Saab seraity vendue

After days of speculation and rumor, General Motors made it official this morning, Saab will soon be back in Swedish hands. In many respects, this is the most fitting result for quirky brand. Koenigsegg is an oddball itself, building insanely fast supercars in a Scandinavian country where you can't legally drive over about 60 mph.

The deal will be partly financed through a $600 million loan from the European Investment Bank that is co-signed by the Swedish government. Just as GM will continue to provide Penske-owned Saturn with cars for a time, it will supply platforms and powertrains to Saab. The length of time that Saab will continue to use GM hardware hasn't been disclosed, but it will likely be for at least the next 5-6 years – if not longer. The new 9-5 which will be built in Trollhättan, Sweden is launching later this year followed by the 9-4X crossover. Both of these will probably complete their lifecycle on current platforms. The same is likely true for the 9-1 which may launch in 2010 or 2011. The big question mark will be the next generation 9-3, which had been expected to move to GM's Delta II platform.

The Koenigsegg-Saab deal should close by the end of September, and you can check out the official verbiage after the jump.

[Source: General Motors]

EN passant, Volvo aurait des parts dans l'entreprise :

In a weird twist of fate, if Koenigsegg completes the purchase of Saab from General Motors, Volvo will also become a small stakeholder in its native rival. Koenigsegg, which has reportedly signed a letter of intent with GM to acquire Saab, gave Volvo 3,750 shares back in 2000 to pay for the use of its wind tunnel.

Volvo's stake in the exotic carmaker is very small, worth only about 8,000 Swedish kronor (€760 or $1,022 USD according to current exchange rates). Nevertheless, Volvo is on the books as part owner of Koenigsegg, and if the sale of Saab goes through, it will become a stakeholder by association – unless it divests itself of its Koenigsegg stock.

All of this must mean very little to Volvo, as a spokesperson for the company was completely unaware of his employer's holdings in Koenigsegg when asked about it by the Swedish business daily Dagens Industri.

Saab et Volvo ont déjà été partenaires... en aviation.

Les Saab JA37 Viggen étaient propulsés par des réacteurs américains (J79? pas sûr...) qui étaient assemblés sous licence en Suède par une filiale de Volvo.

Mais le rachat par Koenigsegg est une bonne chose pour Saab, je crois. Si ils regagnent leur indépendance, peut-être se remettront-ils a produire des véhicules intéressants?

C'est à souhaiter. Je crois qu'il y a plus de place que jamais pour les véhicules de "niche".

Yep, en espérant qu'il désOPELiserons les Saab