Spyker Cars, a Dutch sports car company no one would know of were it not for its purchase of Saab from GM, has just announced its own sale. Sort of.

The current company known as Saab Spyker Automobiles will retain Saab, but sell off the niche-market Spyker brand for $44 million to CPP Global Holdings Ltd, a coachbuilder based in Coventry, England.

Here’s where it gets interesting.

CPP is backed by Russian billionaire Vladimir Antonov. Sound familiar? It might if you’ve been paying close attention to the Saab-Spyker story. Back in 2009, it was Antanonv’s involvement in Spyker that initially prevented the sale of Saab from GM. As it turns out, Antanov was allegedly tied to the Russian mafia – and with General Motors being majority owned at this time by none other than the U.S. government, well, let’s just say it wouldn’t have been a good PR move for the Obama administration to sell off millions of dollars of taxpayer assets to the Russian mafia.

No connection between Antanov and the Russian mafia was ever confirmed and Spyker Cars CEO Victor Muller has publicly stated that he does not believe there is a connection.

At the time Antanov pulled out of Spyker allowing the sale to go through, which was surprising as Spyker seemed to easily come up with the necessary funds to seal the deal – hinting that Antanov was secretly still involved. Now it appears Antanov is getting his exotic Dutch sports car company back.

In what is no doubt a bid to prove the viability of the Saab brand and the stability of its new ownership, Spyker Cars has announced the completion of its purchase of Saab from GM ahead of schedule. The final $24 million payment is due in two weeks time, but Spyker chose to complete the deal early.

In a statement, Spyker also said the funds came from “internal sources” and that no addition debt was taken on in order to complete the deal.

Spyker can now begin the process of returning Saab to profitability, a move that is expected to include expansion into new markets as well as the introduction of new models like the new 9-5, the 9-4X and eventually an all-new 9-3 and the much-discussed 9-2 mini car, that will reportedly run off the current generation MINI platform, using engines from BMW.

In addition, Spyker will sell its Dutch exotic cars at Saab dealerships internationally.

Official press release after the jump:

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General Motors has just announced that the sale of its Swedish Saab unit to Dutch exotic car maker Spyker has been completed. The new company, called Saab Spyker Automobiles, will now begin a new era for Saab, saving thousands of jobs in Sweden and at dealerships in the United States.

Saab Spyker will begin to sell its new 9-5 model in North America this spring, likely in both a 220-hp and 300-hp form. Saab also has plans to begin production of the 9-4X crossover, based on the same platform as the Cadillac SRX, in the near future. A new 9-3 model is scheduled to come to market in 2012.

Official release after the jump:

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The sale of Saab to Spyker was delayed due to suspicions that one of the Dutch exotic car maker’s major shareholders had ties to the Russian mafia. According to a recent report by Swedish newspaper Dagens Industri, the Swedish security force Sapo investigated former Spyker shareholder Alexander Antonov and determined that there was “strong suspicion” of ties to organized crime.

That information was then relayed to the FBI, and on to the U.S. government, which essentially told General Motors to put a hold on the sale.

Not long after, Antonov and his investment firm Convers Group, sold back $4.6 million in shares to CEO Victor Muller, paving the way for a new bid, which was successful.

Neither General Motors, nor Spyker have made any official comment on the matter.

[Source: Dagens Industri via Fox News]

With Saab having just been saved by Dutch automaker Spyker, the new Saab Spyker Automobiles company has confirmed that it will deliver a new 9-3 model to market in 2012. The current 9-3 has been in production since 2002, meaning that by the time the third-generation of Saab’s volume seller arrives, the current model will be 10 years old.

Saab has said the new 9-5 model will arrive in dealerships this Spring, replacing a model that has been on the market for over a decade. The 9-5 will be offered as both a sedan and wagon, and a 9-5X model is also coming. The 9-4X is due out in 2011.

Most surprising is the news that the automaker is looking at delivering a 9-1 model, as past reports have suggested Spyker didn’t want to take the Saab brand down-market. But with automakers like BMW and Audi already competing in the premium compact segment, Saab is reconsidering. Saab Spyker has said in an official press release that it intends to be an, ““independent, performance-orientated niche car company with an industry-leading environmental strategy,” that will compete directly with BMW and Audi.

Saab Spyker expects to return to profitability by 2012, an incredibly short time considering it hasn’t turned a profit in almost two decades.

[Source: AutoCar]