Reports from German financial heavyweight Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung today suggest that the loss-making Saab subsidiary of General Motors is planning to launch three new models in Europe in an effort to boost volumes and break even.
Ignoring five years of procrastination since taking full control of the Swedish niche-player, an unnamed GM executive is quoted as saying, "We're taking the bull by the horns." Laughable.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung says that the Chevy Trailblazer / GMC Envoy badge blurring exercise that gave us the Saab 9-7X is to come to Europe along with a more compact sports utility vehicle, the 9-4. Given that GM has sold it's stake in Fuji Heavy Industry the platform sharing exercise with the Subura B9 Tribeca, which was supposed to be the base for a new Saab, looks like a non-starter.
Saab is also developing a compact car the size of a VW Golf or Opel Astra. Nice one, GM. Arse. Elbow. Let's make a car that competes directly with another of our products. This model, including possible variants, is meant to arrive by 2010 at the latest, said Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Swedish newspaper Dagens Industri reported on Friday that Saab made a loss of 1.9 billion Swedish crowns in the first half of the year, up from a loss of 763 million in the same period of 2004. Dagens Industri also reported that Saab's sales had fallen by 13 per cent to 12 billion crowns.
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