (e.g. the Griffin's), not the other way round. Saab builds less than 100,000 cars a year and it's hard to see how it could survive outside another car-producing company, sharing underpinnings &c.

Volvo is another thing, should Ford give up the car factory the (Swedish) Volvo Lorries might be a prospective buyer.

I was seriously unimpressed by the 9-3 I tried before I got the Octy, but FiL's 9-5 Aero is quite nice.

I have got to know SAAB quite well. perhaps not the same as others here, but my elderly neighbour has an old SAAB (like the top photo) on her drive since I was a lad. As each year goes by, more and more drops off it - the boot, the windows and one door. It is like an orange peeling itself - quite fascinating! I wonder what will be left in another 20 years...

If it was still SAAB yes, it would be a tragic loss, but it's just re-badged tat from GM these days. I'm still for saving GM though, as the implications for the workers and knock on effects of suppliers etc, doesn't bare thinking about. More money and a management change me thinks.

I have got to know SAAB quite well. perhaps not the same as others here, but my elderly neighbour has an old SAAB (like the top photo) on her drive since I was a lad. As each year goes by, more and more drops off it - the boot, the windows and one door. It is like an orange peeling itself - quite fascinating! I wonder what will be left in another 20 years...

:eek:

Take pity on it! Esp. if it's a pre-65 model with the old front (the "stubnose"). I'll be happy helping you get in touch with spare parts suppliers

When I left college in 1990 an old boss of mine had a Saab99 as a farm car. Used it for towing the livestock trailer and touring round fields. Was a lovely car with I seem to remember the most comfortable of seats.

with the exception of 1993-94 SAAB hasn't delivered a profit since 1987 :eek:

That's shocking and they should go bust. The management clearly need to be put on a saabatical.

The management clearly need to be put on a saabatical.

:rofl:

Real Saabs (up to the "Type 4" 900) I'd miss; present Vauxsaabs afraid not.