Fuel Card News Motoring Updates: Saab owners file for bankruptcy

The owners of Saab Automobile have filed for bankruptcy after the Chinese rescue attempt failed.

The Swedish carmaker had been in talks with buyers Youngman and Pang Da, but the deal fell through after General Motors (GM), which sold Saab in February 2010, refused to agree to necessary technology licence transfers.

GM has put the brakes on numerous deals with would-be investors, including a Chinese bank, saying each of the proposals would be ‘detrimental’ to the Detroit- based company.

In a statement this weekend, GM spokesman James Cain said: "Each proposal results either directly or indirectly in the transfer of control and/or ownership of the company in a manner that would be detrimental to GM and its shareholders. As such, GM cannot support any of these proposed alternatives."

Saab’s vehicle sales, which peaked at 133,000 cars in 2006, have plunged in the last few years. The company sold 31,696 cars in 2010, missing a target of 50,000 to 60,000 vehicles.

Wages have been delayed several times and production was suspended in March, when the company couldn’t pay suppliers, with assembly lines restarting only occasionally since then.

The news comes just weeks after Saab GB went into administration at the end of November, threatening 55 people working at its Milton Keynes headquarters and 65 employed in dealerships in London.

In other news the cost of motor insurance is set to be investigated by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) after it discovered that insurance premiums increased by nine percent between January and September 2011.

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