Posted on 02/19/2009 7:48:38 PM PST by bruinbirdman
The Swedish car-maker Saab Automobile was on the brink of failure on Thursday night after General Motors threatened to walk away, and the Swedish government refused to come to the rescue.
An emergency meeting by the Saab board adjourned without deciding whether to seek protection from creditors, a move known in Sweden as "reconstruction". It is unclear whether the beloved brand -- produced in Trollhattan near Gothenberg since the late 1940s -- can be saved.
General Motors is slashing 47,000 jobs worldwide to shore up its home base and to assure Congress that US federal aid will save American jobs rather than leaking overseas.
The company has threatened to wash its hands of Saab after twenty years unless the free-market coalition of Fredrik Reinfeldt offers a subsidy. The pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
"The Swedish state is not prepared to own car factories," said Maud Olofsson, the enterprise minister. She accused GM of shabby tactics and attempting to hand over responsibility for its own management failures to Swedish taxpayers. "We are very disappointed in General Motors. But we are not prepared to risk taxpayers money, this is not a game of Monopoly," she said, dismissing opposition calls for a state aide as reckless frivolity.
GM has long struggled to make money from its Swedish venture, but the losses have become a torrent in recent months. The plant is an obvious candidate for retrenchment.
Saab employs 4,100 workers in Sweden, with another 10,000 jobs linked to sub-contractors, making it an industrial powerhouse in a country of just 9m. Unemployment is already rising at an alarming pace. It jumped from 6.4pc to 7.3pc in January alone.
"Sweden has been the hardest hit of any country in western Europe: the economy contracted at an annualized rate of nearly 20pc in the fourth
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
They are forked. 97,000 vehicles for 4,000 workers? Hmmmm.
With an annualized rate of contraction of 20% I’d suggest Sweden doesn’t have the resources available to bail out just one company.
I remember the first Saab I drove had a 3 cylinder two stroke motor with four on the tree and the ignition on the floor.
don't worry the US taxpayers will though. We have a socialist government
separate company, I think
Actually, the Swedes sound more sensible than our own government. Tell GM to hit the road instead of being so intimidated as to open the treasury and let GM plunder it.
As for those jobs, well easy come easy go. The way I figure it, they can all make cheap furniture for all the IKEAs across the globe.
Socialist Sweden has more capitalistic sense than America...
My son wasted his combat pay on a Saab. Fun to drive, but you’re guaranteed to get a speeding ticket on day one.
A 2006 9.3 all-leather 41,000 miles and can’t find a buyer at 13K. Really sad.
They need to save all their krona to provide endless benefits to Malmo - the emerging kapital of Islam in Sweden.
yitbos
Isn’t it something? We’ve got Sweden and Putin giving us primers on capitalism. Too bad we don’t seem to be listening.
Where there's Saab, there's smoke!
Love it
That's the most depressing thing I've read today. Depressing, because it means we are now more left wing than Sweden. Geez.
yeah, I know, couldn’t resist though.
Sweden is Socialist only in the sense of providing a welfare state safety net for its citizens. Otherwise, free enterprise is allowed to reign.
In the USA, we provide a welfare state safety net for its illegal aliens rather than citizens, and getting involved in private enterprise at a clip that may make even Hugo Chavez blush.
I used to work on SAAB 340B (a turboprop airliner).
Fine airplanes for their size.
Loved the 340’s (we had the 30pax A’s)
They could do Indy-Toronto with a full pax load, most days, and were RARELY weighted except for long diversion days...
Nope. European socialist states decide which individuals get to participate in the modified capitalist system. There is little "free enterprise".
yitbos
I was just about to order my Viggen too!
Does this mean the Scandanavian model of socialism is also a bust? Golly, I’m shocked.
I was reading yesterday that if IKEA opens a few more stores they will surpass WalMart in total revenue/worldwide per year....
Initially when it came to America Saab promoted themselves as the “No bullshit car” in advertisements.
Yeah, sort of like a Saab transmission.
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