The saga of Saab‘s bankruptcy seems to be never ending, but that hasn’t dampened the spirits of Saab enthusiasts. The last Saab 9-3 Griffin is scheduled to come off the production line at the end of this month, and SaabsUnited is hoping to purchase the vehicle and place it at the Saab Cars Museum.

The museum was recently saved from being liquidated, and the members over at SaabsUnited believes that the final production 9-3 belongs in a museum. SaabsUnited has been allowed to reserve the car and its plan is to purchase it outright through the help of donations. Even though the donation process is straightforward – gather up enough money to purchase the vehicle outright – the logistics behind the 9-3 residing at the museum isn’t as clear cut.

One person must remain the legal guardian of the vehicle as the car won’t technically belong to the museum. Those spearheading the donation however have already discussed the matter of a contract to have the 9-3 remain at the Saab Cars Museum for at least five years with hopes to renew that contract continuously. In hopes to ensure that it remains there indefinitely, the contract has been written so that the guardian will not be able to move the 9-3 without the museum’s approval, and the museum will not be able to move the vehicle without the guardian’s approval. So in essence, it will remain at the museum forever.

It’s great to see Saab enthusiasts donating to the cause without getting anything back. Donators will get credit with their name on a big board that will be on display next to the car. Based on the comments, some have already made generous donations to the cause, with one member putting in almost $400. It appears there has already been over 75 donations received so the cause is already well on its way.

[Source: SaabsUnited]

As the Saab bankruptcy saga starts to come to a silent end, or so we hope, the deadline for companies to place their final bids for the Swedish carmaker has been set for April 10th.

Currently, the only company that has publicly registered its interest is Chinese automaker Youngman that has been in the picture since the bankruptcy began. Youngman’s original buyout was essentially broken up by General Motors, which still controls key Saab technology today.

Other companies rumored to be interested include Indian automaker Mahindra & Mahindra and an unnamed Japanese and Chinese consortium interested in producing electric vehicles through the Saab name.

Alas, it seems unlikely that assets raised will cover Saab’s current debt which is estimated to be about $1.8- to $1.97-billion. In fact, the attorneys handling Saab’s estate says any sale is unlikely to even cover “a portion” of the debt.

[Source: Automotive News]

Since Saab‘s bankruptcy, multiple automakers and outfits have expressed interest in purchasing the Swedish marque albeit no deals were sealed. As for Saab Cars North America (SCNA), the distribution company continues its fight against an involuntary bankruptcy filing in Delaware by its dealers and is working to move the case to Michigan.

In the meantime, its North American imports are held in limbo, as roughly 900 new Saabs were spotted at building 263 of a Newark, New Jersey port facility. A disheartening sight, Saab 9-3 and 9-5 sedans and sport combis as far as the eye can see lie neglected under layers of grime. More still are kept inside the warehouse buildings.

According to original poster aireeca of Found Our Own Road, “It’s hard to explain what it was like to just stand there and look at these cars and think, ‘This is it. These are the last new Saabs we’ll ever see.’ It’s not like Oldsmobile or Saturn or Hummer where the parent company lives on.”

GALLERY: Saabs At New Jersey Port

[Source: Found Our Own Road]

Despite the demise of the Saab automaker, racing team Tidö and Flash Engineering are hard at work developing and performing shakedown tests on their new Saab 9-3 TTA race car that will compete in the Swedish Racing Elite League.

Recently, the Saab 9-3 TTA was seen conducting first round testing in France with Swiss driver Fabian Thuner lapping around the Alés track. Then, the race car as well as the new information and developments found during testing will be carried over to undergo official tests in Karlskoga and Anderstorp.

Competing against Saab in the Swedish Racing Elite League include automakers Citroën, BMW, and Volvo. Racing head to head against the Volvo S60 TTA, Flash Engineering Managing Director says enthusiastically, “I have longed for 40 years to see the fight between Saab and Volvo on the race tracks. It becomes reality this summer and my biggest dream is to get all Saab fans to the TTA races to cheer us on.”

GALLERY: Saab 9-3 TTA

Check out the test teaser video of the Saab 9-3 TTA taken at the Alés track of France after the jump:

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The future of Swedish automaker Saab is still up in the air, but that hasn’t dampened the spirits of Saab enthusiasts that still love their cars. Flash Engineering has just unveiled the 9-3 TTA race car that will compete in the Swedish Racing Elite League this year.

