Saab, depending where you get your news from, is either dead or not quite dead. The Spyker company is still putting out releases that it is expecting to hear word from GM about the last offer to purchase the brand, but an automotive industry columnist says that there are already shovel loads of dirt on Saab’s grave. Does anyone know for sure?
The whole Spyker situation is a bit like a weird kid asking the hottest girl in school to a dance and after being initially blown off, he just keeps waiting around her locker to see if she’s changed her mind. Meanwhile she’s hooking up with the quarterback. We do not know the details of Spyker’s last offer to GM, but we do know that the company has never made money, produces a miniscule amount of cars, and has seemingly no hope of offering anything but a couple of weird, expensive sports cars to GM execs as compensation for the deal. Here’s a Reuters story regarding the latest statement from the “hopeful” leadership of Spyker.
Columnist David Sedgwick, reporting for the AOL Autos section, has Saab in the grave already. He does not offer any concrete words or statements from GM or Spyker, but he does breakdown the math involved in the deal and the financial shortcomings of Spyker. In an interesting line at the end of the piece, he notes that Saab had less than 2100 vehicles in inventory at the end of November. Seems like GM knew the jig was up then.
