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GM says Saab sale falls through (1st Lead)
Dec 18, 2009, 14:22 GMT
New York - US automotive giant General Motors said Friday the efforts to sell ailing Swedish subsidiary to a Dutch company had fallen through, spelling the end of Saab's operations.
The Detroit, Michigan-based GM said it was stopping Saab operations and that the Swedish carmaker's 3,400 employees were to be laid off starting from January.
GM's disclosure comes only a few days after the US company had indicated the possibility of a deal to sell Saab to the Dutch carmaker Spyker Cars.
On Tuesdya, GM chief executive Ed Whitacre had told reporters in Detroit that he had 'a sense it's possible' that a deal with Spyker Cars could be achieved.
The US carmaker had given itself until the end of December to decide on Saab's future.
Last month, a consortium structured around the Koenigsegg Group, a low-volume Swedish sports carmaker, surprisingly withdrew from talks with GM, casting the future of Saab into doubt.
GM's interest in Saab - one of Europe's smallest carmakers - dates back to the early 1990s. The company took full control in 2000.
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