Spyker Cars Finalizes Purchase of Saab Automobile from GM

2010-02-23

*Transfer of ownership and operations to Spyker Cars takes place

*Previously announced wind down of Saab operations ends

*A new era begins for an iconic auto brand

General Motors and Spyker Cars NV today announced that they have finalized the deal for Spyker to purchase Saab Automobile AB.

Going forward, Saab and Spyker will operate under the Spyker (AMS:SPYKR) umbrella, and Spyker will assume responsibility for Saab operations.  The previously announced wind down of Saab operations has ended. “This transaction represents the successful outcome of months of hard work and intense negotiations, all aimed at securing a sustainable future for this unique brand, and we are pleased with the positive outcome,” said John Smith, GM vice president for corporate planning and alliances.  “This is a great day for Saab employees, dealers and suppliers, and a great day for millions of Saab customers and fans worldwide.”

“Throughout negotiations over the past year, GM has worked with many parties, including governments and investors, to find a solution for Saab,” said Nick Reilly, president, GM Europe. “I’m very pleased that we could come to a positive conclusion, one that presents a viable future for Saab and preserves jobs in Sweden and elsewhere.”

Spyker Completes Deal for Saab

By RICHARD S. CHANG

After months of on-again, off-again discussions, Spyker has completed its deal to purchase Saab from General Motors.

While the Hummer deal crumbles a world away, General Motors announced that it had completed a deal for at least one of its divisions.

Spyker Cars is now the proud owner of Saab. And according to the news release from G.M., the wind down of Saab’s operations is over.

“This transaction represents the successful outcome of months of hard work and intense negotiations, all aimed at securing a sustainable future for this unique brand, and we are pleased with the positive outcome,” said John Smith, G.M. vice president for corporate planning and alliances.

G.M. agreed to the deal in late January. Early this month, Spyker revealed its broad plans for the Swedish company, saying that the overall company name would change to Saab Spyker Automobiles.

“Spyker believes that through the purchase of Saab, it has a rare opportunity to acquire and rebuild a global car brand, which will be repositioned toward an independent performance-oriented niche car company with an industry-leading environmental strategy,” Spyker said in a news release at the time.

In addition to the planned release of the Saab 9-5 flagship sedan this summer and the 9-4x crossover early next year, Spyker said it ntended to develop a new 9-3 model and possibly a 9-1 to slot at the bottom of the product line.

On tuesday, Victor Muller, the chief executive of Spyker, emphasized his intention of bringing new “bold” cars to the Saab brand.

“We will reinforce the emotional experience between Saab drivers and their cars and we will focus on Saab’s historical strengths in the fields of independent thinking, aircraft heritage, ecological performance and motorsport,” he said.

He added, “Real Saabs, Saab Saabs.”

One auto analyst predicts that Saab and Spyker will benefit from the sharing of “engineering know how and technologies…activities in marketing and sales, and…certain parts and components in order to obtain access to supplier and partner resources,” which in turn will lead Spyker to reposition itself as “a performance-oriented niche car company with an industry-leading environmental strategy.”

Spyker CEO Victor Muller blames consumers’ difficulties to acquire financing as a major reason why Saab sales dropped by more than half  between 2008 and 2009, and understands, like any brand, the importance of loyalty: "Saab has to do nothing but regain its existing and old customers because that in itself would be in enough to create a very strong business model."

But will that business model be strong enough to sell enough Saabs to repay all those loans? Even before the end of 2010, we’ll probably know whether we’re seeing the start of a Saab success story, or the next episode of “As the Saab Turns.”