Spare me the Saab story

[qwikz28]

GM announces sale with Spyker will not be finalized, Saab will be wound down in an orderly fashion..

Now we will never see the new 9-5 on the road, glad I saw it at the N.E. Autoshow.


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4004/4169460692_b301bcf6fc.jpg

Saab Sale Cannot Be Concluded
Brand to be Wound Down

Detroit. General Motors announced today that the intended sale of Saab Automobile AB would not be concluded. After the withdrawal of Koenigsegg Group AB last month, GM had been in discussions with Spyker Cars about its interest in acquiring Saab. During the due diligence, certain issues arose that both parties believe could not be resolved. As a result, GM will start an orderly wind-down of Saab operations.

"Despite the best efforts of all involved, it has become very clear that the due diligence required to complete this complex transaction could not be executed in a reasonable time. In order to maintain operations, Saab needed a quick resolution," said GM Europe President Nick Reilly. "We regret that we were not able to complete this transaction with Spyker Cars. We will work closely with the Saab organization to wind down the business in an orderly and responsible manner. This is not a bankruptcy or forced liquidation process. Consequently, we expect Saab to satisfy debts including supplier payments, and to wind down production and the distribution channel in an orderly manner while looking after our customers."

Saab will continue to honor warranties, while providing service and spare parts to current Saab owners around the world.

As part of its efforts to become a leaner organization, GM began seeking a buyer for Saab's operations in January. Last week, Saab Automobile AB announced that it had closed on the sale of certain Saab 9-3, current 9-5 and powertrain technology and tooling to Beijing Automotive Industry Holdings Co. Ltd. (BAIC). GM expects today's announcement to have no impact on the earlier sale.

As the company continues to reinvent itself, GM has been faced with some very difficult but necessary business decisions. The focus will remain on the four core brands - Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC - and several regional brands, including Opel / Vauxhall in Europe. This will enable the company to devote more engineering and marketing resources to each brand and model.

[Foosh]

Sad to see them and pontiac go, but if its necessary to reinvent Gm, then i guess its a small sacrifice.

[Brendan713]

Sad to see them and pontiac go, but if its necessary to reinvent Gm, then i guess its a small sacrifice.

a Small Sacrifice?? Okay i understand Saab but Pontiac? Come On Man!!! Pontiacs kick arss and i love'em i love the old school trans ams and GTOs they were sick cars now they can never be re-invented

[SteveR]

What a failure. Saab had some really nice cars. I test drove the new 93 and 95 last year and was very impressed.

[WildBillyT]

a Small Sacrifice?? Okay i understand Saab but Pontiac? Come On Man!!! Pontiacs kick arss and i love'em i love the old school trans ams and GTOs they were sick cars now they can never be re-invented

Did you love the Aztek? Or the Torrent? How about the Vibe? Trans Sport? Montana?

Pontiac had a few hits, but more than their share of failures.

[SteveR]

Did you love the Aztek? Or the Torrent? How about the Vibe? Trans Sport? Montana?

Pontiac had a few hits, but more than their share of failures.

I want a G6 GXP damnit! :lol:

[EchoMirage]

the torrent was a nice small SUV, and looked very good in GXP trim. the vibe was very popular and well regarded. my mother has one and is very happy with it. no problems, very useful, with lots of usable space and options.

[BonzoHansen]

Did you love the Aztek? Or the Torrent? How about the Vibe? Trans Sport? Montana?

Pontiac had a few hits, but more than their share of failures.

Vibe was GM's best small car IMO

[WildBillyT]

Vibe was GM's best small car IMO

I see more Matrix's then I do Vibes. And it's a NUMMI car anyway.

[BonzoHansen]

I see more Matrix's then I do Vibes. And it's a NUMMI car anyway.

Either way still better than any other GM small offering

[BigAls87Z28]

The 9-5 was gunna be a sweeeeet ass car. Rumors were of a twin turbo AWD V6.
Sad to see it go, but I hope that most of the powertrain engineers from Saab get sucked by Opel

[BigAls87Z28]

Funny part of the Vibe?
Had the lowest rankings in intial quality
AND had a lower rating from Consumer Reports then its identical sister car, the Matrix from Toyota.
Same was said for Prizm/Corolla.

[Anti_Rice_Guy]

Funny part of the Vibe?
Had the lowest rankings in intial quality
AND had a lower rating from Consumer Reports then its identical sister car, the Matrix from Toyota.
Same was said for Prizm/Corolla.

I've always tried arguing that point....do you have links to them?

[BigAls87Z28]

I still cant find it outside of just other Ford guys talking about it.
Still, lots of chassis bracing contributes to the near 400lbs incraese from a GT to GT500.

[Anti_Rice_Guy]

I still cant find it outside of just other Ford guys talking about it.
Still, lots of chassis bracing contributes to the near 400lbs incraese from a GT to GT500.

They try and keep it on the DL I guess. I talked to my Mustang friends and they claimed to know nothing about it. They claim they're putting 700hp through stock chassis fine.

[BigAls87Z28]

Eh...the GT500 standard cant put downt he power that well...
the GT500 has a lot of suspension and chassis enhancements to handle the power.

[BigAls87Z28]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Mustang_(fifth_generation)

Look down at the GT500 section.

