No New Saabs Until 2010

Last week, we told you about Saab’s new owners closing a third of its dealers, but it seems the remaining dealers are running out of new cars to sell. An Atlanta dealer says he has 10 new cars on the lot and won’t get more cars until the 2010 9-5 sedan arrives.

When the 9-5 was originally introduced, GM said it would go on sale in late 2010 in the U.S. Bloomberg is reporting that Saab is currently retrofitting its factory and production will begin this winter with deliveries starting in early 2010, but that’s to Swedish buyers only.

A Saab dealer in New Jersey said he expects the new 9-5 to arrive in spring of next year, but he expects the 30 or so 2009s on his lot will be long gone by then. There is no mention of the current 9-3 line resuming production.

Saab Dealers Running Out of Cars as Plant Cuts Output (Bloomberg.com)

Poll: Will the Saab 9-5 Save the Company?

We just heard that Saab will cull its dealer base in the U.S. because of slow sales. Its new product lineup kicks off with the 2010 9-5 sedan — check out dozens of pictures of it below — and the last we heard a new 9-4X crossover will follow it.

But all we know is next year Saab will be selling the 9-5. Is it enough to save the brand? Poll below.  

Saab Closing 37% of Dealers

GM had already canceled franchise agreements with all 218 U.S. Saab dealers earlier this year, but word from Sweden is the new owner of Saab will only renew 137 branches. That leaves 81 stores out in the cold. The new company, which will be owned by Koenigsegg, made the move after sales took a dive of 62% this past year, mainly due to an aging product line.

A Saab spokesman said the new owners “have looked at what is best for Saab, in what parts of the U.S. we should be, and at which dealers that have a good possibility to make good money.”

The redesigned Saab 9-5 shown above will be the company’s first all-new product when it goes on sale late next year.

Saab Terminates 37 Percent of U.S. Dealer Franchises (Bloomberg)

2010 Saab 9-5 at 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show

• Competes with: Acura TL, Cadillac CTS, Volvo S80
• Looks like: The 9-3’s wealthier – and more rotund – uncle
• Drivetrain: 300-hp, turbocharged 2.8-liter V-6 and likely a less powerful turbocharged base engine; front- or all-wheel drive
• Hits dealerships: Late 2010

Saab finally got around to redesigning its flagship sedan, which now sports a number of cues that highlight Saab’s oft-marketed “Born from Jets” tagline.

The new 9-5 looks more like Saab’s Aero X concept shown in 2006 than anything else in the Swedish automaker’s lineup. Black A-pillars give the sense of continuous glass between the windshield and side windows; it looked cool on the Aero X, but we’re not sure it translates well to a production sedan.

GM Signs Agreement to Sell Saab

After announcing its intention to buy the Saab brand from GM back in June, Swedish company Koenigsegg has now signed an agreement to buy the brand, making it mostly a done deal.

We use the word “mostly” only because Swedish government officials have said that more capital is needed before the deal can be closed. While the specifics of the deal have been kept under wraps, the Swedish Ministry of Enterprise has said that Koenigsegg must add more private capital and negotiate loans with the European Investment Bank. Approval from the European Commission must also be secured, and the Swedish National Debt Office must make state credit guarantees.

While these bureaucratic hurdles remain, Swedish business papers have reported that the main obstacle is $412 million in capital that Koenigsegg needs to put up, as well as the loan from the European bank. Carls-Peter Forster, the president of GM Europe, has said he expects the deal to be completed in the next few months.

Saab will launch several new cars it developed with GM — including an all-new 9-5 sedan — and continue to share services and technology with the Detroit automaker for “a defined period of time,” according to GM.

GM Seals Deal to Sell Saab to Koenigsegg (Detroit Free Press)

GM Leaves Bankruptcy: Where Do the Brands Stand?

In the tumult of GM’s lightning-quick journey through bankruptcy, you may have lost track of what will happen to all the individual brands. Therefore, here’s a quick and handy guide to where each brand currently stands as the new taxpayer-owned GM emerges from Chapter 11.

