Sad ending for SAAB
January 26th 2012 12:19
Please join AUTOLOUD in a moments silence for the Swedish Motor industry.
Okay, that’s long enough!
With Volvo long gone to their Chinese owners and SAAB handed from owner to owner like a game of "Pass the parcel" at a Hamas barbecue! The only thing left from Abba and IKEA land is now Konigsberg.
The ending for SAAB was inevitable really. Although it did manage a couple of comebacks, the slippery slide really began when GM (Yes, General Motors) decided they would not part with the intellectual property contained within both 9'3 and 9'5 car models. They had no problem while the company was in Swedish hands but with the non-existent IP laws in China it became a great wall too high.
Look into this a bit further and you begin to wonder why? You see both models were based on the Opel/Vauxhall Vectra which in turn was an updated version of the "J Car" which first entered showrooms the world over in 1981!
Unlike Detroit, China's motor industry is in overdrive. Yes they do "borrow" other people’s designs and adapt to their own needs but if GM really believe that any business could make a nearly 30 year old design into something new and special is pretty funny.
Maybe it was just jealously, after looking at the last 9'5 and 9'3 and the amateur styling, I think you can see why!
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