Subscribe
Close
  • Free for qualified executives and consultants to industry

  • Receive quarterly issues of Area Development Magazine and special market report and directory issues

Renew

GM to Close Saab Brand

12/18/2009
General Motors Company (GM) will begin shutting down operations of its Saab brand after talks collapsed with a Dutch company that had expressed interest in acquiring the Sweden-based automaker. The company says in a statement that the company began seeking a buyer in January of this year in accordance with the U.S. government mandate to streamline company operations in exchange for a financial bailout. "We regret that we were not able to complete this transaction with Spyker Cars," says Nick Reilly, president of GM Europe. "We will work closely with the Saab organization to wind down the business in an orderly and responsible manner." According to The New York Times, GM acquired a 50 percent share in Saab in 1990 and the remainder in 2000. GM filed for bankruptcy protection for Saab in Sweden last February; the company is on pace to sell fewer than 10,000 Saab cars in the United States this year.

Exclusive Research