07 January 2010

Saab's Survival Hopes Growing Dim

USA Today



For Saab, the Swedish carmaker owned by General Motors, it doesn't look like a hero is going to sweep in and save the day.

"It's real easy. Just show up with the money, and you can have it," GM CEO and Chairman Ed Whitacre told reporters Wednesday. But, "No one's showed up with the money."

GM has begun "winding down" Saab — killing it — after failing for more than a year to find a buyer for the Swedish brand with an aircraft heritage and reputation for quirky design. Talks with the last potential buyer could wrap up later Thursday.

The odds were always against a happy ending, even if 2009 hadn't been terrible for the industry.

There are only a handful of global companies that would clearly be equipped to take on a car brand. Investors were never going to lend money to just anyone with the dream of owning a car company.

To qualify as a buyer, a company would need to have a track record of making some sort of vehicle and be able to show it had the financial wherewithal at least to provide service and keep making replacement parts for Saabs for the full warranty period, which could be five years or up to 100,000 miles.

And it isn't just major investors who've shown a reluctance to put money into a Saab. Some banks, including Bank of America, now are asking potential buyers of Saab cars to put down larger down payments. The lenders are showing little confidence the brand will survive and are hedging their risk on the value of Saab "orphans" as used cars once the company is gone.

Spyker, a Dutch luxury carmaker, still is in the running, trying to put together a deal to buy Saab, but the deadline on GM's patience to get the deal done is today. Spyker CEO Victor Muller has been talking publicly about what he would do with Saab, even though his time is running out.

But gloomy prospects did not stop a small group of Saab loyalists from showing up in frigid Detroit this week to try to pressure GM into keeping the brand alive until a sale can be worked out.

On Tuesday, they convened in an icy parking lot outside GM's downtown headquarters, waving "Save Saab" signs. But just 28 Saabs filled the lot, and there were as many reporters as protesters.

One pointed out, however, that this was more people than have shown up to protest GM's decision to kill Pontiac or Saturn.

"I want to see Saab live. I think it would be such a loss," said Suzanne Shelata of Hamburg, Mich., who bought her first Saab in 1997. She's still driving it, and hopes she'll have a chance to buy another.

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