Saab Managing Director Jan Ake Jonsson and the carmaker’s entire board will be replaced immediately as parent GM continues with the wind-down of the Swedish automaker.
According to a statement the US carmaker, despite the management change, is continuing to assess bids for the money-losing brand.
Stephen Taylor and Peter Torngren of restructuring firm AlixPartners have been appointed as Saab’s wind-down supervisors and the closing of the brand is expected to take several months.
Jonsson will remain with the company and assist the supervisors, a GM spokesman said, however it currently is unclear what role the long serving Saab executive will play in the process.
Jonsson was named managing director of the company in March 2005 and has been with Saab since 1973.
GM is taking the required steps to close Saab as it puts pressure on bidders to sweeten their offers for the 60-year-old Swedish car manufacturer.
GM executives said on Monday that none of the bids they’d received so far for Saab had met the financial requirement for a deal and signalled they were moving ahead with plans to wind down the company.
“We’re closing down Saab,” GM Chairman and acting CEO Ed Whitacre told reporters on the sidelines of the Detroit auto show.
GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said: “The offers we’ve received so far in terms of risk and financing up-front have been just as good as winding it down.”
In the same conversation Lutz said that GM remains open to offers from potential buyers, even though time is very limited.
Saab spokeswoman Gunilla Gustavs added today: “There is still the possibility that the negotiations on the bids will result in a decision to sell Saab in its entirety.”
Source: Automotive News
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