BMW Purchasing Saab? Not So Fast!
Our friends at Autoblog posted some speculation about BMW’s potential interest in Saab. I dismissed that out of hand upon reading it.
Saab, unfortunately, is damaged goods (read nigh on ‘radioactive’) at the moment. Their sales in the last few years have been abysmal. And BMW doesn’t really want midrange (C & D class) cars in FWD, rather they will restrict their FWD offerings to A & B class cars.
More importantly, you need to view the Saab brand through the ‘Rover’ filtered lenses that any good BMW executive should wear. The Rover adventure cost more than one BMW executive their careers. And Rover was more of a going concern when BMW purchased it than Saab is now.
Unfortunately there is so much more debt than equity to Saab. It was a great and admired marque. (I have fond memories of seat time in Saabs, from a 93 (two stroke), 99 EMS, and Viggen – the car, alas not the plane. Not to mention some good times at Pike’s Peak covering Per Eklunds runs up the mountain at the hill-climb.)
It is an interesting notion, and as much as I’d like to see Saab resurrected, I don’t think BMW is going to risk being their savior.
Author: Hugo Becker
Source: http://www.bmwblog.com/2012/02/22/bmw-p ... t-so-fast/