Thank you for your interest in Edmunds.com's coverage and analysis of carmakers. AutoObserver.com is being integrated into a new area of Edmunds.com. Coverage of carmakers now can be found at http://www.edmunds.com/industry-center/. To stay connected via social media as well, please follow Edmunds.com on Twitter@edmunds and fan... more
Saab
If Saab Finally Done, End Began 20 Years Ago
By AutoObserver Staff September 14, 2011In the 64 years since aircraft maker Saab started developing cars, it has designed and built just 12 entirely new models – and four of those have been somewhat dubious derivations of other manufacturers’ vehicles. Even for a brand whose models have been notable for their (often unplanned) longevity, that kind of product turnover simply hasn’t been enough to sustain a car company in the modern consumer age. This single factor of not enough fresh and compelling cars often enough inevitably assured Saab’s demise. As it has been known for six decades, Saab appears to be finally finished. The more
Saab Production Venture With GM Proceeding
By Bill Visnic May 19, 2011The financial trials of Saab Automobile AB have shut down production in Trollhattan, Sweden, the company's sole assembly plant, for six weeks, but there still is a place Saab’s are being built: Ramos Arizpe, Mexico. The General Motors Co. assembly plant is contract-building Saab's all-new 9-4X midsize crossover (above), which shares its underpinnings and most powertrain components with GM’s Cadillac SRX luxury crossover and a Saab spokesperson told AutoObserver that the ongoing financial maelstrom that led suppliers to suspend parts deliveries to Saab's assembly plant in Sweden has not affected assembly of the 9-4X at the GM plant in more
Saab Trying Another Chinese Rescuer
By Bill Visnic May 16, 2011Not a week removed from an aborted investment-ownership deal with Chinese automaker Hawatai Motor Group, Spyker Cars NV's Saab Automobiles unit reportedly has forged a new pact with one of China's more prominent and successful auto distributors, Pang Da Automobile Trade Co. Ltd. The deal spells out a 50-50 joint venture to distribute Saabs in China as well as the formation of a manufacturing joint venture to produce Saabs and also vehicles to be branded by the venture, a common arrangement in Chinese auto manufacturing. The venture would have to arrange for a manufacturing partner, as Pang Da currently more
Saab Seesaws Again Toward Insolvency
By Bill Visnic May 12, 2011Just days after Saab Automobile AB acting CEO Victor Muller said he was confident a hastily arranged deal with privately-held Chinese automaker Hawtai Motor Group would allow Saab to restart production at its assembly plant in Sweden, reports from China today confirm the deal has dissolved. At a press event in Washington, DC, on Tuesday to launch Saab's upcoming 9-4X crossover (above), Muller suddenly bolted to catch a China-bound flight, but it appears his presence was unable to influence Chinese government authorities, which had to approve the $213 million Hawtai intended to invest in Spyker Cars NV, the parent more
Saab Back On Even Keel After Chinese Investment
By Bill Visnic May 10, 2011Saab Automobile AB chief executive Victor Muller said Monday he is confident after a cashflow scare that shut down the automaker’s sole assembly plant in Trollhattan, Sweden, that a new investment from obscure Chinese automaker Hawtai Motor Group will be all that’s required to assure Saab’s continued operations. He also said Saab had numerous offers of funds to sustain the company after numerous suppliers demanded immediate payment of invoices for components delivered to the Swedish automaker. more
Saab's Fallen, Perhaps Can't Get Up
By Bill Visnic April 12, 2011It’s already been a wooly week for the auto business in Europe, and the financial intrigue at Saab Automobile AB, where limited liquidity and meager sales are a one-two punch on the company’s increasingly bleak future may be a story surpassing even the bizarre events in French automaker Renault’s “spy scandal” that resulted in a top-management departure. more
Saab CEO Retiring, Big Loss For Spyker
By Bill Visnic March 25, 2011Saab Automobile AB said today its financial situation is improving, despite exiting bankruptcy and nearly two months of complete shutdown early in 2010. Saab operations earned a small profit last year, although Spyker Cars N.V., the Dutch holding company that owns Saab, lost $309 million for the year – nearly 10 times its loss in 2009. Simultaneously, Saab announced that president and CEO Jan Ake Jonsson (above), likely Saab’s longest-serving executive, is retiring effective May 19. more
Saab Tells the World: 'We're Still Here'
By Michelle Krebs March 7, 2011The Saab Phoenix concept unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show yesterday bears a bold and assertive design, one that not only hints at the Swedish automaker’s future styling direction but also exemplifies its attitude. Indeed, it has taken audacity, courage and endurance for now-independent Saab to plow through this past year, and it will take every bit as much of the same to create a future for the automaker that almost disappeared from the automotive landscape. more
2010: Top 15 Industry Newsmakers of the Year
By Dale Buss December 29, 2010Industry leaders good at casting visions and those who excel at cleaning up dominated the news in 2010. As the U.S. auto market chugged definitively out of the Great Recession, visionaries such as Volkswagen's Martin Winterkorn and Fiat's Sergio Marchionne helped prove that robust plans, and personalities to match, can still drive the industry. Just as important for 2010, however, were newsmakers who fulfilled niche but crucial roles in pulling the industry out of one of the toughest markets in history, such as General Motors' Dan Akerson and Steven Rattner, the former federal auto czar. Here's our list of more