Saab to power all F1 cars?

[Bruce Fielding]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8447365.stm

[WorkingOnIt]

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-201 ... theadlines

"GM Chief Executive Ed Whitacre Wednesday told reporters that a deal to save Saab is unlikely and that the company expects to begin shutting down the Swedish car maker by the week's end. "We said, 'Just show up with the money and you can have it,' and they haven't shown up with the money," said Whitacre."

[WorkingOnIt]

Three last minute offers on the table

[Professor Garel Rhys, of Cardiff Business School] believes none of the three bids is credible. "Bernie Ecclestone may be an entrepreneur with tremendous guile but he isn't a magician and he cannot alter the laws of economics," Professor Rhys said. "The other two deals are similarly absurd. What on earth do any of them bring to the table?"

[DFext37 Fielding]

BMW Saaber!

[wisp]

[quote="Dext37 Fielding"]
BMW Saaber!
[/quote]

More likely Xiaab or Zhaab Ka after the scrap merchants have containerized the whole factory and shipped it east.

[WorkingOnIt]

OMG it's the best soap opera ever...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/13/busin ... 3saab.html
"Mr. Muller[chief executive of Spyker] speaking during a conference in Detroit hosted by the trade publication Automotive News, said Spyker has given G.M. what it has asked for.
“We have shown Mr. Whitacre the money,” Mr. Muller said..."   (see quote 4 posts up)

Genii and Spyker pondering joint bid? Workers rally in Trollhätten

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show ... orces.html

[WorkingOnIt]

The more I read, the less likely it seems to me that Saab is viable.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010 ... john-crace
"Professor Garel Rhys, director of the Centre for Automotive Research at Cardiff ­Business School: "It's hard to imagine how anyone could make a go of Saab as a stand-alone business after results like these [only 21,000 sales worldwide in 2009]. And there have been only a few years that the company hasn't made a loss since it first started making cars in 1952."
...To be fair, Saab was never expected to make big kroner. Rather, it was an offshoot of the Swedish Aeroplane Company created both to take up some of the factory's slack once the second world war had ended and to raise the profile of its aviation industry."

But apparently there is still action occurring:
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-0 ... nears.html
"GM considers Spyker’s $500 million offer of cash and preferred shares in the new Saab to be adequate...
agreement... hinges on the Swedish government agreeing to guarantee a 400 million-euro ($566 million) loan from the European Investment Bank."
Genii Capital and Koenigsegg have reportedly conceded.

[wisp]

http://video.aol.co.uk/video-detail/saa ... 1202460108

[WorkingOnIt]

Saab Lives!
Good luck to Spyker.

Here's a timeline of the whole saga since January 2009.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60P5FS20100126