Saab files for bankruptcy, but how big is the impact?
Victor Muller, CEO of Spyker Cars, poses between a Saab car (left) and a Spyker (right) in Stockholm on Jan. 26 , 2010. The failed Swedish automaker filed for bankruptcy Dec. 18, 2011 after two years of attempts to save the struggling company.
Saab Automobile finally filed for bankruptcy Monday after two years of failed rescue attempts by the struggling car maker.
Saab CEO Victor Muller personally handed the bankruptcy application to a Swedish court. The court accepted the filing shortly after.
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The filing highlights Saab’s arduous fight to stay in business after former owner General Motors Co. blocked several buyout attempts by Chinese investors, the Christian Science Monitor reported.
"That basically was the last nail in the coffin of this beautiful company," Muller said in news conference at the Saab plant in Trollhattan, southwestern Sweden.
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The loss of the Swedish auto company has been seen as inconsequential in terms of economic impact, however. Saab’s job force of 6,800 last year only represented 0.15% of Sweden’s total employment.
The Wall Street Journal wrote:
“In an attempt to highlight exactly how insignificant Saab Auto is, Sweden’s National Institute of Economic Research (NIER) concluded that the worth of Saab Auto’s production (including production value for its subcontractors) was about 3.1 billion kronor last year, representing 0.11% of Sweden’s total economic output. For most part of this year production has been halted, and now the figure is even closer to nothing."