Saab's Hopes Fade as Chinese Investors Lose Interest

[Dover]

Waaaaaah! :cry: Sobbing for Saab. Save Saab! Save Saab! Save Saab! Save Saab! Save Saab!



Saab Automobile’s last hopes for avoiding collapse appeared to be fading Thursday, with Chinese investors getting cold feet and the court-appointed administrator recommending that its reorganization process be halted.

Guy Lofalk, the administrator, “will apply for termination of the voluntary reorganization of Saab” and two subsidiaries, Saab said.

“We definitely will not accept” Mr. Lofalk’s bid to end the reorganization, said Victor Muller, the Dutch entrepreneur who bought Saab from General Motors in 2010. Mr. Muller added that he would seek to have a new administrator appointed.

cont'd


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/21/business/global/saabs-hopes-fade-as-chinese-investors-lose-interest.html?ref=global

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. They had many problems, mostly of their own making

Their quality was for shit of late.
They had no new efficient technologies on the shelf or even licensed.
Their designs were modern and really out there. In the 1970s. And there they stayed ever since.
Their costs were way out of whack when compared to US models that were far more advanced and beat them on every measure. (including quality)
Their repair costs were huge, compared to other imports. (If the whole world used clockwise bolts successfully, hey, let's go counterclockwise just to be Saab!)

I know some people love to overpay for POS like Range Rovers and the like, and they view their constant return to the repair shop as a badge of honor, but at least the Range had an aura of being able to deal with the wild. Saab didn't even have that.