TODAY IS A sad day for Sweden’s car industry as Saab has filed for bankruptcy.
After years of disappointing sales it’s the end of the road for one of motoring’s famous names.
A statement from Saab’s parent company, Swedish Automobile NV (Swan), explained that attempts to attract investment from Chinese company, Youngman, had failed: “After having received the recent position of GM on the contemplated transaction with Saab Automobile, Youngman informed Saab Automobile that the funding to continue and complete the reorganization of Saab Automobile could not be concluded.
“The Board of Saab Automobile subsequently decided that the company without further funding will be insolvent and that filing bankruptcy is in the best interests of its creditors. It is expected that the court will approve of the filing and appoint receivers for Saab Automobile very shortly.
“Swan does not expect to realize any value from its shares in Saab Automobile and will write off its interest in Saab Automobile completely.”
Formerly part of the GM empire, Saab’s continued use of GM technology complicated its future, since GM was concerned that Youngman’s investment in Saab risked compromising GM’s intellectual property rights.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of GM’s position (you can read more about this here), the end of the road for Saab is sad news for Sweden and the global motor industry.