After announcing the imminent closure of their deadbeat Saab division, General Motors has now sold the long-running Swedish brand to Spyker, the niche exotic manufacturer from the Netherlands whose Russian investor connections had the General stalling all this time over concerns of technology transfer.
General Motors had an overbearing number of brands up until earlier this year, after spending the last few decades picking up random brands for no apparent reason. One of those brands was the Sweden-based Saab, maker of quirky unwanted cars that no one outside Sweden seems to want. GM itself underwent bankruptcy this year, got bought out by Obama’s government, and has been cutting down its portfolio. GM tried to sell Saab to Koenigsegg, then to the Chinese, and then to Spyker. After those talks failed, GM has announced that they are killing Saab.
After overcoming everyone from disgruntled dealers to pissed-off pensioners, the sale of Chrysler to Fiat is finally complete after 42 days. Fiat now owns most of Chrysler’s assets and will receive US$ 6.6 billion in “exit financing” from the U.S. government.
American automaker General Motors has filed for bankruptcy. As analysts have known for months finally got confirmed, the largest car manufacturer in the world filed for “Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection” on June 1, 2009 in a New York court, declaring US$ 82 billion in assets and US$ 172 billion in debts. However, General Motors Middle East claims that they are unaffected.