(Fri 08 Jan 10)

The future of Saab remains unclear despite renewed interest as GM's latest deadline for closing down the Swedish manufacturer has come and gone.

Dutch sportscar manufacturer Spyker submitted a revised offer yesterday (January 7) and, regardless of continuing doubts as to its suitability as a future owner of Saab, is still appearing confident. "We have continued a constructive dialogue with GM over the acquisition of Saab," says CEO Victor Muller. "We believe the Saab brand has lots of potential and would be keen to close a deal as quickly as possible."

The involvement of Spyker (like that of Koenigsegg, a similar Swedish company which withdrew as a contender last year) has seemed unlikely, but perhaps less so after the last-minute entry of Bernie Ecclestone and Luxembourg-based private equity fund Genii Capital, which recently bought a stake in the Renault F1 team. This does seem to be a strong bid, however, with Genii talking of adding value to Saab by bringing in technology developed by other companies with which it is involved.

There are also reports of interest from a Swedish group headed by Haakan Samuelson, who was CEO of truck company MAN until last November, and former cabinet minister Jan Nygren. The plan here seems to involve letting Saab continue in a scaled-down form, building no more than 50,000 cars per year.

Despite all this, GM has appointed a company called AlixPartners to supervise the winding-down of Saab, a process which would take several months to complete. GM insists that this decision does not alter the fact that it is continuing to evaluate the various offers it has received, but it doesn't show great confidence that a buyer will be found. Saab's interim CEO and Chairman Ed Whitacre summed up the GM view when he said, "It's real easy - just show up with the money and you can have it, and nobody's showing up with the money."

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