Possibility of Saab closure

Ugh...

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While some of this info is not news (opel vs saab factory production), the fact that the threat exists publically may spell impending doom for the company unless it can pull a profit.

On the other hand, I can't imagine that GM wouldn't just sell the unit off.

- tex

Reply to
Tex
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Let's starting pooling our money then. I've got $7.14 in my pocket.

Reply to
Shane Almeida

As a follow up on my own post, I think the only problem with attempting to sell it off is that there is little left of the original company to sell (beyond the brand and the final assembly plant). A good chunk of the operations are now under direct control of GM people. While this makes sense from a cost-efficient operations perspective it makes the remaining shell of a company much less valuable on the open market.

- tex

Reply to
Tex

Reply to
Barry Test

I'd agree with that entirely. GM has never known what to do with the Saab line. Well I think this is something that we all feared and realized would happen one day from the time GM bought the final 50% of Saab.

What I f> WOW!!!! I didn't know I was a university professor. Somebody at GM has

Reply to
Craig M. Bobchin

I must confess that most of the people I know who own Saabs are professors or at least academics of some sort. But then again a disproportionate number of the people I know are academics.

John

Reply to
John B

You can't imagine GM would kill Saab??? Does the name "Buick" sound familiar?

The article mentioned that Saab has made a profit in only one of the last 10 years. I drive a 1993 Saab, a Swedish Saab - not a GM Saab.

Reply to
ma_twain

Maybe its about time. I have lost all confidence in Saab. I have been a Saab owner for over 16 yrs. I had high expectations from Saab and have been very disappointed that neither of my 3 cars could go 10 k miles without a breakdown. This morning was "another" real treat" 7AM in heavy morning traffic and the DI cassette on my 9K dies. 75K miles on it. ( I had heard that you should keep a spare one of these in your back pocket....guaranteed failure component) The replacement was 750 plus shop time and towing = $1000 Cdn.

I think my next car will be a 60s Nova !! Not a lot to go wrong!!

Reply to
Tigger123

This just appeared on MSNBC.com. Are you people for real. Have you ever just sat down with your customer list and contacted long time owners. No, I know, you executives are too smart for us consumers. Well I am a long time owner and not alone when I say and that we could have told you that the 9-2X and the soon to be 9-7 were and are the dumbest things that you could have done. You (GM) killed the Saab line. But then again, it says in your news release "It does have a future but how big and what role it plays are what we are looking at right now," You have "owned " Saab for 10 years, You still have no clue. That is sad.

Do you recommend Audi or Volvo for my next car?

I attached the article and sent it to them, but everyone knows that nothing will happen. If anything does I will let you know.

Reply to
Norm

Sorry the top of the post got deleted

Reply to
Norm

Buick rings a bell. Did someone used to make an Oldsmobile?

Reply to
saabyurk

Or Packard, whose slogan would have been appropriate for the Saab community:

"Ask the man who owns one"

Joe Morris

Reply to
Joe Morris

IIRC, Saab's current chief/president, Ms. Debra Kelly-Enis?, was the Oldsmobile hatchet-gal.

Reply to
J. Harris

That's very unusual. What kind of failures are you seeing at that kind of interval?

Yes, just like all the other European cars which use the same technology.

Maybe you should have taken the advice to have a spare in your car. It's a 5-minute job. In the dark. The first time you do it.

Good luck with that, then.

Reply to
Dave Hinz

I think the key comment in the article is this:

"Saab has lost money in all but one of the past 10 years and GM has steadily reduced its autonomy over the past 18 months. Manufacturing, engineering and most design decisions are now controlled by GM Europe executives, based in Germany or Switzerland, reducing Saab's local management to controlling branding and marketing"

Basically - it's lost money since GM bought it out. Which I always took to be for it's technology and/or some bizarre fit of corporate pique rather than actually producing better cars and selling more of them.

On the upside, it might mean the supply of dealer diagnostic tools and manuals suddenly increases.

Reply to
Dexter J

You got screwed pal, big time. US $299 ea. for genuine SAAB. Less than a 10 minute job. No towing required.

MaltHound

Reply to
The Malt Hound

You mean these?

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Sure, why wouldn't I remember them. They are beng sold at the GM dealers all over.

MaltHound

Reply to
The Malt Hound

OK, from posts on the web I see that my '02 9-5 Aero is subject to this problem, but... once of these things costs $300-400, yes? What's the chance of one of them going bad? That's a mighty expensive spare to carry around.

Reply to
Gary Fritz

100 percent liklihood during the life of the car, from what I understand. Mine is overdue, I think, at 95K miles, but since I'm doing some engine work right now, I'll end up using my original one as my spare.
Reply to
Dave Hinz

Hi,

here in Germany we have discussions about the closing of several Opel plant, know it depends on the costs of work and the decision of GM where to produce one the new Opel models. In TV there were some reports about GM in Europe and they figured out, that the working costs at SAAB in Trollhättan are 30% lower compared with Opel in Germany. So I thought it is clear, Trollhättan will produces Opels, making profits and keeps SAAB alive. But the GM management has another point of view, they say, that there is larger market in Germany for Opel, than in Sweden and that the Opel buyers would be disapointed, if they close Opel plants in Germany. So they will also think about closing down SAAB because they can?t make profits producing just only SAAB models.

greetings

Axel

Reply to
Axel Schaefer

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