通用汽车公司放弃出售萨博

MELISSA BLOCK, host:

More than 1,100 Saab dealers worldwide got bad news today. General Motors is no longer trying to sell the company, instead GM will close Saab.

Michigan Radio's Rina Miller reports.

RINA MILLER: Ron Collins' sells Saabs in Burton, Michigan, just outside of Flint. Unfortunately for him, Saabs are all they sell. His father started the dealership in 1959 because he appreciated the quality of Saab's engineering. Saab originally produced aircraft for the Royal Swedish Air Force. This morning, Collins got the news he had been expecting, but dreading: GM's negotiations with Spyker Cars, a Dutch company had fallen through. After other failed tries to find a buyer, GM is now giving up on Saab. Collin says his company will do the best it can while it can.

Mr. RON COLLINS (Saab Dealer): We've got a lot of customers out not just in our area, but in the whole state of Michigan. So, we are going to continue with service. Service is going to be very important for the next two or three years and we are going to increase our used car activity, of course, now that we don't have anything new to sell.

MILLER: At a press conference in New York this morning, GM Europe President Nick Reilly made it clear that this really is the end for Saab.

Mr. NICK REILLY (President, General Motors Europe): We've been in the process of selling Saab for several months, unsuccessfully. And there is really no point in carrying on. I will make announcement today and begin the wind down process in early January.

MILLER: More than 3,400 people work at the Saab factory in Sweden and tens of thousands of people are employed at Saab dealerships worldwide. General Motors says it will continue to honor warranties and provide service and parts to current Saab owners around the world. But for Ron Collins in Burton, the end of Saab means the end of a way of life.

Mr. COLLINS: It's certainly not going to be a very merry Christmas for us.

MILLER: Saab has a small, but intensely loyal following. It has a reputation for making safe, sporty and practical cars. It innovated turbo chargers and electric seat warmers, features that were copied by most of its competitors.

For NPR News, I'm Rina Miller in Ann Arbor.