GM Is Selling Saab To Spyker Cars 264
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.
Marriages Made in Haste.. Oft Leave a Bad Taste.. (Score:5, Interesting)
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"?
Re:A bath? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:How is this news for nerds? (Score:4, Interesting)
See, it's like if Saab were to be sold, and an exotic car manufacturer saw opportunity where GM pillaged and neglected the company for 20 years, and bought the company seeing that the "quirky" nature of the car is that the design makes sense, since the ergonomics are designed around performance-oriented driving and safety, which makes them different. How's that for an analogy? ;)
Seriously though I'm excited this deal went through. GM bean counters held Saab back and it is rumored they used Saab to cook their books, by "over billing" Saab for GM-manufactured engines, shifting profits and losses around for tax and stock price advantages. It's disgusting that the Saab-designed engine's best configuration has not been allowed to go into the 9-3 and 9-5, but instead went into the Cobalt SS at 260hp (but the engine internals and turbocharger are good for >300hp reliably with minor mods). Also GM beancounters position it against BMW and Audi, and it would do well, except with power output (especially in the XWD models) and with GM's choice of interior coatings (the rubberized paint that peels all too easily) and the inflated MSRP (which no one ever pays for a Saab), why would anyone step into the showroom?
Here is what Spyker needs to do to turn Saab around:
1. Keep MSRPs where they are on the Turbo X, but fix Trionic 8 engine management and boost power output to compete with the 335i and 135i power output.
2. Go RWD and XWD in the new 9-3
3. Lower MSRP on the base "touring" and "comfort" sedans to what people actually pay for them (well under $30K) and institute "no haggle" pricing across the board
4. Improve the interior panel coatings (paint). Spend the extra few cents GM would not spend and get rid of GM's choice of prone-to-peeling coating.
5. Advertise the cars heavily. "Born from jets" needs to promote the ergonomics which are designed around the driver, safety, and better engine options GM bean counters would not allow need to be introduced to put some performance behind the implied promise "Born from jets" implies. Saabs are only "quirky" in that the ergonomics are unusual because they are more natural and centered around driving.
6. Shitcan the dealers with poor customer service.
7. Bring us Aero X!
I love my 9-3. I hated Saabs until last year when I had to drive a friend's (he insisted). I fell in love with it immediately and ended up buying one. Sure, the power output may be somewhat (read: a lot) lower than I'd like but the car is a blast to drive, and it performs a heck of a lot better in the real world than the numbers would imply, However, numbers sell cars, so they really need to bump up the HP and Torque output.
Spyker can do it. I hope they turn Saab around just like BMW turned around when BMW was about to tank.
I'll definitely be buying the new 9-3 if/when it comes out.
Re:good (Score:5, Interesting)
Lexus and Audi were awful in the 80s and early 90s, but cleaned up their acts to get them to where they are today.
Mercedes has always done a good job with their super-high-end models, although their entry-level luxury sedans (ie. the C-Series) have always been mediocre at best. They were also among the last to cave and admit that rear wheel drive cars don't make sense for the vast majority of the population (something that Saab were among the first to do). Front wheel drive makes far more sense if you live anywhere where it might possibly ever snow, while Audi discovered that AWD offers the best of both worlds.
If nothing else, the automotive industry needs extra competitors in the marketplace, given that the number of brands has slowly been whittled away over the years with no serious new entrants into the mainstream industry in quite some time. Saab have the manufacturing facilities, engineering talent, brand heritage, and penchant for unconventionality that could potentially make them a (minor) force to be reckoned with in the marketplace. The notable outcry that resulted when GM announced it was killing the brand is proof enough that there is still plenty of interest alive in the company.
All that costs money.. (Score:1, Interesting)
1. Keep MSRPs where they are on the Turbo X, but fix Trionic 8 engine management and boost power output to compete with the 335i and 135i power output.
Costs Money
2. Go RWD and XWD in the new 9-3
Costs Money
3. Lower MSRP on the base "touring" and "comfort" sedans to what people actually pay for them (well under $30K) and institute "no haggle" pricing across the boar
Even more money...and the advertising, and paring the dealer network, all costs money. Saab has its fans for sure, but, its always been an overrated car, has never -really- been that profitable in the history of the company, and the fact is Saab was on the way to the scrap heap prior to being bought by GM to begin with.
If Saab were -really- that profitable, there would have been more than one buyer. But most people know what's up with Saab, and its a goner.
Re:good (Score:3, Interesting)
My dad was a huge Saab fan. If they returned to their pre-GM roots, he'd buy another.
Because they're luxury? No. Because they were solid cars, good for wintery conditions, and fit tall people quite well.
Re:A real geeky car is a GTO. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:good (Score:3, Interesting)
They need to do what GM refused to do for Saab:
Let Saab engineers put the powertains they designed in Saab models, not cherry pick Saab's best work and put it in other models, leaving Saab with lower-end crap (the XWD would be a great match for the I4 GM "borrowed" for the Cobalt, for example. I know, the current 2.0T is now a GM engine, but they used the best of Saab's induction designs for the one that went into the Cobalt. The 2.0T is good for over 300 reliable HP. PERFECT match for XWD! Also, GM "borrowed" XWD for Cadillac and other brands, and didn't pusj the Saab XWD nearly enough). They also need to not insist Saab use the cheap rubberized coating on interior panels, but use a higher-quality coating that is not prone to peeling. Lastly, they need to advertise Saab once in a while.
Saabs are only "quirky" because the advertising literature doesn't promote that the ergonomics are designed around performance driving and safety; the ergonomics are very natural. Try driving one sometime - even if you think you hate Saab, you will love the interior.
Re:GM sells saab... (Score:4, Interesting)
Come to New England sometime; Saabs here are more commonplace here than BMW and Audi. I never had any idea Saabs were not as popular elsewhere.
Re:Saab (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:good (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, I don't trust this Victor Muller guy one but. His track record is abonimable. He first fired Maarten de Bruijn, who was the designer of the Spyker cars and the founder of the company because Maarten Maarten had a more conservative idea about money making than Victor had. Then Victor started a Formula 1 adventure that drove Spyker to the edge of bankrupty. And now he has borrowed 400 million euros to buy Saab, an amount of money he will never be able to pay back if you ask me. He has no experience at all in running a large car factory either. I will not be surprised if both Saab and Spyker are dead half a year from now. That would be devastating because both company make truly unique cars that touch the hearts of many people. For more information you can look up the Dutch [wikipedia.org] and English [wikipedia.org] entries in Wikipedia for Spyker Cars and references therein.