Saab - Not quite dead yet!

Just when we thought it was all over... apparently the fat lady didn't sing yet...

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/06/13/saab-lives-sold-to-chinese-japanese-consortium-nevs/

Oh, she's singing. She just took a moment to clear her throat.

Why would one buy a car company that had 1.9 Billion in debt and hadn't built a car in a year?

spitfirebill wrote: Why would one buy a car company that had 1.9 Billion in debt and hadn't built a car in a year?

To rebuild it from the ground up. I'm sure that most of us here could throw down a fairly reasonable model line-up for any brand out there right now that would both fit the history of the company, look forward to the future, and even sell a few units to the normals.

Problem is, none of us have the purchasing power to do so.

REAL ANSWER: You'd be buying the branding. Take two equally new car companies to the market, with two nigh-identical cars and have one with a known name like Saab, and another with a completely unknown name and I guarantee you they'll sell 15 Saabs to every RevDexMoCo.

spitfirebill wrote: Why would one buy a car company that had 1.9 Billion in debt and hadn't built a car in a year?

Depends on what they're buying... there's not really much detail in that article... I'm betting they're also getting a bunch of tax-incentives from the Swedish govt. providing they keep at least some production in Sweden.

ReverendDexter wrote: REAL ANSWER: You'd be buying the branding. Take two equally new car companies to the market, with two nigh-identical cars and have one with a known name like Saab, and another with a completely unknown name and I guarantee you they'll sell 15 Saabs to every RevDexMoCo.

THIS!! No matter what the baggage that comes with the Saab name, it's gonna be a lot better than trying to sell QuingDai or Land Wind branded cars in the US.

dculberson wrote:

ReverendDexter wrote: REAL ANSWER: You'd be buying the branding. Take two equally new car companies to the market, with two nigh-identical cars and have one with a known name like Saab, and another with a completely unknown name and I guarantee you they'll sell 15 Saabs to every RevDexMoCo.

THIS!! No matter what the baggage that comes with the Saab name, it's gonna be a lot better than trying to sell QuingDai or Land Wind branded cars in the US.

QFT!

Wow, this is strange. I was reading an article just this morning in the magazine Collector Automobile about cheap collectible cars and it was about the Saab 92. The article made a passing mention that Saab may not be dead yet (as the article was written with a long advance date).

As someone pointed out when I posted one of many articles on this topic, Saab will have problems re-starting without help from GM, and they don't seem (or didn't?) in the mood to help previous investors in Saab. The 95 replacement was/is a great car, tho pricey, and the next 93 is needed yesterday.

I wish I wasn't saying this, but let dead dogs die in peace.

Truth About Cars has a pretty good article: Saab Sold Again: Good Luck. They make the case that this is a ship headed towards an iceberg...again. They essentially bought a manufacturing facility and an outdated car (9-3)...and that's it...to build electric cars that no one will buy.

ddavidv wrote: Truth About Cars has a pretty good article: Saab Sold Again: Good Luck. They make the case that this is a ship headed towards an iceberg...again. They essentially bought a manufacturing facility and an outdated car (9-3)...and that's it...to build electric cars that no one will buy.

Somehow this is what I was thinking...

integraguy wrote: I wish I wasn't saying this, but let dead dogs die in peace.

Yeah I would rather just remember Saab for all the great cars they made rather then some bullE36 M3 electric crap.