Grim situation at Saab

[Dave W]

Saab missed a payday last week.

This headline looks optimistic, the article makes things look very dim. If they wind up defaulting and being majority owned by a hedge fund -- which looks likely to me -- then at best the company will be parted out.

[Barklessdog]

More Saab Stories

[Denis]

Too bad. Although I've never owned a Saab, I've always liked them.

[uwe]

There is nothing to part out, Dave, that is the issue. Those cars have been Opels and Vauxhalls inside for the last two decades - not that there is anythiing wrong with that, Saab's original technology was always overrated in a cultish fashion, but in fact lagged behind the large competitors 90 % of the time.

All there is, is a brand name to resurrect. Someone would have to love that brand very much and be very wealthy. Labor of love, not of profit, to get Saab up and running again.  Like the Indian investor who bought Jaguar and put the cat on its four paws again. The Chinese are doing well with Volvo too, but then - contrary to public perception and unlike their Hong Kong countrymen - mainland Chinese are reliable long term investors not short term financial sharks. The good thing about communists sturned to state monopoly capitalists is how they stick to things! Like Tibet. 

[Freuds_Cat]

SAABs made the "Most unreliable car sold in Australia" list for quite a few years straight back in the 80's.    ......just sayin' 

[bassvirtuoso]

I love mine (even if it's a GM product), shame to see them go under.

"Born from Jets"

[Dave W]

No new technology to part out, but they still have a physical plant.

Worst car I ever owned was a 1974 Saab 99, bought new. Still, they're a part of automotive history and they were different.

[bassvirtuoso]

Here in Omaha, we have a specialty mechanic in town that LOVES Saab's. He's trying to get a mid-80's 9000 to have around a million miles on it, so far he's somewhere in the mid-300,000's. I had to drive it about a month ago when my car was in the shop and it still drives well. I probably wouldn't own a Saab if I didn't know this guy.

[Aussie Mark]

I've never understood the mud flaps positioned half way between the front and rear wheels.

[uwe]

No new technology to part out, but they still have a physical plant.

Worst car I ever owned was a 1974 Saab 99, bought new. Still, they're a part of automotive history and they were different.

I'm emotionally attached to them too - as a Volvo guy they are kind of family -, but with the car-production-overcapacities we're seeing in Europe and worldwide, their own (outdated and ineffective) facility is a lead anchor around their neck. Their brand is the major asset, but you could produce their cars anywhere.

I always liked their "black panel" feature, though it was a non-sensical toy.

[Dave W]

Maybe they could bring back the 96, or even the 92. The world needs a quirky looking 2-cycle 3-banger. 

[Pilgrim]

When GM had it, they screwed it up thoroughly.  Their system is/was a hammer, so everything had to be a nail.  No room for deviation from the corporate party line.  The only thing they did to make it a Saab was put the ignition on the center console.

Of course, that's far from the last stupid thing that GM did in their corporate ignorance.

I checked out a Pontiac 6000 from the Texas A&M motor pool in the late 80's.  When I sat down in it and glanced at the dash, it was impossible to read because of the design - all the sunlight coming in the windshield was reflected into the instrument area.  Stupid.  I then started it and went to adjust the radio - and found that the oversize shift knob on the end of the column shifter was EXACTLY in my line of sight to the radio - I had to lean sideways slightly to see the radio!  Stupid, stupid.  I then had some reason (I forget what) to pop open the glove box and discovered that the huge latch mechanism blocked the entire left side of the glove box (the side the driver would have to access), and that to get into the glove box I had to practically lie down on the seat and reach around the latch. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

In less than 60 seconds I found three substantial design flaws.  No wonder GM got their collective ass kicked for 20+ years.  Other than the Corvette, the new Camaro is the first Chevy passenger car that has appealed to me visually since about 1980.

[bassvirtuoso]

The only thing they did to make it a Saab was put the ignition on the center console.

That freaks out anyone who gets into my car...

[wagdog]

I had a neighbor that had one of those 2-stroke Saabs.  Man, I love 2-strokes but that was a smoking pig.

[Dave W]

I had a neighbor that had one of those 2-stroke Saabs.  Man, I love 2-strokes but that was a smoking pig.

That, and the legendary smoothness of the three cylinders.  

But there was nothing else like 'em.