Saab a "luxury we can't afford," says GM
By Michael Bettencourt
Saab may have a future past this year, but the way things are sounding now, that future won't be with GM for long.
GM vice chairman of product development at first wouldn't discuss future specific Saabs to come or not come at all, but where the future of Saab as part of the GM family seemed pretty clear.
"Saab has never been profitable, and likely never was, so it's just a luxury we cannot afford right now," said Lutz.
He didn't specify how long GM could keep the brand's lame duck status going, as it was already named as a brand that was not part of GM's future in plans submitted to the U.S. government. GM and Chrysler have until the end of March to submit a final plan to the government on how they plan to restructure themselves into smaller, profitable versions of themselves, but their initial plans are due in to the government on February 17.
Posted by: Christopher Phelan | 2009-01-14 4:11:48 PM
Well, I have a Saab, and I like it. Why more people don't buy them to me seems fairly simple, no one knows what they are. I went the local GM dealer (not Saab), and the service rep had no idea that my Saab was a GM product. So GM has too many dealers, but very few of them sell Saabs. In my area there is a Volvo dealer and a Mercedes dealer, several GM dealers, but if you want a Saab you have go 100 miles away. Pity. So I say if you want to sell more Saabs, get more people selling them. This might actually help the dealers sell more cars and take some sales away from the compiition. And no, a Saab IS NOT a Subaru