Last-minute Dutch bid for Saab

Dutch specialist automaker Spyker Cars has submitted a revised last-minute offer to buy the Saab car firm from General Motors, offering hope that thousands of jobs could be saved. 

• The offer on Sunday follows an announcement from GM that it would begin winding down the Swedish firm after failing to find a buyer.
• GM has said it is evaluating the new Spyker bid, having rejected an earlier offer from the firm.
• Victor R. Muller, CEO of the Dutch sports carmaker, said he was “very confident” that the renewed offer would remove previous obstacles in the negotiations enabling a deal to go through by the end of December. 
• In a statement GM said it had also received other offers to buy loss-making Saab following Friday’s announcement that it was to close the firm.
• “We will evaluate each inquiry. We will not comment further until these evaluations have been completed,” GM said in a statement.
• The Detroit-based car giant had previously set a deadline of December 31 to seal a
  Deal to sell Saab.
• It had originally entered talks with Spyker after a deal with Swedish luxury car builder Koenigsegg collapsed last month.
• The closure of the 60-year-old carmaker would mean the loss of thousands of jobs, most of them at its main plant in Trollhattan, Sweden.
• Saab directly employs at least 3,400 people in Sweden, but up to 15,000 jobs at suppliers and subcontractors could also be at risk if the firm closes.
• Gert-Inge Andersson, leader of the Trollhattan government, said he did not yet dare to believe in the new offer.
• “It’s bordering on torture, of citizens and the employees at Saab, when messages like these fly back and forth,” he told local news agency TT.
• GM, which acquired Saab in 1990, is trying to restore profitability after a massive bankruptcy restructuring aided by the US and Canadian governments.
• The company has previously decided to discontinue its Saturn and Pontiac brands in the US and has reached a deal to sell its Hummer brand to a Chinese buyer.
• The focus on core brands “will enable the company to devote more engineering and marketing resources to each brand and model,” GM said.
• Under GM’s stewardship Saab rarely posted a profit and last year lost about $340m.
• Saab’s history as an automaker dates back to the 1940s when the first cars were produced by the Swedish aircraft maker Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget or SAAB.