Koenigsegg doesn't want to take on Saab. Tough break!

So apparently Koenigsegg is pulling out of buying Saab because it does not have the resources to take it on, even with the backing of China’s Beijing Automotive Industry Holdings (a name that just flows off the tongue, very catchy).

This isn’t a big surprise, while I know someone from Sweden who says that working for Saab is prestigious job I’m not quite sure why on some levels.

The company has been losing money since 2001, not exactly the most impressive record, that means for almost 9 years the company has been nothing but a hole into which GM (which isn’t exactly loaded) has been throwing their ‘hard earned’.

Sadly, I can see why. Why would you buy a Saab? Anyone actually bought one? If so why did you do so? Do you have someone who works there who can get you discount? There are said to be 3000 people working for Saab in the UK, I wouldn’t surprise me if there wasn’t that many more units sold in the UK (once you’ve taken family and friends of sales personnel in account).

If you want a Safe car you get a Volvo, if you want a prestigious fast car you get a BMW, if you want a car that will run for all of time you buy Japanese, if you want to deal cocaine you buy a BMW with the ‘drug dealer’ sports pack. If you have a phobia of trucks then you buy a 4x4. If you are an aging executive with a BMI over 25 then you get a Mercedes. If you’re a graduate fresh out of University and you have two X chromosomes you buy a new mini. If all you need is space for a tiny white middle class woman, then you by a Range Rover. It all makes sense.

But who would buy a Saab? It isn’t particularly fast, reliable, cheap, cheap to run, economical, good to the environment, spacious, prestigious, powerful or good looking.

I’ve just checked the web-page and the starting model is about £19,000. If you have £19k hanging around I am going to bet you are not thinking “what I really, really want, and would be really excited to buy is a brand new Saab!”

It gets worse when you think what it is actually made from, the design has hardly changed much for many years, and that is great if you have what is in essence a classic, like the Porsche 911 or the Aston Martin DB9, but the Saab 9800 is hardly inspiring. Google it, lets face it, you don’t know what it looks like off the top of your head do you?

The new Saab 9-3 looks like an updated 9300 and is based on GM parts. Which gives the horrible feeling that you’re buying a Vauxhall Vectra in drag, hmmm maybe that is harsh; let’s say in a party dress. Either way it doesn’t really inspire.

The difficulty is that while I know this and I bet most other people do too, GM is far too busy with its other problems to care about what happens to a company that produces around 1-2% of the cars it sells per year. It is holding on for dear life itself, let alone worrying about one of its smaller subsidiaries.

So what can be done for the poor people who work for Saab? More so, what can be done for the poor people who buy them?

Well cash investment is what is needed, but we’re in a recession so there is more chance of me personally buying enough of the cars to keep the company going, which is a bit of a pity, because lets face it there is no reason why it can’t be a successful company.

All they need is a hat. They could take that hat and fill it with bits of paper with words on it like ‘fast’, ‘compact’, ‘economic’ and ‘reliable’. Then get a man to pick out two of these pieces of paper and (assuming they are not anonyms) they will have a new business plan! Next stop, bin the 9-3 and anything associated with their previous work and get on with it.

Who knows, in two years there is may be a car on the market that makes Saab actually worth saving.