It is looking like Saab is toast. This comes from Dagens Nyheter, a Swedish daily (note: I originally saw this covered in the Austrian daily Kurier):
The government gives Saab cold shoulder
Commerce Secretary Maud Olofsson continues to give Saab the cold shoulder. It is not an option for the state to buy or take over Saab, which is threatened by the closure of American automaker GM, according to svt.se [Swedish Television]
On Tuesday, crisis-ridden Saab owner General Motors will present their plans for the future. But Commerce Secretary Maud Olofsson has low expectations that it will not mean good news for Saab.
The odds for Saab are not very good, she told SVT’s Report on Tuesday evening. According to Maud Olofsson, GM has not put forward any strategy that shows how Saab will be able to reach profitability. She also questions GM’s intentions and believe that if the U.S. carmaker was serious, it would have applied for a bailout loan from the European Development Bank.
According to TV4 news sources within the Cabinet Office, the Government will not risk taxpayers’ money to rescue the Saab from a bankruptcy.
Maud Olofsson’s attitudes on the issue of Saab are shared by others in the Cabinet. Even Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt believes that the responsibility is in GM’s hands.
In connection with the car show in Detroit in January GM’s Europachef Carl-Peter Forster said, “the Swedish government has Saab’s fate in their hands.” GM needs state aid in particular to develop the new Saab 9-3.Then it was said that GM would produce a business plan to the Swedish government, which showed that Saab had a future as a viable producer.
– The signals are very clear, the government does not want to take on any car manufacturer, said Carl-Peter Forster, who, instead is hoping for government guarantees for loans to be raised in the European Investment Bank.
Sources
Regeringen ger Saab kalla handen – Dagens Nyheter
Aus für GM-Tochter Saab? – Kurier