Saab Sale Dead As Koenigsegg Group Terminates Purchase

By Nelson Ireson

Nelson Ireson

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2010 Saab 9-5

The disastrous scenario of Penske and Saturn is playing out once again, this time with Koenigsegg pulling out of the agreement to buy Saab from GM. So far neither GM nor Saab have revealed the reason behind the decision.

GM's CEO Fritz Henderson released a statement this morning confirming the death of the deal. "We're obviously very disappointed with the decision to pull out of the Saab purchase," said Henderson. Where Saab will go next isn't clear, but there's now a very real risk the brand could end up on the scrap heap alongside Saturn and Pontiac.

"Given the sudden change in direction, we will take the next several days to assess the situation and will advise on the next steps next week," said Henderson, but the short missive didn't detail what the "situation" looks like behind the scenes.

Looking forward to next week's announcements, potential options include: termination of the brand, sale to an as-yet unnamed third party, or further support from the Swedish government pending a search for another buyer. Unfortunately for fans of the quirky Scandinavian brand, winding down and termination is the most likely in the new scenario.

Saab had been working on bringing out the new 9-5, a sort of return-to-roots visual design, to be followed shortly by Saab's first non-GM design since it was purchased back in 1989. The 9-3X and 9-4X were expected to fill the gap in the mean time.

As always, we'll bring you the latest on this situation as it happens.

[GM]