Koenigsegg backs out of Plans to buy Saab

I once owned a Saab, and even though the car was a terrible investment and had a useful life of about 40,000 miles, I have always admired their cars. It seemed that the Swedish designers had found a neat cross between a sporty feel to the cars and broad usefulness. While everybody was moving from cars to SUVs a decade ago, Saab provided two hatchback models that could carry at least as much and still allow the owner to drive a car. They also had a neat convertible.

The came the GM acquisition. All GM needed to do was to add some integrity to the cars, and they might have been able to continue to compete with Audi and BMW. Instead, they removed the cars' quirkiness in order to try to appeal to the mass market. While that effort was in midstream, they killed the product lineup and put Saab badges on their other cars.

In the end, Saab really had nothing to sell. And, with enough compelling product out there from the lines of VW, BMW, Toyota, Honda and Nissan, the end of this brand is inevitable.