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Saab has been locked in negotiations with owner General Motors and the Swedish Government as the Scandinavian car maker struggles to re-establish itself as an independent entity.

GM and Saab are said to be co-operating smoothly on the plans. The split is also in GM’s interests as it races to produce a new business plan that will see it concentrate on the Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac and Buick brands. GM has also to meet a US Government deadline to prove its own long-term viability.

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Anyone else genuinely excited about Saab being Swedish again? It has a whiff of a certain British marque about it - the company still peddling dated models designed in a different decade - but I'd like to think it has a little more going for it than Rover.

I really hope that SAAB can successfully return to it's Scaninavian home and regain that unique design and style language that helped it thrive in the past. Perhaps the days of the multi-brand conglomerate spread across all continents are over now that we have seen the damagae that can be done when such large entities succumb to financial or trading woes. Smaller independant companies can react more quickly and decisively to sudden unexpected challenges without the overbearing weight of many layers of far-flung management. Small is beautiful again.

ThwartedEfforts:

Anyone else genuinely excited about Saab being Swedish again?

Yes.   I'm very supportive of them going alone, but I do question if they can do the whole of the development themselves or need access to a good platform to build up from.   There's companies bigger than them who choose this route simply because it reduces costs to share as much as possible between different marques.   So for that I think they'll probably still have to find a technical partner.   One which isn't a ball and chain!

But at least you can say a Saab is a Saab.   You can't confuse them with any other make!

ThwartedEfforts:

Anyone else genuinely excited about Saab being Swedish again?

 

Absolutely! It would be great to have real Saabs back again.

If they limit themselves to a 9-3 size car (maybe just a hatch), source engines from (say) VAG and market the brand on its old relaible traits of safety, individuality and common-sense, why not?

 Saab were successful in the past by not doing what everyone else was doing; they can become successful again with the same philosophy. Don't follow trends, don't follow "leaders," let the latest fads come and go.

Another possibility, develop paltforms with Subaru, but keeping strong Swedish identity. 

ThwartedEfforts:

It has a whiff of a certain British marque about it - the company still peddling dated models designed in a different decade - but I'd like to think it has a little more going for it than Rover.

Yes, even down to the shifting of a production line to allow the newly independent company to make its most promising model itself (9-5/Rover 75).

Incidentally, I liked the bit about "Sources also confirmed that there are substantial savings in build costs compared with the German factories."

Which begs the question why GM put the 9-5 into Ruesselsheim in the first place. Ford and GM have consistently favoured high-cost/low flexibility Germany when they decide which plants to keep/load - presumably because its so difficult to fire people in Germany. But it's utterly daft long-term.

Rover.

roadtester:

Which begs the question why GM put the 9-5 into Ruesselsheim in the first place.

Probably to keep Ruesselsheim busy!   More central to their sales area?   Closer to their engine plant?  Or other suppliers?   Perhaps anticipated capacity?   It's also in the Euro zone, so no currency fluctuations.

What fantastic news - SAAB truly has a chance to gain independence and produce quirky, individual, safe and fast cars like its past (99, 96 and first generation 900). Saab also has a fantastic history in Rallying and perhaps this is something they can capitalise on in the future. GM never truly understood SAAB or its key values or principles. It never let it truly develop or tried raising its profile to be a genuine alternative to BMW, Audi or Volvo for that matter.As for Rover - unfortunately that was destined to fail as its cars (in the past) had a truly horrible reputation for unreliability and shoddy build quality. Something in my opinion it never managed to escape. Shame….

Arise “the thinking mans car” again…

Hello R'heim was running well under capacity with the old Vectra/Signum. The addition of the new 9-5 volume was going to help make the plant more efficient and profitable. Saab's then-boss Peter Augustsson tried to keep the 9-5 at Trollhatten and resigned when the decision went against him. I think the next 9-3 was also originally heading to R'Heim, while Trollhatten was set to become a Delta (Astra) plant and build the new 9-1 range. Last summer, that plan was abandoned and the new 9-3 was scheduled to be shrunk onto the Delta platform and built in Trollhatten. Now it looks like Trollhatten will remain an Epsilon plant (Ep 1 underpins the 9-3, Ep 2 the new 9-5/Insignia). Confusing, certainly.

In my view the key to this is does Sweden, Scandanavia and poosibly Canada need a car that is specifically developed for use in thieir environment. Or have crashability, front wheel drive and reliability progressed enough in mainstream European and Far Easterm models to make them appealing in such climates?

 If they have something unique they should go it alone if not they need to stick their badge on a competent design and try to sell on style rather than substance.

Symanski:

Probably to keep Ruesselsheim busy!   More central to their sales area?   Closer to their engine plant?  Or other suppliers?   Perhaps anticipated capacity?   It's also in the Euro zone, so no currency fluctuations.

Yes, on the face of it those look like fairly plausible arguments but Saab's best markets - Sweden, US and UK - are all outside the Eurozone, so building it profitably in Ruesselsheim, notwithstanding the logic of what hiltonh says, was probably starting to look like a very tall order indeed.

Incidentally, I'm not sure what the very latest numbers are but in the recent past, the UK has often been Saab's second best market after the US, but ahead of Sweden.