Neverending Saab Story Youngman Lotus Refuses to Go Away

Official news of Saab's inevitable bankruptcy liquidation last December 19 broke too late for "Trend's" last deadline. After covering it at motortrend.com, we figured Saab's death would be nothing more than a brief "We Hear" item.

Saab has never been that easy. Between deadlines comes word that Youngman Lotus, the Chinese company that tried to buy Saab last year after the Swedish factory shut down when suppliers held back parts, is trying to pick away at the company. The news reports were accompanied by grainy, leaked photos of the stillborn new Saab 9-3.

"The receivers in Sweden have been talking to several groups," says Tim Colbeck, chief of Saab's post-GM North American marketing, a separate company from the automaker. Colbeck hoped one of the mystery groups would take over all of Saab, but says it's no clearer to him than to us. A parts company will likely rise from the ashes of Saab Cars USA, but warranty coverage for post-GM Saabs "is to be determined," Colbeck says. Former owner General Motors scuttled Youngman's attempt to buy Saab while it was still viable, by objecting to potential threats to GM's intellectual property. When Victor Muller's Spyker bought Saab from GM, the contract stipulated Spyker could not share GM platforms with another automaker. GM built just a couple hundred 9-4x crossover/utility vehicles for Saab in the Mexican plant that builds the Cadillac SRX.

So it was easy for GM to stop delivering the CUV to the Swedish brand. Saab built the GM Epsilon II-based 9-5 in Trollhättan for nearly a year. That’s the platform GM wants to keep from other manufacturers, especially in China, where SAIC builds Epsi II-based Buick LaCrosses in a joint-venture factory. So, Youngman Lotus swoops in and has an international brand to place on a relatively sophisticated sporty four-door hatchback, right?

Not so fast: The Chinese government still must approve the deal. As we’ve reported before, China is much more interested these days in reducing, not expanding, the number of automakers in the country. The only thing of which we can be sure is the Saab story simply will not go away

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