Mahindra & Mahindra & Saab

"SaabLife, because Gripen" (runningtosweden) 06/14/2014 at 12:25 • Filed to: Saab

1

3

First the Swedish, then the Americans, then the Chinese, now India. Mahindra & Mahindra want a giant piece of the Saab pie and evidently want to take advantage of the access they have to the US market. Apparently (rumor has it) Mahindra has the ultimate goal of gaining access to the in-development Phoenix platforms, the brand name, along with another unnamed India based sugar-daddy. So say the rumors.

The big thing to take away from this is that when the whole bankruptcy thing happened, Mahindra was told that they had to buy the parts company in addition to the Saab brand if they wanted to be apart of the bidding. They didn't like that so they dropped out, along with a number of other bidders. Well then the bankruptcy attorneys decided to drop the requirement of having to buy the parts company in addition to the brand name. Then NEVS waltzed in and grabbed it. Oddly, Mahindra wasn't called back and this goofy electric car thing was put into motion. From what I've heard, it was some obvious favoritism and some Swedish government supported eco-green crap that lead to NEVS buying up everything. But since the Chinese won't supply the money, these two Indian brands might get what they originally wanted when Saab was on sale.

Interesting stuff, but nothing official yet. It is worth noting that Mahindra does have the money to pull something like this off, not even taking into account the cash that the other unnamed company would bring to the table.

Just can't kill the Saab brand, huh?

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

ranwhenparked > SaabLife, because Gripen 06/14/2014 at 19:33

0

So, if Mahindra buys Saab, does that mean they will go around signing up dealerships in the US, promise new cars for years, and then quietly forget everything in the midst of a flurry of lawsuits?

SaabLife, because Gripen > ranwhenparked 06/14/2014 at 21:39

0

Nope, Mahindra is a company that likes to take things slow, they already have retail centers in the US, but it'll be years before they decide to fully transition to full dealerships. A lot of the supposed plans revolve around the Phoenix platform that's been a perpetual state of development for years. Once that's done they'd probably consider it, but only if the other two partners are in on it.

The big thing about all of this is that there are three companies involved with this that know how to handle money. Hopefully they can avoid the mistakes all the past owners have, but who knows.

JetBlack95 > SaabLife, because Gripen 06/16/2014 at 08:26

0

Jason Castriota said that the Phoenix based 9-3 was ready for production before NEVS stepped in. If Mahindra has good sense they will reignite SAAB dealerships in the US and Europe (at least the ones who are still interested, and there are some) and start selling that car. Make sure the NG 9-5 parts situation is covered, then put that car back into production as well. The Sonnet and 9-1 and 9-4x concepts were all solid as well. Beautiful cars, great engineering, what's not to like? It's only money.