通用的萨博品牌对瑞典小城的影响

The Saab factory in Trollhattan is closed for Christmas, but now it may never open again. The future is not looking good for the main employer in this town of 55,000 people. The city center is lit up with Christmas decorations. But after GM's announcement on Friday, holiday shoppers were devastated.

I can't believe that it's true. It can't be true.

It's been going badly for a number of years, but one still keeps hoping. I had my hopes up, everyone had their hopes up.

It's just terrible. Our entire region is dependent on Saab as an industry.

Tony Klasen is one Saab worker who was shocked to hear that Saab might be no more.

I don't think it's sunk in yet. I think it will take some time to understand this. Deep inside, I think I've always thought there will be some kind of resolution to this. But now, well, I don't know what to say. It's an error that goes into the grave.

Now Saab's 3,500 jobs here and the estimated 4,500 additional jobs that depend on Saab are all in jeopardy. And finding a new one won't be easy in a town where unemployment is already up nearly 50 percent from this time last year.

I've always wanted to go back to school to study, but that's a financial question. You can't study without money. So I hope the government will step in and help. They have to do something, because this will hit a lot of people very hard. The jobs just don't grow on trees. So I could imagine myself going back to school.

Saab unveiled the prototype of its first car-the Saab 92 in 1947. Together with Volve, the brand has become a part of the Swedish culture. Still today, it is mostly Saab and Volve cars that travel the Swedish roads, which is why the end of Saab has opened the deep wound in the Swedish soul, from workers and the Saab management all the way to the government.

I've been very disappointed today, which is something I can't hide.

I thought what a terrible announcement for all employees just before Christmas. Everyone had hopes this would be resolved and that they could find a buyer that could make Saab stay alive.

Even though the end appears to be near for the carmaker, there are still some hopeful Saab fans like the creators behind the rescue-saab.com, who are now urging people to email the CEO of GM to convince him to save the brand. But for people like Tony Klasen, the question now is how long before they are out of a job. There are some hopeful news though. The Swedish government has announced it will invest 542 million Swedish krona, about 75 million dollars in aid to boost growth in the region.

This is a good region that had survived more than one difficult crisis before. So knowing that people are able to change direction gives us hope for the future.

It's a future difficult for many to imagine. But unless something unexpected happens, it's a future that won't include Saab.

Per Nyberg, cnn, London.

 Glossary:

a grave error: a very serious mistake

(not) grow on trees: be (not) plentiful, easily obtained, etc