[Anti_Rice_Guy]

Muchas gracias

[Foosh]

Funny part of the Vibe?
Had the lowest rankings in intial quality
AND had a lower rating from Consumer Reports then its identical sister car, the Matrix from Toyota.
Same was said for Prizm/Corolla.

Haha yes they bash on every thing american and praise toyota's crappiest cars... and were they about this well over 1 million unit recall on toyota trucks because their frames where rotting out in years, to the ppoin that they were losing body mounts and such. Must be using really poor steel, and painting it extremely poorly... wheres CR on that? didn't the tundra get praise for having a boxed frame finally, i mean at this point thats not a big deal for a truck yet CR and those other companies make it sound like it is.

[Mike]

cry all you want, but if YOU have never bought a NEW pontiac/saturn/saab, then you are part of the problem no matter how much you love them

[BigAls87Z28]

Yeah, Tundra got a boxed frame a decade after GM did.
Tundra faced a lot of problems when it first came out, and toyota as a whole has suffered from tons of recalls recently. The Toyoda family fired the CEO because he drove the company to the cheap end on parts, and put back in another family member.
It seems that Toyota has fallen back behind the pack on a lot. None of thier cars are class leading anymore. With the Koreans learning way too fast, and the Americans coming out of a 30 year coma, Honda is the only one set up right now.
Toyota hasnt made any major progress at all. Hell, they just launched a 500hp, $400k supercar in the times when other automakers are launching electric cars, and in the middle of a huge economic fall out.

[qwikz28]

cry all you want, but if YOU have never bought a NEW pontiac/saturn/saab, then you are part of the problem no matter how much you love them

We own a Saturn and a Saab. I convinced my best friend to buy a G6 GTP. We are all happy with our cars. I'm sad to see all those companies go, especially Saab. I had a sweet spot for the new 9-3 Aero.

[SteveR]

cry all you want, but if YOU have never bought a NEW pontiac/saturn/saab, then you are part of the problem no matter how much you love them

Over the years I've purchased three new Saturns and one Pontiac. I was really liking the 93 too.

[Mike]

a Small Sacrifice?? Okay i understand Saab but Pontiac? Come On Man!!! Pontiacs kick arss and i love'em i love the old school trans ams and GTOs they were sick cars now they can never be re-invented

We own a Saturn and a Saab. I convinced my best friend to buy a G6 GTP. We are all happy with our cars. I'm sad to see all those companies go, especially Saab. I had a sweet spot for the new 9-3 Aero.

Over the years I've purchased three new Saturns and one Pontiac. I was really liking the 93 too.

i wasn't specifically talking to either of you. its just something that has been getting on my nerves for a while, all the fanbois crying (mainly about the death of the firebird) but in reality all they have is a fleet of junker used cars. they have done nothing to support the company that they are mad at for going under, it makes no sense

[B4C]

a Small Sacrifice?? Okay i understand Saab but Pontiac? Come On Man!!! Pontiacs kick arss and i love'em i love the old school trans ams and GTOs they were sick cars now they can never be re-invented

While they were awosome cars they are irrelivent to this downfall of Pontiac. Ponitiac had for the most part cookie cutter cars that pretty much all looked the same and it had been that way for a long long time, which I also think was the downfall with the 04-06 GTO it was just another bleah typical looking Pontiac.

[Mike]

While they were awosome cars they are irrelivent to this downfall of Pontiac. Ponitiac had for the most part cookie cutter cars that pretty much all looked the same and it had been that way for a long long time, which I also think was the downfall with the 04-06 GTO it was just another bleah typical looking Pontiac.

the downfall of the gto was the fact that THEY NEVER PLANNED TO HAVE IT AFTER 06 they brought it over for the last three years of that generation Holden, and the new one was never planned to be developed for American standards

they imported all the gto's that they planned on, and stopped when they planned on, just because they stopped doesnt mean it was a downfall

[BigAls87Z28]

the downfall of the gto was the fact that THEY NEVER PLANNED TO HAVE IT AFTER 06 they brought it over for the last three years of that generation Holden, and the new one was never planned to be developed for American standards

they imported all the gto's that they planned on, and stopped when they planned on, just because they stopped doesnt mean it was a downfall

Cars like the GTO is what Pontiac should have been making since the 80's, a sportsmans car. Had GM kept up with the times and not taken its eyes off teh ball, they could have transformed the brand into something like a low-end BMW, Audi, Infiniti brand.

Oh well.

Pontiac wasnt killed because of its lack of sales, as it was teh 2nd best selling division in GM outside of Chevy. Pontiac had a very small following and a very low return rate for customers. Pontiac was a door out of GM, not a doorway in.

Pontiac was planned to die in 2012-13, but with Chap 11, it was pushed foward.

Pontiac's sales kept dropping off at a rate much faster then the rest of the brands, and this had started many years before.
Once Pontiac got rid of the notion of a full line brand, loss of minivans, loss of its 3 major sedans, etc etc.
GM made several missteps with Pontiac, but in the end it had decent cars to the very end, cars that people begged for GM to make.
They made them, no one wanted them, and less and less every year.

To be honest, they should have killed Pontiac in the mid 80's.
Now with Pontiac and Saturn gone, Chevy has a lot more room to spread its wings...