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Two new potential buyers have already emerged just days after the collapse of the sale of Saab to the Koenigsegg group.

According to reports in the Swedish press, both Beijing Automotive (BAIC) and Wyoming-based merchant bank Merbanco are now seriously investigating buying up the ailing Swedish carmaker.

Both companies have already shown interest in Saab. Merbanco was in the last three bidders this summer when GM chose Koenigsegg.

Beijing Auto was a minority partner in the K...Read the full article

Autocar:

The Götbergs Posten is claiming that the Koenigsegg bid collapsed partly because of worries about BAIC getting hold of GM’s technology

so it was a re-run of the Opel/Magna deal and GM causing the breakdown, not the prospective buyer, as reported yesterday. so GM feels able to p*** off the Chinese as well as the Ruskies.

so much for hilton Holloway's and Greg Kable's blogs on this which fingered the breakdown on the buyer's side not GM's:

http://www.autocar.co.uk/blogs/autocarconfidential/archive/2009/11/24/saab-faces-oblivion.aspx

http://www.autocar.co.uk/blogs/anythinggoes/archive/2009/11/25/does-hyundai-hold-the-key-to-saab-s-future.aspx

'if GM was so against Opel going to Magna due to the Ruskies getting their hands on GM's world car platform tech what will they say to the Chinese getting the same through the Epsilon II(Insignia) based new 9-5? will it be double standards? after all, China is regarded as the US's banker. best not to flip the bird to your banker, unlike the disposable Ruskies.' - who wrote that?

kairoo:

Autocar:

The Götbergs Posten is claiming that the Koenigsegg bid collapsed partly because of worries about BAIC getting hold of GM’s technology

PS it's 'Göteborgs Posten'

Autocar:

According to reports in the Swedish press, both Beijing Automotive (BAIC) and Wyoming-based merchant bank Merbanco are now seriously investigating buying up the ailing Swedish carmaker.

 

I'll see your £50 bid and raise it to £75.

Good news!

Who cares?

Crap cars. Another company that should have gone out of business years ago. Just like Vauxhall should and Rover did.

kairoo:

'if GM was so against Opel going to Magna due to the Ruskies getting their hands on GM's world car platform tech what will they say to the Chinese getting the same through the Epsilon II(Insignia) based new 9-5? will it be double standards? after all, China is regarded as the US's banker. best not to flip the bird to your banker, unlike the disposable Ruskies.' - who wrote that?

The difference is that GM canned the Magna deal because it didn't fancy competing with variants of its own cars wearing Opel badges in key emerging markets (consider that the company now sells more Buicks to the Chinese than it does to Americans), and the Koenigsegg bid fell through because it boiled down to a Swedish toff trying to do a De Lorean where the numbers didn't add up by even bigger amounts.

It wouldn't surprise me if the Chinese involved pushed ahead with the deal anyway, particularly as Hummer set a precedent by being the first big name sent east. If GM can give away the platform that was under America's #2 best selling vehicle, why not the Epsilon I/II? You said yourself, best not flip the bird to your banker, and in this case it's not as though the Chinese couldn't copy their CKD kits. They've done it with every other kind of tech on sale.

It's also not as though any deal for a GM brand cannot involve Chinese or Russian money. If they're going to be coy about the commies then every future sale is doomed too, no?

kairoo:

'if GM was so against Opel going to Magna due to the Ruskies getting their hands on GM's world car platform tech what will they say to the Chinese getting the same through the Epsilon II(Insignia) based new 9-5? will it be double standards? after all, China is regarded as the US's banker. best not to flip the bird to your banker, unlike the disposable Ruskies.' - who wrote that?

Cart, quoting your own posts now; you know the next step is talking to yourself.

Notiron is right about SAAB, they were a money losing prospect when GM bought 50% of the company in 1989, it took GM seven years to turn a profit, kill it GM and sell the logo to a canned ham company.

I think Vauxhall are still making cars last I checked.

ThwartedEfforts:

If they're going to be coy about the commies then every future sale is doomed too, no?

I don't know. but I'm sure when anything that involves GM is concerned a certain yappy mutt will no doubt tell us that GM is strictly on the level and it's all the fault of the nasty Germans, Swedes, Russians, Chinese...

kairoo:

it's Yank holiday. no friends/family poodleman? GM your surrogate mate? - you're always blowing its kn*b

Just had a wonderful dinner with friends and family, watched some American football and now checking out Autocar for a bit, as for GM, just offering facts and opinions from time to time. How about you mein freund; having a good day? ;)

kairoo:

I don't know. but I'm sure when anything that involves GM is concerned a certain yappy mutt will no doubt tell us that GM is strictly on the level and it's all the fault of the nasty Germans, Swedes, Russians, Chinese...

Well that’s not true Cart, GM certainly has made many mistakes and some truly heinous cars as well, but if I see something that I think is not quite right or presented out of context I will comment on it and to your dismay from an American point of view. I mean GM did provide eighty years of employment to the German people through Opel, that’s not so bad is it?

I have nothing against our fellow inhabitants of this good earth, the Germans, Swedes, Russians, and Chinese, may they live long and prosper.

Notiron:

Who cares?

Crap cars. Another company that should have gone out of business years ago. Just like Vauxhall should and Rover did.

Do you say anything positive about anyone or anything? ever? Are you in a dark place. Missing Plummy? Do you need to talk to someone? SSRIs may be the answer. I'm here if you need me.