Saab about to go

kabayiri

It shall be interesting to wait for the firesale of all the tooling used in Saab factories.

I think the savvy Chinese car companies will snap up the value bits for little money.

They don't need the whole Saab company.

Batchy

Chinese, have already took what they wanted ... intellectual rights.
They will make them on such a large scale the tooling can be made overnight now buy high tech machines.

SAAB was always going to go, thirsty petrol engines, unreliable deisel GM engines.
Electrical faults, and not that much space either.

Suits a two person family who are looking for a respected badge from yesteryear rather than a ford or a GM machine... otherwise... tat

ruggedtoast

PasturesNew wrote: »

I've never ever known anybody to buy one when they were in business.... so nothing will change for me if I continue to never know anybody who buys one.

They were ugly cars for boring old blokes.

Yeah, actually my dad does own one.

zappahey

vax2002 wrote: »

The last range of Sabbs would struggle against a mobility scooter.

Really? My SAAB is electronically limited to 155mph and I don't recall being passed by many scooters.

Frankly, I'm saddened, but not surprised, to see them go. I don't think being bought over by GM was the way to go. GM tried to make them into GMs by cutting cost and quality and making them more GM-like.

Compare with Ford's approach to Volvo, etc, where they took the strengths of Volvo and applied them to the Ford range.

zappahey

PasturesNew wrote: »

They were ugly cars for boring old blokes.

<glum face>

movilogo

I would still much rather drive around in a Saab than a Kia. No one actually 'wants' a Kia. Its the kind of car you buy because you have run out of other options.

It is this kind of stereotype ideas, without backed up by any factual data, is causing stupid decisions throughout the country

ruggedtoast

movilogo wrote: »

It is this kind of stereotype ideas, without backed up by any factual data, is causing stupid decisions throughout the country

That would make more sense if corporate marketing departments didnt exist wholly to make people think of their brands in terms of stereotypes.

I am pretty sure that Kia's brand positioning is not responsible for most of the (admittedly multitudinous) stupid decisions in the UK.

sunshinetours

Shame - whether you like the cars or not they did make some seriously good cars in the 80's and my dad had a few including the turbo 16s which was a seriously quick car for its class and actually not bad looking in 3 door form

Brand loyalty to cars is pretty common and doesn't always follow logical thinking for many who love cars not just for a machine to get you from A to B

worldtraveller

Saab Automobile filed for bankruptcy on Monday after attempts by Chinese investors to take over the loss-making brand were blocked by previous owner General Motors Co.

The Vanersborg District Court in southwestern Sweden said Saab CEO Victor Muller personally handed in the application for bankruptcy for the company that built its first cars more than 60 years ago.

The court is expected to approve the filing later Monday and although there is still a small chance the bankruptcy administrator could sell the brand, experts say that would most likely involve chopping up the company into smaller parts.

AP

Road_Hog

Batchy wrote: »

Chinese, have already took what they wanted ... intellectual rights.

You are quite right there. The Chinese are like leeches, they have no interest in buying a manufacturer, they want the brand name, for next to nothing. They were doing the same with Rover. The only good thing that came from the Rover deal, was that the Chinese leech that had been trying to get it on the cheap, was out bit by another Chinese firm.

In the West, we talk about a win-win in sales negotiation, where both parties walk away happy with the outcome. Chinese don't believe in this, win-lose is their only objective.

worldtraveller wrote: »

Saab Automobile filed for bankruptcy on Monday after attempts by Chinese investors to take over the loss-making brand were blocked by previous owner General Motors Co.

Good, these vultures were only after getting the carcass cheap and they wouldn't have cared one iota over employees etc.