Bankrupt Saab’s museum cars win reprieve from auction

TROLLHATTAN, Sweden (ACNI) – Several automotive specialty publications are reporting that the 120 cars in Saab’s Heritage Museum have been spared their day at auction following the automaker’s bankruptcy filing.

The museum's fleet of rare Saab automobiles representing more than 60 years of manufacture was supposed to be sold to the highest bidder on Jan. 23, with proceeds earmarked for creditors. But according to the Jan. 25 edition of ClassicDriver.com, the City of Trollhattan joined forces with Saab AB – Saab Automotive’s former parent company – and the Marcus and Amalia Wallenberg Memorial Fund and came up with the approximately 3 million euros ($3,943,000) needed to satisfy receivers. The publication stated that “the collection [is] being preserved at its existing site.”

Saab Automobile AB began work on its first passenger car in 1944 and released it into production in 1947. Its design and technology reflected its parent company’s roots in aviation. Saab’s debut vehicle, the 92001, or Ursaab, had a drag coefficient of 0.30, the lowest of any production car of its time.

In 1969, Saab merged with Scania-Vabis AB to form Saab-Scania AB. In 1978, Saab entered into an agreement with Fiat to sell a re-branded Lancia Delta as the Saab 600 and to jointly develop a new platform. The agreement yielded 1985's Saab 9000, sister to the Alfa Romeo 164, Fiat Croma and Lancia Thema. All rode atop a common type-four chassis. The 9000 was Saab's first bona fide luxury car.

In 1989, the Saab car division of Saab-Scania was restructured into an independent company, Saab Automobile AB, headquartered in Sweden. Over the next decade, General Motors acquired an increasing stake in the company that culminated in 100% ownership by the year 2000. But the 11 years to follow proved to be mostly difficult ones for “the well-built Swede.” Saab was plagued with debt and lack of liquidity.

After the global recession of 2008, Saab’s financial problems compounded, and on June 8 of last year, the company had to cease production due to an insufficient supply of parts. On June 23, Saab announced they were unable to pay June salaries to the entire workforce of 3,800 employees. Six days later, the company bowed to pressure from Sweden’s autoworkers trade union and paid the employees.

From that point forward, the company fought a downhill battle to stay afloat. On Sept. 11, they filed their second bankruptcy petition within a three-year period. On Dec. 19, with no other workable options available to them, Saab officially filed for bankruptcy.

In spite of the financial and other challenges that have dogged them over the past several years, it may not be the end of the road for Saab. Under Swedish law, a company can be bought out of bankruptcy. On Jan. 29, the receivers handling Saab’s bankruptcy stated that discussions were being held with four or five parties interested in doing just that. Parties known to have shown an interest include the Chinese carmaker Youngman, India’s Mahindra & Mahindra, and the Turkish private equity firm Brightwell Holdings.

On Feb. 2, several Swedish newspapers reported that Youngman had placed a bid for Saab.

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