In a way it’s nice to see that Saab, at least for now, will live on through racing enthusiasts. The aggressively-designed 9-3 race car sports a nice widebody kit typical to race cars, along with a vented hood, rear diffuser, and your necessarily large rear spoiler. Four of these 9-3 racers will be built and raced by Team Tidö. The team hasn’t finalized the driver lineup, but we can probably expect to see Jan Nilsson, Mattias Andersson, and Linus Ohlsson piloting the machines.

Saab fans will have more to cheer about this season though, as the 9-3 TTA race car will go head to head with the recently announced Volvo S60 TTA car. Jan Nilsson, Flash Engineering Managing Director, probably says it best: “I have longed for 40 years to see the fight between Saab and Volvo on the race tracks. It becomes reality this summer and my biggest dream is to get all Saab fans to the TTA races to cheer us on.”

GALLERY: Saab 9-3 TTA Race Car

Despite the tragic demise of the Saab brand, former Saab CEO Victor Muller isn’t going to quit just yet.

Found wandering around the 2012 Geneva Motor Show during its first press day, Victor Muller announced, “I’m a reborn man!”

Victor Muller elaborated upon the proclamation and revealed details to keep Spyker Cars, the Dutch hand-made supercar marque that put him on the automotive map. “I’m excited to get back into this business,” said Muller, adding that he has already put most of the liabilities incurred during the Saab fiasco behind him. Cash and finances will now be dedicated to restoring Spyker.

What’s more, Russian business partner Vladimir Antonov invested a significant amount into Saab and Spyker during its most turbulent period. Now, Muller is happy to say that Antonov is “out of the picture” entirely, suggesting more freedom for Muller to run his business. He ambitiously suggests the expansion of the Spyker line-up as well, which had never produced more than 100 vehicles a year.

Letting out a sigh at the mention of Saab, Muller hinted that Saab isn’t through with all nine of its lives. Some reports have indicated the possibility of several potential investors that could revive the Swedish brand. Unfortunately, the speed bump is dealing with intellectual properties from GM that are found within the 9-5 and 9-4X models.  In any case, Saab is no longer Muller’s problem.

[Source: The Detroit Bureau]

With the liquidation of Saab‘s North American assets and cars from the Heritage Collection put up for auction recently, many were no doubt curious to see where said vehicles ended up.

As it turns out, the cars have been acquired by two prominent collectors, Bill Jacobson who runs Sports Car Service in Wilmington, Delaware and Tom Donney of Donney Motors in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

Bill bought the 1967 Sonnett III, the 1978 99 Turbo, 1986 900 convertible, 1990 Skip Barber Pro Series open wheel car and the 1997 900 SE Talladega record setter, while Tom acquired the 1952 92, 1956 Sonnett Super Sport (shown above), 1960 93F Gran Turismo 750, Eric Carlsson’s 1960 96 RAC rally winner and the 1987 9000 Talladega record setting machine.

With both men recognized in the Saab community as serious collectors, enthusiasts and specialist mechanics, there’s no question that despite being split in half, the cars in the Heritage Collection have indeed gone to good homes.

Considering that Bill and Tom are very active in the classic Saab scene, having already amassed impressive collections of vintage Saab models it’s likely these cars will surface again at Saab events and conventions.

In fact, Bill, who has 12-15 examples from his collection on display at any one time, recently mentioned that plans are already afoot for a special Saab exhibit at the Simeone Automotive Museum in Philadelphia either this fall or next spring.

Meanwhile, there are also rumors circulating that Tom’s collection, which now numbers some 60 Saab vehicles with the new additions, could also form the basis for a possible Saab North America museum.

[Source: Saabs United]

Swedish automaker Saab is attracting more interest dead than alive. The officially bankrupt automaker is in the process of liquidating its assets and former rivals are lining up to buy a piece of the much-talked-about but little-bought maker of quirky cars.

Recent reports indicated that German automaker BMW was interested in purchasing Saab, but we now have confirmation of another bid. This latest offer comes from Saab’s Swedish rival Volvo, which is now owned by China’s Zhejiang Geely Holdings Group Co.

Other interested parties include China’s Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co., Turkish private investment firm Brightwell Holdings and Indian truck maker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.

Those in charge of liquidating Saab have commented that the ideal solution would be to sell off the company’s manufacturing facilities as a whole, keeping in mind the best interests of the creditors, employees and the city of Trollhattan. Sale to a tier one automaker like BMW would certainly fulfill those qualifications, although sale to an automaker like Volvo with a heritage and interest in Sweden could out-weigh that.