Saturn: Purchased by the Penske Automotive Group, which owns NASCAR and IndyCar racing teams, as well as the U.S. distribution arm of the Smart car brand. Saturn’s five models will become the property of Penske but will still be built by GM on a contract basis. According to reports, GM will continue production of the three best-selling Saturn models for the next two years: the Aura, Vue and Outlook. It will discontinue the Sky and Astra. By 2011, GM will stop producing Saturn vehicles, and Penske will have to find a new manufacturer — possibly Renault Samsung Motors of Korea, according to Automotive News.

Saab: Swedish supercar maker Koenigsegg led a consortium to purchase the ailing brand from GM. The deal is contingent on $600 million of financing from the European Investment Bank to be guaranteed by Sweden. The deal is supposed to close sometime in the third quarter of this year, but analysts have questioned whether Saab is big enough to survive regardless. It sold only 93,000 cars last year and has been unprofitable for a long time.

Saab Sale Official; Four New Models Coming

GM has reached a tentative agreement to sell Saab to Swedish sports car company Koenigsegg. The deal will be partially funded by the European Investment Bank and will keep the Saab product line moving with current GM technology.

GM spokesman Tony Macrito confirmed that Saab will release four new models over the next 18 months. The first will be the Saab 9-3X, an all-wheel-drive version of the company's entry-level sedan and wagon. It goes on sale later this summer.

The next-generation 9-5 sedan is in its final stages of testing in Sweden. The 9-5 wagon will also be released at a later date.

Surprisingly, the 9-4X crossover (above), which seemed almost ready for production last year, has no firm release date outside the 18-month timetable. But it is still "moving ahead," Macrito said.

The sale should be completed by the end of the third quarter of this year, GM said. 

GM Finds Buyer for Saab

It looks as if GM will unload Saab, its underperforming Swedish premium brand, to Swedish supercar-maker Koenigsegg, in conjunction with a group of Norwegian investors. This marks GM’s third move to rid itself of a non-core car brand, after its proposed sales of Hummer to a Chinese machinery company and Saturn to Penske.

Sources told The Financial Times that Koenigsegg made “the best overall offer,” though no details are yet available other than word that the deal will be completed sometime early this summer. GM has pledged $500 million in assets and cash for the new company.

The Swedish supercar-maker sold just 18 cars last year, but it wants to apply its high-end know-how to a high-volume car-manufacturing operation.

Saab hasn’t turned a profit since GM bought a stake in it back in 1990. Sales peaked at 133,000 units in 2006. Perhaps Koenigsegg will have better luck.

Koenigsegg Set to Buy Saab (Financial Times)

Will Consumers Miss the Old GM? Not Likely

There’s been a lot of talk about “good GM” and “bad GM” and what the closure of Pontiac and sale of Saturn, Saab and Hummer will mean to the new company. We thought we’d recap the impact GM’s restructuring will have on car shoppers.

General Motors remains the largest producer and seller of cars and trucks in the United States, already selling 777,785 vehicles this year, through May.

Nearly one of every five cars purchased in the U.S. comes from GM through the Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Saab, Saturn, Hummer and Pontiac brands.

Pontiac will be shut down completely by the end of 2010, with Saab, Saturn and Hummer expected to be sold off.

Those four brands combined have 18 nameplates on sale. Together, those models comprised 2.4% of the new-car market in April. That’s a drop of about 1% from the same time last year (3.6%).

GM Assurance Plan Covering Equity, 9 Months of Payments

Earlier this morning Ford announced its new assurance program covering up to 12 months of payments if a new-car buyer loses his source of income. Minutes ago, GM announced a similar plan. It covers up to nine months of payments of $500 a month, and it will cover any negative equity in your vehicle if you trade it in on a new GM. The program starts Wednesday and runs through April 30.

What does that last part mean? As far as we can decipher from GM’s brief press release, if you buy a new GM car today and after 24 months of ownership you trade it in for a new GM car, GM will pay the difference if you owe more than the car is worth. There is no mention of a cap on this amount, and we will update this post as soon as we learn of one.

This equity protection requires any owner to have paid off half of the term no matter the length. So if you have a six-year deal you must pay through 36 months before trading the new car in to qualify.

GM is launching a website for the program at gmconfidence.com, but the site is not yet live.