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228 – Saab goes back to Sweden

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17 June 2009

GM, owner of the Swedish Saab brand, has confirmed a memorandum of understanding for the purchase of Saab Automobile AB by Koenigsegg Group.

This, hopefully, will secure Saab’s future. Now, there’s many a slip before it’s all signed and sealed, but really this can only be great news for Saab being sold to consortium headed by sports car maker Koenigsegg.

Proper Swedish Saabs. Not re-engineered Vauxhalls. Although goodness knows what sort of Saabs we’ll see in the future. Exciting ones no doubt, and ones that promise to be great to drive. I can’t imagine for one moment, though, that Saab will continue to try and compete as a mainstream premium aspirant executive car maker.

Koenigsegg will be familiar to Top Gear viewers and fans of Jeremy Clarkson. The company makes high performance sports cars which have graced the TV programme’s screen and test track.

What I particularly like is the idea of a small group of Swedish engineers and entrepreneurs, with some airforce heritage, taking care of a brand that started as a small bunch of engineers with aerospace technology.

The Koenigsegg headquarters lie in southern Sweden, near the city Ängelholm. Formerly this cluster of buildings was occupied by the Swedish Air Force, and Koenigsegg’s new assembly hall used to be a hangar for JAS 39 Gripen fighter jets. Gripen jets are made by Saab the airplane maker.

Fighter Jet Squadron 1 of the Swedish Air Force was based at the present Koenigsegg HQ before being closed down by the government in 2003. Their symbol, a ghost within a circle, is on the CCR and all extreme versions of the Koenigsegg CC.

The company was the brainchild of Christian von Koenigsegg, who wanted to create the perfect sportscar. After several years of planning he launched the Koenigsegg project in 1994 and by 2000 started series production of the CC 8S model.

It was a huge moment. And proved to the world that it was possible for a small and dedicated group of enthusiasts to rival the old established supercar brands.

What Koenigsegg needs to do now is prove that it has the engineering ability and financial muscle, to produce exciting Saabs that people want – and make money for the company.

I dearly hope so.

GM looks to sell Saab to Koenigsegg

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Ralph Morton

Ralph Morton

Ralph Morton is an award-winning journalist and the founder of Business Car Manager (now renamed Business Motoring). Ralph writes extensively about the car and van leasing industry as well as wider fleet and company car issues. A former editor of What Car?, Ralph is a vastly experienced writer and editor and has been writing about the automotive sector for over 35 years.

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