Saab Not Dead Yet.

Rule 1 of this blog:
Never miss a chance to invoke Monty Python

Well, it looks like the Saab automobile manufacturer may be back from the dead, with Spyker reentering negotiations, and there are nibbles from other firms. (also here)

There are two paragraphs of note in the story:

Spyker said Sunday it has submitted a renewed offer including an 11-point proposal addressing issues that arose during the due diligence process.

……

GM—which had previously entered talks with Spyker after a deal with Swedish luxury car builder Koenigsegg collapsed last month—had set an original deadline of Dec. 31 to seal a deal.

My guess as to what this means is that GM is spend a lot of time dicking with potential bidders, either in terms of an unwillingness to allow the transfer technical rights and data to the prospective bidders, or in terms of financial issues, particularly in terms of the dealers and access to GMAC financing for those dealers.

Unlike Pontiac or Saturn,^* Saab, small though its sales are, has the advantage that it actually has a devoted and nigh-fanatic following who are willing to pay a premium for the product, and so there are companies, particularly in the very end super car field, who are interested in purchasing it, because it gives them a way to go mass market with some of their more esoteric technology.

If there is a mass market car company that will implement things like friction stir welding on its models to go with an all aluminum body at a reasonable price, it would be Saab, and I can see how a supercar manufacturer like Spyder, or Koenigsegg, might use the interplay between the low-volume hand made autos and the (relatively) high volume Saab to create a sort of "technical echo chamber" to move the implementation of this technology along.

^*Actually, Saturn did too in the mid 1990s, with people literally going on vacation to their manufacturing facility in Spring Hill, Tennessee, but once GM realized that people loved their cars, they spent the next 10 years doing their level best to piss off employees and customers, because if Saturn could make cars that people liked, it would put too much pressure on the rest of GM.