In its search to find a buyer for Saab, GM found an unlikely partner in Swedish supercar builder Koenigsegg. The deal with Koenigsegg means that GM has now found a buyer for all of its brands it wished to offload, other than the medium-duty truck line that is being phased out.
Koenigsegg and GM have signed a memorandum of intent and plan to close the deal by the end of the third quarter. GM Europe reported that the deal includes an additional $600 million of financing from the European Investment bank that would be guaranteed by the Swedish government.
“Additional support is to be provided by GM and Koenigsegg Group to fund Saab’s operations and product program investments,” said GM Europe. “This includes plans to launch several new products that are in the final stages of development.”
Koenigsegg is known for making some extremely fast and powerful machines, but not in volume. Koenigsegg made 18 cars last year while Saab produced more than 93,000. A Koenigsegg spokeswoman confirmed that a memorandum of understanding had been signed, but declined to comment further on what the company’s plans for Saab are.
“There are no economies of scale between Saab and Koenigsegg,” said Mikael Wickelgren, an automotive expert at Skovde University in southwestern Sweden. “This is a constellation of buyers that probably have different interests than GM, which was driven by volume.
"This will be a business where one would assume that the owners want to chisel out a personality for Saab. The logic would be in the special and unique. Otherwise I cannot understand the deal.”
Although it is unclear how the deal will play out, Saab workers welcomed the news. Swedish Industry Minister Maud Olofsson also welcomed the news and said that Saab staff and other Trollhattan residents (where Saab’s headquarters is located) had been waiting for just such a development.
Source: Automotive News