Saab Automobile today filed for bankruptcy with a Swedish court, bringing to an end two years of efforts to rescue the iconic brand which has been the hallmark of Swedish cars for six decades.
The final desperate attempts to raise funds in China were obstructed by Saab's former owner General Motors over licences.
Saab's owner Swedish Automobile said in a statement that "the company without further funding will be insolvent and that filing bankruptcy is in the best interests of its creditors." "It is expected that the court will approve of the filing and appoint receivers for Saab Automobile very shortly," it added.
Swedish Automobile's charismatic chief executive Victor Muller had been due to appear before the court today as judges had been scheduled to decide whether to lift or prolong the three-month bankruptcy protection Saab had been placed under while it was attempting to negotiate a deal to rescue the company.
Muller had been struggling to clinch an agreement in recent months with two Chinese groups, carmaker Youngman and car distribution company Pang Da. But General Motors has repeatedly said it would refuse to agree to the necessary technology licence transfers to the Chinese firms, and Pang Da pulled out of the negotiations a few weeks ago.
As recently as this weekend, GM reiterated its opposition to any deal with a Chinese suitor, a statement seen as a death knell for Saab.
The attempts to sell Saab to Chinese partners were seen as the last chance of saving the carmaker, which was already on the brink of bankruptcy when GM sold it to Swedish Automobile - at the time called Spyker - in early 2010 for €308m. It has been a rocky road since then.
Saab - which began life in 1937 as an aircraft manufacturer - was forced to halt production in April as suppliers stopped deliveries over mountains of unpaid bills. Its funds ran out and Saab's some 3,700 employees did not receive their November paychecks.
