Bernie Ecclestone wants Saab – Spyker make new bid

Bernie Ecclestone is behind the Genii bid for Saab

I think if we tried really hard we could be doing at least one story a day on the saga that is the sale of Saab by GM.

There’s no point re-hashing the history – if you read here regularly you’ll have had your fill of the story that’s more like a Soap Opera than a business deal, but if you want all the back stories just look under Saab.

But now – at the 11th hour – we have two new bits to add to the story. GM had set a deadline of yesterday - extended from 31st December – to conclude a sale of Saab. But they’ve put off making a decision after a last minute bid by Genii Capital – the same outfit that snapped up Renault’s F1 business last month – who look set to use Koenigsegg’s roadmap for Saab success by moving the Swede upmarket to make them profitable at much lower volumes.

You can also add to the mix a revised offer from Spyker’s Victor Muller – who said last night “We believe the Saab brand has lots of potential and would be keen to close a deal as quickly as possible” – who seems to have reacted to the Genii bid by revising Spyker’s. Which we would hope means that GM will have no choice but to come to terms with one or other so Saab can come out of Purgatory and start to function as a car maker instead of a pawn in GM’s posturing.

But in an added twist it now seems that it is Formula One impresario Bernie Ecclestone who is the man behind Genii. There’s no doubt that Bernie is a sharp operator – he’s made billions from F1 – and he certainly knows his way round a negotiating table (GM may not know what’s hit them) but it has to be debatable whether he knows much about car making. Still, that’s not really how it works. His clout and billions could clinch a deal and buy the best brains to make it work.

Today should tell us more.

By Cars UK