Friday, November 27, 2009

A Saab Story

Saab has just been taken off life support and is expected to die in the next week. Koenigsegg pulled out of the deal earlier this week and today the Swedish government announced they will not bail out the company if GM chooses to liquidate it.

Until it was assimilated by the Borg-like GM, Saab was known for making quirky, performance oriented hatchbacks. Afterwards they churned out re-skinned Chevy Malibus and Trailblazers. The result was predictably bad. The Muselix and Birkenstock crowd who bought Saabs departed for Subaru. Before long, Saab's only customers were a handful of Minnesota farmers named Olsen who were trying to get back in touch with the old country. "Traded the Tahoe on a new 9-5 did ya?" "Oh yah, you betcha! It goes through the sno' like a hot knife through tapioca..."

I hate to see Saab leave the automotive landscape. But the company has become yesterday's lutefisk.

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