Saab to shut down as GM shuns Spyker bid: report

• Source: Global Times
• [00:49 December 25 2009]
• Comments

US auto giant General Motors will not consider Dutch sports car maker Spyker's renewed bid for Saab and is planning to shut down the Swedish brand, a Swedish newspaper reported Wednesday.

"Saab's board had a short meeting Thursday ... And the discussions were entirely about shutting down Saab – not about the new bid," wrote daily Svenska Dagbladet (SVD), citing Haakan Danielsson of Sweden's engineering union, who attended the meeting, as saying.

GM announced last week it would wind down its loss-making Swedish unit Saab after breaking off sales talks with Spyker, but the Dutch company made a last-ditch bid for the iconic brand afterward.

Given the limit of December 31 for a potential sale or wind-down set by the troubled GM, Spyker chief executive Victor Muller said Tuesday that he was "working under a very difficult timeline."

"GM wants to sell Saab ... It is of course better to have money come in than pay the costs associated with shutting down," Danielsson told SVD, "But it is dragging on and it is going to take more time before everything is ready" for the deal to be completed.

Matts Carlsson, one of Sweden's most respected auto industry analysts, meanwhile told Swedish radio that GM was probably not interested in selling Saab at all, suggesting the US carmaker would rather shut down Saab because of fears over future competition.

AFP