(Image Source: Logo Stage)

BY JJ BAILEY

ANCHOR ANA COMPAIN-ROMERO

Swedish car company, Saab, is finally, officially, on E. CNBC has the obituary.

“Saab is about to fade into history. It filed for bankruptcy after the rejection of a rescue plan
by a key supplier and former owner General Motors. Barring a last-minute rescue, Saab plans to liquidate its assets."

The announcement doesn’t come as a shock to analysts who’ve been watching the company. Its production has been halted since April because it couldn’t pay its suppliers or employees. Sold by GM in 2010 to Swedish Automobile, the ailing Saab had lost much of its luster. The Wall Street Journal’s Neal Boudette runs the numbers.

“At its peak Saab was doing over 100,000 vehicles a year, and they had a goal of getting it to- and this is in the US market only- and they had a goal of getting it to 200,00."

“Really when GM let Saab go as part of it’s bankruptcy organization, that was the end of the company. At the time they Saab was selling 500 cars a month in the US.”

Comparatively, Boudette adds, Toyota was selling 30,000 Corollas a month in the US. But even with the low numbers, some in the industry weren’t ready to let Saab go the way of the Dodo. Swedish Automobile, formerly Spyker Automobile, bought the company in 2010 from GM.

Forbes focused its coverage on the man it says was the Saab’s last chance at survival: Spyker’s Founder, Victor Muller.

“It was hard not to get swept up in Victor Muller’s enthusiasm about saving Saab. … He would practically leap out of his seat during interviews as he rattled off his long-term product plan for Saab, a quirky brand with an insanely loyal following that he believed was worth saving. … But as so often happens in the capital-intensive auto business, the dreamers fail.”

Muller had tried to organize a purchase by Chinese investors, the chief of which was Youngman Automotive. But GM, who still has a say in Saab’s movements because of lingering technology ties, resisted the deal. Bloomberg explains.

“[GM] said on Dec. 17 that recent proposals for rescuing Saab were similar to earlier plans that it had rejected as being ‘detrimental to GM and its shareholders.’ The U.S. carmaker ‘made it clear it would not approve of a transaction involving Youngman,’ while difficulties with rules on transferring funds out of China prevented a financing deal...”

So Swedish Automotive was unable to secure financing for the sliding Saab, and after repeated cash injections from the Swedish government and other investors, the company couldn’t find it’s legs. Worse yet, it seems, as Saab heads to the junkyard, it might take its parent company with it. Here’s CNBC.

“Swedish Auto is down by over 66% percent. That’s just the move today. Check out that over the past year the stock is down by 98%. This is a company that’s certainly been suffering for some time.”

According to Bloomberg, The government of Sweden will work to help Saab’s workers “move on to other parts of the labor market.”