General Motors has apparently set a March deadline to have a final decision made on its struggling Saab unit. The Detroit-based automaker announced that it intends to perform a strategic review on the Swedish brand – which could include a sale or closure – as a part of its bid for low-interest loans from the United States government.
With the loans now secured pending further review in March, GM is forced to make a decision about Saab.
GM’s marketing chief, Mark LaNeve, has said that GM will announce “significant developments” in the sale of both Saab and Hummer by March, but a report from Børsen, a Danish news source, says that those developments mean that GM has given Saab three months to be sold – or it faces closure – according to Eric Geers, Global Communications Officer for Saab Automobile AB in Sweden.
Though Saab’s global sales figures have been low, the brand has been integral to GM’s small displacement engine development. The Ecotec II family of engines – used in the Saab 9-3 , a number of Opel/Vauxhall products and, in turbocharged form, the Chevrolet Cobalt SS, among others, was developed in part by Saab in Sweden. GM is heavily dependent on Saab’s turbocharging and small displacement engine expertise – but that could also prove an asset to a potential buyer.
Yet Saab is also heavily integrated into the worldwide GM network. The 9-3 and upcoming 9-5 and 9-4x are based on GM platforms and use numerous pieces from the automaker’s parts bins. Many analysts familiar with the innerworkings of the Swedish auto industry say that Saab is more integrated into GM than Volvo is with Ford – perhaps why Volvo seems to have had more interest from outside parties. Volvo is also up for sale as Ford attempts to increase its cash on hand.
