Rumors began circulating earlier this week that Saab was in talks with Fiat, but the struggling automaker’s CEO flat-out denied the existence of conversations with the Italians. That doesn’t mean that the government of Sweden hasn’t held talkswith Fiat, however, as a spokesman at the Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications confirmed.
“We have had contact with Fiat,” said Hakan Lind, the Ministry’s spokesman, told Reuters. “The meeting was about Saab.”
He didn’t confirm any details beyond the existence of the conversation, but given Fiat’s apparent interest in acquiring all of GM Europe, including Opel, Vauxhall and Saab , it seems plausible that the Swedish automaker could become part Italian.
Yet Saab says that Fiat is not interested, despite Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne’s announcement that his goal was to acquire all of GM’s European operations.
“We [are] not aware of Fiat,” Saab spokesman Eric Geers told Agence-France Presse. “Of course we know that there have been discussions in Germany but not specifically on Saab.”
Saab CEO Jan Ake Jonsson told Tidningarnas Telegrambyra “It was the head of Fiat who put two and two together and turned it into four, but that’s nothing I want to speculate about. We aren’t holding any discussions with Fiat.”
Saab says that it has about 10 interested parties, none of which include Fiat, and that, according to Jonsson, it is “expecting an indication of their interest this week.”
With conflicting reports coming out of Sweden and Italy, really anything is game. Months ago, when GM first announced that it would sell off its Saab unit, analysts immediately predicted that Fiat would emerge as a potential suitor. At the time, Fiat’s cash situation was far more flush than most other automakers and CEO Marchionne’s suggestion that the industry would need to consolidate seemed to go hand in hand with Saab’s need for new ownership.
