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Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 07:52:52 +0000
From: Martin Rich <M.G.Richnospam.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: Saab to be sold?  ...GM Denies!


On Thu, 24 Feb 2005 08:04:40 -0500, "Tex" <texnospamm101.org> wrote: >Would a sale of Saab be good? It would certainly lose the marketing power >of GM. Is the marketing power that big a deal? In Europe Saab is marketed quite separately from Vauxhall/Opel and has separate dealer networks; I assumed the same was true elsewhere? The real economies of scale - and the reason that a completely independent Saab would probably not be viable - are to do with design and manufacturing. >There'd be no guarantee that Trollhattan would remain open even with >a new buyer. Does Saab need its own manufacturing plant to _be_ Saab? Carlos Ghosn (mentioned elsewhere in the thread) was nicknamed 'Le Cost Cutter' and he certainly made it clear that he was prepared to move production away from Nissan's Sunderland plant, which has a tremendous reputation for productivity, if they didn't make a strong enough case for a new model to be built there. Nissan/Renault in some combination would be a good fit with Saab in terms of product range, but don't expect a particularly easy-going management style if they take over. Incidentally GM and Renault already have a joint venture for delivery vans (Vauxhall Vivaro = Renault Trafic = Nissan Primastar all made in the same factory in Luton) so there is some precendent for sharing engineering knowledge, as would be necessary if Renault find themselves making cars based on GM's Vectra Martin

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