The end of Saab?

[crayzayjay]

As reported by the Financial Times
11th January 2005

GM review asks if Saab has a future

A General Motors review of its Saab subsidiary could lead to the upmarket car brand being axed, if the heavy investment required to revive it is deemed unjustified.


GM executives and people familiar with the study said there was only an outside chance that the Swedish marque would be killed off by the review, due to be completed within three months.

But even a remote threat is likely to prompt a political storm in Sweden, where the motor industry is an important employer.

Göran Persson, prime minister, has already visited GM's European headquarters in Zurich to offer local investment if Saab's Trollhättan factory is given more production.

GM added two new models to the Saab line-up last year to improve sales. But Rick Wagoner, GM chairman and chief executive, admitted that the 9-2X small Saab, based on a car from its Subaru Japanese affiliate, had not met sales targets after a botched US launch.

John Devine, GM's chief financial officer, said in an interview yesterday that the Saab brand "still has attraction".

GM insiders said the company is unsure what the Saab brand stands for. The typical customer is an academic - and, says one executive, "the question is, are there enough university professors to make the investments worthwhile?"

Saab has lost money in nine of the past 10 years and GM has steadily reduced its autonomy over the last 18 months. Manufacturing, engineering and most design decisions are now controlled by GM Europe executives, in Germany or Switzerland, reducing local management control to branding and marketing.

[crayzayjay]

3 months and no replies. I guess no one gives a shit