The latest news is that two Chinese firms want to purchase SAAB, and are prepared to invest as much as $500 million in the struggling Swedish car maker.
Apparently, this is being held up, because GM (ex-owner of SAAB) doesn’t want the Chinese to acquire GM-based technology from SAAB.
I don’t understand why the Chinese would want the company:
-SAAB hasn’t updated their product line in years-their cars are getting dated
-SAAB is not doing well in export sales (less than 5000 cars sold in the USA, in 2011)
I assume that the (ultimate) intent would be to move production to China-but (as far as I know) SAAB was never a bigger seller in China.
So why would they want to buy it?
I think the years ahead will be difficlt for all “niche” car makers-SAAB is too small to complete with the multi-national car giants that are now consolidating.
They’d be buying the brand name and the worldwide dealer network. I don’t know the current state of Saab’s worldwide dealer network, so I don’t know if it’s worth half a billion dollars, but if you’re ChinaCo cranking out cars that you can’t sell outside of China because nobody’s ever heard of you and you have no means to connect with customers anyway, the best thing you can do is to buy an established brand.
eta: In other words, future Saabs will be existing cars (or cars currently in the production pipeline) with Saab badges slapped on them. Much like Fiat is planning on selling Chryslers that are nothing more than Fiats with Chrysler badges stuck on them. Fiat was interested in Chrysler’s branding and dealer network, not their awesome Sebring technology.
Confused awesome with awful, eh? 
Because Saab’s are cool.
Yea, cars from developing countries usually get branded as being cheap and crummy, sometimes justifiably, sometimes not. Even places with a history of developed industry can have this problem, how many decades did it take for Japanese and S. Korean cars to get taken seriously by Western markets?
So I imagine the idea is to jump-start the process by buying a Western brand that already has fairly good reputation.
I just wonder how much technological know-how GM inherited when they bought SAAB.
My guess is, pretty much none.
Saab has always made interesting cars, and has (had?) a following of fanatics who just loved them. While they’ve had some innovative and unusual designs (ignition lock cylinder in the console between the seats, clutch that could be replaced without separating the engine from the transmission), I don’t see that they’ve really pioneered any significant technological breakthroughs. One result of their fairly small sales volume and unique ways of doing things is that parts and service have been noticeably more difficult to find than for most car lines.
In the modern era of heavy use of electronic automotive technology, they suffer from the “European syndrome” of having glitches that are godawfully expensive to fix. I suspect that whatever technical information benefits the Chinese might garner could be more easily derived from another source, though I guess it’s possible they might not have good access to another source.
Despite their drawbacks, Saabs were rather well made. I’ll be interested to see what comes out of China under the Saab nameplate, but I must say I don’t have high hopes for the combination of oddball design and what I fear is substandard manufacturing quality.
[sarcasm font] China to makes Saabs? What could possibly go wrong?! [/sarcasm font]
Even if SAAB were to be bought by China, there is no real way that they could get a back door into SAAB aerospace is there ?
Declan
“i’m like a super trooper lights are going to find me
shining like a star!”
emphasis added
I have to disagree, Saab pioneered the small capacity turbo engine in a passenger car. It is only now, more than 30 years later, that the Germans for one (or 3) have followed that design:
- Audi A4
- BMW 3 series (2012)
- MB C-class
each uses the Saab turbo model for their entry level models. VW and Volvo may too.
Nope. SAAB Automotive hasn’t been part of SAAB AB for over twenty years.
SAAB AB? That’s one heck of a tautology.
Incorrect. SAAB is an abbreviation for Swedish Aircraft AB (equivilent to "Inc. in the USA).There is also SAAB Scania (maker of trucks and busses)-they are not part of the automobile company.
SAAB uses a lot of GM parts/technology (the 9-5 is Opel derived).
I just don’t see how a small volme car mfg. can make it today-especially one based in a high wage country like Sweden.
I miss my SAAB. 
So are you saying that Swedish Aircraft Inc. Inc. is not a tautology? I bet Floater knows that the name must have a history that explains it, but the name is still just stupid. They could have come up with somtehing better.
I guess that the AB part of SAAB somehow lost its meaning to the illiterates in charge of the company so they added another AB and ended up with the Swedish Aeroplane Ltd Ltd.
And things just got worse when they hired ABBA for those commercials.
I’ll think about that as I walk to the ATM Machine.