Saab rescue

[Pup]

The news: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... TzSw88UmXI

Joe Saward suggests that if successful, Genii could rebrand Renault as Saab, which makes sense. Of course I wonder how Bernie got involved, and wonder he isn't the force behind the move.

I can see it working. Saab can be gotten for cheap, but the brand needs a reboot in a bad way. Bernie could give it to them via F1. It would make particular sense if he could also get turbos reintroduced, given Saab's heritage there. So Bernie/Genii seems like a better move for the company than Spyker ever could be.

I'm suspicious by nature, so of course I'm wondering if Spyker wasn't making iniquries with Bernie about getting back into the sport, and now Bernie's pulling the rug out from under them with his own bid via Genii.

[mx_tifoso]

Thanks for the update.

But couldn't there be just one Saab thread?

[Pup]

Possibly.

But then, it's an F1 story now. Innit?

[xpensive]

The news: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... TzSw88UmXI

Joe Saward suggests that if successful, Genii could rebrand Renault as Saab, which makes sense. Of course I wonder how Bernie got involved, and wonder he isn't the force behind the move.

I can see it working. Saab can be gotten for cheap, but the brand needs a reboot in a bad way. Bernie could give it to them via F1. It would make particular sense if he could also get turbos reintroduced, given Saab's heritage there. So Bernie/Genii seems like a better move for the company than Spyker ever could be.

I'm suspicious by nature, so of course I'm wondering if Spyker wasn't making iniquries with Bernie about getting back into the sport, and now Bernie's pulling the rug out from under them with his own bid via Genii.

Saab's involvement in F1 has been rumored here for about a year, catchword is to make use of their "Bio-fuel" moniker including Turbo-ethanol engines, which would suit MrT's green agenda perfectly. Conclusively, a tender for the 2013 "preferred F1 engine" could result in Saab's four-cylinder 1.8 liter Bio-fuel turbo becoming the pattern for FIA's "world engine". Audi would be happy with that concept as well.

Gilles Simon has links to Saab as well from his university-days, when his thesis was based on the 1983 APC-engine.

What has stopped Spyker from taking over is their inability to come up with the 400 MEUR needed, pocket-change for MrE.

[Richard]

The news: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... TzSw88UmXI

Classic lazy journalism. The article has a pic of Bernie... and no mention of him in the text.

[Pup]

What has stopped Spyker from taking over is their inability to come up with the 400 MEUR needed, pocket-change for MrE.

Well, he'll probably have to borrow some from Slavica. But then the risk is really in the owning, not the buying. I'm not sure anyone can meet the sales goals required, particularly on such a short time scale.

But back to F1, up til now, I think most of the thought of Saab in F1 has just been pie in the sky. But if Bernie is involved, it seems almost certain that they would have some involvement. Turbo's are definitely the way forward, with ICE's that is. Not that they ever weren't, IMO.

Personally, I could care less about biofuel, but I admit there's value in it. I'd much rather see them dust off the venerable old 2.3 - I'm a bmw driver now, but the later incarnation of that engine still ranks as my favorite of all time. I admit that I don't know much about the 1.8 - that's not the same as their 1.6 SVC engine, is it? (I laughed when Lotus trotted out a poor version of that concept a few weeks back.)

[xpensive]

Think about it Pup, an alcohol-powered car with a Nordic twist to it, that might prompt Kimi's return to F1!

I suspect Britney's dad wouldn't object either?

[Richard]

Oh dear that would lead to more disingenuous ads…

“You can drive a SAAB that handles like an airplane and is powered by a Formula 1 engine.”

[WhiteBlue]

Saab is obviously a premium brand which recently wasn't marketed and managed at the high level that it deserves. The established brand equity with customers probably exceeds the necessary cash investment considerably. A private equity fund can exploit that value by holding the assets until they attract a higher price by a commodity brand seeking up market exposure.

[Pup]

Oh dear that would lead to more disingenuous ads…

“You can drive a SAAB that handles like an airplane and is powered by a Formula 1 engine.”

...and serviced by competent mechanics.

[meves]

It could be quite interesting, rename Renault to SAAB. Bernies quite a savvy business man, so he might manage to make them profitable. SAAB used to be a cool brand back in the day and the design of the new SAAB concepts are actually quite good looking.

[xpensive]

Imagine this TV-commercial with MrE behind the wheel; "With this Saab GPS-system, even I can find my way home!"

[Pup]

One thing I'm completely confused on is what exactly you get when you hand GM a check. I assume there's the production assets in Trollhatten, maybe a design team, the current distribution contracts, etc. But what about IP? Do you get any engineers? Wasn't the engine group spun off a few year's back? And wasn't suspension engineering moved to GM years ago?

I'd hope there's something in the asset list that's actually relevant to the brand.

[Pup]

Ahh, SAAB's rich open-wheel heritage...

The SAAB Quantum IV kit racer - looks like a lot of fun:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saab_Quantum

The Barber SAAB Series:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barber_Pro_Series

And the little known Reynard F3 SAAB:


http://www.racetech.se/reynard.htm

[xpensive]

That's it Pup, the last image with a turbo bolted to it and a tank filled with Absolut, the future of F1 right there!