Saab Can't Pay Wages for August, Marks 3rd month in a row.

[Drew Dowdell]

SAAB Can't Pay Wages for August

Marks 3rd month in a row

August 23, 2011 - Drew Dowdell - CheersandGears.com

Struggling Swedish automaker Saab N.V. announced to workers today that some of the funds committed by investors have yet to be paid and thus may not be in place in time to make salary. Production of Saab vehicles in Sweden has been offline since March 2011. Saab was planning on restarting production on August 29th, but this recent announcement regarding payroll puts that idea into question.

Source: Saab Media

DD - Question to readers: How much longer till I have to move this forum into the "Heritage Marques" group?

[William Maley]

How many lives has Saab used up? 7? 8?

[loki]

2012... Armageddon.... for saab.

[2QuickZ's]

Every one of these I read makes me sad. I really like my Saab 9-5. It is my third Saab and even I wouldn't buy a new one right now with all the uncertainty. It's a shame, too, because the new 9-5 is a really nice car and I actually like the looks of the 9-4X better than the Caddy.

[ZL-1]

Actually, according to a SAAB spokeswoman, the plan (her wording) is to pay eventually with some delay. I got people pissed off at me at SU, so I'm not going to comment any further with regard to this, except for the fact that as someone who likes SAAB and sees that GM actually gave SAAB a prety decent lifeline at the time of the sale, this whole situation stinks.

Edited August 24, 2011 by ZL-1

[regfootball]

i actually had some time today to stop by the saab dealer and check out the new models. at least sit in them.

i gotta admit, i don't think there is enough wow factor inside, the 9-4 is a bit nicer inside than the 9-5, but really the plastics are not nice enough, the seats are not 100% there, the detail execution inside is not really where the audis etc. of the world are.

the exterior shapes are good but they still maybe are not extreme enough or have enough of their own personality to stand out........

the 9-5 is nice looking and the interior really just doesn't mate to the msrp. really you could slap an oldsmobile badge on the car and charge LaCrosse pricing and it would be a more believable sell......

i think there is still way too much GM dna in these saabs......and there is not much else to distinguish them. everyone does a good turbo now. everyone does AWD now.

saab has no unique selling proposition.

i always felt that saab should have moved downmarket to become the anti volkswagen when VW was trying to be upscale. now VW has gone downmarket. Saab is too hosed to go down to lower price points now. I really think it was hard to ask more than even Acura money.

It would be nice to see Saab live on but the new product better take off. Sad to say I'm not sure at least in the case of the 9-5 that is has the edge in any way to allow it to make an impression.

[RjION]

SAAB can't pay it's bills ................. dah.

[Drew Dowdell]

One thing that just occurred to me: Wouldn't GM be on the hook for warranty repairs and product support if Saab goes under? I think that's why GM was so reluctant to sell instead of shutter in the first place. I think GM would have to cover it for 10 years after the last GM built SAAB rolled off the line.

[RjION]

We think you think could be right.

SAAB is hardly part of GM Heritage

Edited August 25, 2011 by RjION

[2QuickZ's]

I agree with the statement that they should have moved downmarket. They are good cars and fun to drive (I've had 3 if you include a Saabaru) but are at the wrong price point. Had I bought my 9-5 new, I would have felt screwed by how fast it depreciated. Of course, under GM they would lay $6-8k on the hood during model year clearance. That was because most people leased Saabs (making them a better deal because the lease payments were pretty competitive) but after a certain point in the model year, they cut off the leases and the dealers actually had to SELL what was left. No way that was going to happen at full price. When leasing died in '08, Saab died with it because the MSRP's were too high for purchases. Leasing has come back but Saab hasn't followed suit due to all the economic uncertainty. Very sad.

[regfootball]

leasing was a smart way to get a Saab. they are already offering 10k off the just released 9-5....

[ZL-1]

I agree with the statement that they should have moved downmarket.

Yes and no, since SAAB was selling Epsilon 1 cars for close to or above 30K when they were released. It was more that GM had too many balls in the air to juggle and that someone thought that sending the CTS to Europe would instantly be a hit.

I think that the procedure now is that the Union is collecting claims from workers. From then they will request payment from the company and if the company doesn't pay within 7 days they can request that SAAB be placed in bankruptcy procedures.

Edited August 25, 2011 by ZL-1

[2QuickZ's]

Maybe I should have worded it differently. They needed to either move the MSRP down to the level of the product or move the product up to the level of the MSRP. You won't sell many cars on "quirkiness" alone and besides that, the later models weren't really that quirky. In the end, they just did not offer a competitive product at the MSRP they were at. Even I, as somewhat of a Saabophile, would much rather have a Cadillac CTS at $40-50K than a 9-5. That doesn't mean I don't love the new 9-5, it just means I think the Cadillac is a better value at that price. And that is just within the GM family. Never mind once the average consumer pulls in Audi, BMW, Lexus, etc.

[CSpec]

There must be crazy lease deals on 9-3s right? The list price of those things is like mid 30s which is way high for such an old car.