SWEDISH CAR firm Saab is to close after its owner General Motors (GM) said it had failed to sell off the brand. A GM statement said it would begin “an orderly wind-down of Saab operations”.
GM had been in talks with the Dutch speciality car maker Spyker about a potential sale, but discussions collapsed yesterday.
GM Europe president Nick Reilly said: “We regret that we were not able to complete this transaction with Spyker Cars. We will work closely with the Saab organisation to wind down the business in an orderly and responsible manner.
“This is not a bankruptcy or forced liquidation process. Consequently, we expect Saab to satisfy debts including supplier payments, and to wind down production and the distribution channel in an orderly manner while looking after our customers.”
He said the firm will continue to honour warranties, while providing service and spare parts to current Saab owners around the world.
Saab had been put up for sale last January, when GM, which also owns the Opel car brand, was struggling to avoid bankruptcy.
A spokesman for Saab Ireland said they were shocked by the news. “It came like a bolt out of the blue.”
The company has a network of 14 dealers across the State, but recorded sales of only 99 cars this year to the end of November, down from 899 sales during the same period last year.
The brand is distributed in Ireland by the OHM Group, which is the Irish agent for several other marques including Jaguar, Land Rover, Daihatsu and Jeep, along with truck firm Daf. In November, VW Group took back control of its Seat brand from OHM.
The spokesman said it was too early to say how many jobs might be lost here because of the move. “Six staff work directly for the brand at OHM but other operations such as accounts and parts management are shared with the other brands.”
The group has already cut staff from 250 to 180 in recent months.
Saab’s Dublin 4 dealer Gordon Kellett said he was deeply disappointed with the decision. “Many of us did honestly think that a deal would be reached. It’s very unfortunate. But GM has not had a great relationship with the Saab part of the business over the years and has not always had their best interests at heart.
“Whatever happens we will look after our loyal Saab customers and we’ll make sure no one is left stranded by this decision.”
There were 12,060 licensed Saabs in Ireland at the end of last year, according to figures from the Department of Transport.
The collapse of talks with Spyker comes a week after GM sold off the tooling and powertrain technology from its current 9-3 and 9-5 models to Chinese car firm Beijing Automotive Industry Holdings. A new 9-5 model had already been unveiled and was due to go on sale early next year.
Saab grew out of an aircraft manufacturer shortly after the second World War and employs 3,400 people in Sweden. It has about 1,100 dealers globally. Global sales last year were 93,000 cars. It reported losses of €240 million for 2008.
An earlier attempt by GM to sell Saab to a Scandinavian buyer, Koenigsegg, collapsed last month.
Despite GM’s failure to sell Saab, Ford is pressing ahead with talks to sell its Swedish brand Volvo to China’s Zhejiang Geely.
“It’s totally separate and won’t affect the sale process,” John Gardiner, a Ford spokesman said. “We’re working with Geely toward an agreement that is in the best interests of all parties.”
Ford named Geely as its preferred bidder for the Volvo brand.
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