[Source: MarketWatch]

The ongoing saga around Saab’s bankruptcy seems to never end, and this time around there may be six to seven serious bidders for the Swedish automaker, one of which is believed to be BMW.

At their weekly press conference, the company touched on its pressing salary situation for its current employees and mentioned that it would take at least another week to sort things out; but the more interesting news is that the highest bidder may not get the deal, according to Saab. The Swedish automaker is looking for a company that will present the best option for the creditors, employees, and the region the most. Which essentially means that Saab will go to the company that has the money, knowledge, experience, and credibility to continue producing Saab vehicles.

It was confirmed that one of the six or seven bidders was a European automaker based out of Munich, which leads many to believe that it is BMW since the two firms once signed an engine purchasing agreement back in 2010. It would be mighty interesting if BMW is able to come out of this one to not only continue producing Saab vehicles, but using their platforms for their own models and even MINI ones.

[Source: Saabs United]

Nails just keep dropping in Saab‘s coffin, despite Chinese company Youngman’s attempts to sway the tide otherwise.

The latest detail in what’s become a sad saga of failure has to do with dealerships and their reaction to being caught in the fallout. It’s probably easy to forget, but if an automaker goes belly-up, the folks who made a living pedaling their products have to find a new source or go home.

That’s exactly what’s happening with many of the 900 Saab dealers worldwide who are either giving up the ghost or getting creative to stay in business.

Depending on their plans for the company, anyone trying to resurrect the defunct brand may find a dealer exodus too great a burden to overcome.

Without a conduit to sell cars, there is very little an automaker can do to bring their vehicles to market. Given this development, there is only one realistic business option: a company absorbing Saab purely to own their patents and to adopt their engineering.

If that were the case, we could start seeing Saab drivetrains and tech popping up in other cars around the world.

Brand names changing hands isn’t uncommon in the automotive world, Fiat now owns Chrysler and Ferrari, Volkswagen is the master puppeteer behind a myriad of companies including Porsche and Lamborghini and the automotive smorgasbord is hardly finished.

That said, we’re anticipating Saab will continue its slow somersault into the scrap bin with fewer hands reaching to catch their fall as the months wear on.

[Source: the Detroit News]

Although Saab‘s museum in Trolhattan, Sweden luckily escaped liquidation, the same cannot be said for the former automaker’s US based Heritage Collection, currently housed in Michigan.

McTevia & Associates, the legal firm brought in to deal with Saab North America’s creditors and dispose of its remaining assets, announced that cars in the Heritage Collection will be sent to auction (bids had to be registered before Friday, February 10th at 12 noon Eastern Standard Time).

Among the vehicles up for grabs, include a restored 1952, model 92 (the company’s first series production model), a 1956 94 Sonnet Super Sport roadster (one of just six built),  Erik Carlsson’s famous 1960 RAC Rally winning 96, a rare 1960 93F Gran Turismo 750 (a car inspired by the Carlsson rally machine), an early US spec (1978) 99 Turbo hatchback, a 1986 900 convertible prototype, plus a 9000 and “new generation” 900 that set speed and endurance records at Talledega Motor Speedway. Also up for grabs is an example of the 1987-91 Saab Pro Series open wheel race cars, developed in conjunction with Skip Barber and powered by stock Saab turbo four-cylinder engines.

However, rather than break up the collection and sell each of these cars individually, all of them will be auction in one block, without titles and in “as is” condition, meaning there’s a good chance they could end up as part of another museum’s stock.

GALLERY: Saab American Heritage Collection

[Source: Hemmings Motor News]

Following Saab‘s declared bankruptcy, the outstanding balance on the $400 million euro ($526 million) loan given to the automaker by the European Investment Bank required payment, since it had been guaranteed by the Swedish Debt Office.

Now, the Debt Office has reported that the outstanding balance on the loan (equivalent to some $325 million) has been paid, making the Swedish government the former automaker’s largest creditor.

With Saab assets, including shares in the parts and tooling divisions held as collateral by the Debt Office (which are worth more than the loan itself), sources have reported that the Swedish government is looking to sell the automaker as a whole entity, instead of breaking up and selling off various assets through bankruptcy.

Former suitor Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Group, whose last-minute rescue bid was blocked by General Motors, causing Saab to collapse in December, is reportedly still interested in acquiring the  former Swedish automaker, though so far, no official bids have  been announced.

[Source: Auto News]