General Motors CEO Ed Whitacre says a deal to save Saab from extinction is unlikely to be completed, despite reports claiming two unknown Swedish groups have made 11th-hour bids to save it.
Whitacre said no party had come forward with the necessary funding to buy and restructure Saab. He also revealed that GM had done “everything humanly possible” to sell Saab.
“It's real easy,” he told Reuters. “Just show up with the money and you can have it [Saab], but nobody's showing up with the money. I think we've done everything humanly possible.”
Dutch sports car manufacturer Spyker was previously the only firm known to have submitted a bid for Saab ahead of today’s 4pm deadline, but Swedish newspaper Dagens Industri said two new parties were likely to submit bids before the time expires.
Sweden's state secretary for industry, Joran Hagglund, told the paper that three parties had expressed an interest in Saab and two were likely to follow this up with bids.
“We have had contacts with several different groups since the 18 December, among them three from Sweden," said Hagglund. "I should think that at least two of them will submit bids to General Motors during Thursday.
“The problem is that none of them can show that they have financing in place.”
Hagglund also revealed that Koenigsegg, which had originally bid for Saab before the deal collapsed, had not renewed its interest. The Swedish government is set to meet GM bosses next Tuesday to discuss Saab's future.
Whitacre said if no suitable bid was received before the deadline, an orderly closure of Saab would begin.
Twitter - follow autocar.co.ukSee all the latest Saab reviews, news and video
Join the debate
Add your comment
Re: GM boss: 'Saab unlikely to sell'
Wow - did the guy really say that, on record?! Unbelievably crass, even as a negotiation ploy, especially to add "everything humanly possible" in the very next line.
GM's stewardship of Saab has always been about the money - the lack of it for new models over a generation - and they're now tossing the emaciated remnants (workers, dealers, customers, fans & all) on the garbage heap because "nobody's showing up with the money".
Sell it for one buck - at least give someone else half a chance to show you what you can do with a 'different', quirky brand which completely passed you by for a decade, and which thousands of people (God love 'em) still have affection for.
Re: GM boss: 'Saab unlikely to sell'
GM should just keep Saab. The brand is a goldmine. It is also GM's only upmarket brand in Europe and "import" in the US. But hey, it's GM, they just don't "get it" do they?
All the money they poured into Cadillac's reintroduction in Europe to sell a few thousand cars, what an absolute waste. Saab could have been the automotive equivalent of Apple. Now they're just going to junk the whole thing. Thanks GM... We love faceless world companies...
Re: GM boss: 'Saab unlikely to sell'
SAAB have being going downhill since they stopped making two strokes...
LOL!
(Actually, they've been freewheeling downhill)