So, following the withdrawal of Koenigsegg from the Saab deal, of four prospective deals that GM had on the cards for its various pieces of automotive real estate as of Summer 2009 one survives.
The remaining deal is for Hummer – a brand that’s virtually without value given the vast sums that have been kicking about Detroit and Washington over the last twelve months.
And, frankly, I suspect the Hummer deal has only an even chance of going through, such is the silence from the Chinese government on inking that particular deal.
Pontiac, like Oldsmobile, was not even floated – but simply wound down with little fanfare.
A deal to sell Saturn, one of the brighter prospects, fell through; GM ended up making a last-minute switch over Opel/Vauxhall; and now the Saab-Koenigsgegg deal has gone west.
The truth is, none of these deals – barring Opel – seemed to make the slightest sense in the first place, so their failures should come as little surprise.
GM had mismanaged, confused and devalued the likes of Pontiac, Saturn and Saab – but the real problem lay in the fact that they were no longer viable businesses.
In a market stuffed with too many cars, and too many manufacturers, something had to give – especially when sub-prime came home to roost.
The idea that these brands, some with rich heritages, could somehow be repackaged for the modern era never seemed realistic to me and the notion that virtually every single major automotive brand in the world could withstand the current recession fanciful in the extreme.
Everyone who watches the automotive industry will have their own list of manufacturers on a kind of fictional deathwatch. Saab, though it pains me to say it, was right at the top of mine.
As GM is finding out, selling failing brands in a deeply depressed economy defied the logic of the market.
Without friendly governments willing to shell out billions to keep those too big to fail on their feet, the outlook is bleak for manufacturers with tumbling sales, poor products and a lack of strategic partners.
And, though I take no pleasure in saying it, there are several more on my personal list I firmly believe will share Saab’s fate.
• View US auto industry infographic, now wildly out of date, on the various movements of US brands
• Image by Jen SFO-BCN via Creative Commons
Tags: General Motors, GM, Hummer, koenigsegg, oldsmobile, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, Vauxhall