GM Is Selling Saab To Spyker Cars

johncadengo writes "General Motors said today that it has struck a preliminary deal to sell Saab to Spyker Cars, a tiny Dutch maker of high-end sports cars, saving the Swedish automaker from what seemed like certain extinction after previous bids for it collapsed. A previous bid from Spyker was rejected by GM in late December because GM was uncomfortable with Spyker's Russian backers. The biggest investor in Spyker is the Russian bank Convers Group, which is controlled by Alexander Antonov. In March, Mr. Antonov was shot seven times and reportedly lost a finger in an attempt on his life in Moscow. No arrests have been made. His son Vladimir, 34, is a top executive at Convers and the chairman of Spyker." GM is taking a bath on the deal, financially speaking.

Comments

How is this news for nerds?

[Blowfishie]

This isn't nerdy at all... Have Slashdotters turned into bankers?

Re:How is this news for nerds?

[Anonymous Coward]

Nerds buy geeky cars. Saab is a geeky car. At one point they had sodium inside the valves for cooling. They had standard turbochargers whey you couldn't get turbocharges. They had heated seats and a rear windshield wiper, again not normal for the time. And I have a Saab.....

good

[stokessd]

I used to want a 900 back in the 80s, then GM bought them. I hope Spyker can undo the damage GM has done, and turn the cars into something I would like again.

Sheldon

Re:good

[characterZer0]

I am sure the new owner will be better than GM. It is not hard to come up with better ideas than "lets slap a sunroof on a WRX wagon and call it a 9-2 and sell it for many thousands more!".

Re:good

[pete6677]

The problem is, there is no place in the luxury market for Saab. When people want a luxury car, they think Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Lexus, etc. They have long since forgotten about Saab, Cadillac or Lincoln. Brands that don't evolve will die off. Saab needs to be taken off life support.

Re:good

[vlokje]

I remember my dad owning a 900 in the 80s and quite liked the car. It was the apple among cars, the car for 'the different ones'. This image was of course destroyed by GM marketroids. Rebuilding the original brand image is going to be very though. Try too hard and it will not look sincere. Or keep things as they are and go bust. This requires a combination of innovative technology and careful brand positioning. And perhaps a little Jobsian magic. (cant believe I wrote that as a linux junkie)

A bath?

[Upaut]

Correct me if I am wrong: In all of my financial learning, it is not "taking a bath" When you sell a product more for more then simply retiring the brand. In fact, you gain a profit if you now do not have to handle the termination of all the employees....

This is something, instead of nothing. I call it a win.

True, they would of been able to sell it for far more if they had not completely devalued the brand, but they have no right to complain on that fault.....

Saab

[oldhack]

About the only thing interesting about Saab was the turbo engines it used for a long time. Oh, and hatchback/wagon body styles.

Otherwise, it's become an overpriced front-drive Euro junk for many years now. It certainly don't got the German handling touch. More closer to halfway between a Beemer and Oldsmobile cows.

Go ahead. Tell me what so special about it. Something more than the superficial key hole in the middle aisle and the like.

Did I mention it's expensive to service this make?

Re:Saab

[Sehnsucht]

This along with some other design features originated with the fact it was designed by people who were in cold places.

It's far easier (in theory, I don't own a SAAB) to get the key into that location and start the car wearing large gloves, than behind the steering wheel..

Re:Saab

[sznupi]

w8, takeover from US company results in cars becoming Euro junk?

Re:Saab

[IntlHarvester]

Go ahead. Tell me what so special about it. Something more than the superficial key hole in the middle aisle and the like.

Rather than explaining it to you, I'll just point out that you seem qualified for a marketing job at GM.

"Oldsmobile? They're just like Chevys, except with a superficial split grille. (10 years later) Holy crap! What happened to Oldsmobile sales?!?! We gotta shut it down!"

Cars, being the most expensive mass-produced purchase that people make, create a lot of emotional values among their customer base. You can't just boil them down to a rationalized list of superficial features, because customers will figure out you're just going through the motions and move to a brand that appears to have 'faith' in some greater ideals.

GM never understood the appeal of Saab, so they kept them in suspended animation circa mid-1980s, continually recycling the same gimmicks. Compare them to a Volvo or Audi, which have advanced considerably since that era (and the sticker prices prove it).

There's really only one company in the world that would have attempted to pass off a Blazer SUV with a floor-mounted key as a European sport-luxury car. Unfortunately that was the company that bought Saab.

Re:A real geeky car is a GTO.

[Vegeta99]

What makes a '70s car nerdy? I could make a venturi tube (think carburetor) when I was in 3rd grade. Six injectors, a continuous-feedback fuel control system, servo controlled throttle body for drive by wire?

Nah, my MY2000's a lot more fun to screw with. I'm pretty sure I could tear down just about any simple-as-pie 70's muscle car like a tinkertoy in a day and a half. In high school.

OK, let's reword it...

[Anonymous Coward]

Spyker has 130-odd employees and builds around 40 cars a year.
Saab has 34,000 employees and builds around 100,000 cars a year.
Neither of them make money.

- Who is kidding who with this particularly peculiar "takeover"?

Some of those 130 Spyker employees are high-level management. So let's reword it:

Saab is being bought by a Russian bank, who is installing Spyker executives as its management.

Re:GM Isn't taking a bath, I am.

[Dmala]

They didn't even bother to SELL their 3rd most profitable brand, they just terminated it.

In their defense, there really wasn't much to sell of Pontiac other than the arrowhead and some trade dress. Basically all of the technology in modern Pontiacs came from other divisions. And unlike some of the divisions they decided to sell, *if* they found a buyer for Pontiac, all they'd be doing is creating a competitor on their home turf competing in their core market.

Re:Time for GM to dump all European brands

[tpwch]

Thats really the fault of GM. They were profitable when GM bought them. GM has introduced an insane amount of restrictions and bad design choices that they forced the european brands to use. SAAB employees has been complaining about this for many years.

Re:Marriages Made in Haste.. Oft Leave a Bad Taste

[kimvette]

Let's see:

  * GM is run by beancounters who landed GM where they were last winter
  * Spyker can't produce enough cars and needs production facilties; which Saab factories provide in spades
  * Saab needs passionate management, not an owner who will just take the best engineering Saab produces for other products, leaving Saab with crap to work with.

Given how badly GM has mismanaged Saab, it is amazing just how good the 9-3 and 9-5's track records are. They are extremely reliable (2003 9-3 teething issues aside; pretty much expected with any new car model), they are the best in their class for crash testing, are very comfortable, can achieve well over 30mpg(combined.. My best full tank to date is 36mpg) when driven conservatively. Handling is really good (the passive rear wheel steering helps!), it has the only stability control system and ABS I don't hate, and braking is incredible.

Saab can turn around. Look at what BMW and Audi have done; both have been at the brink of failure in the not so distant past.