GM Accepting New Offers For Saab, Spyker Believed To Be Interested

FOLLOWING ITS MONTHLY board meeting on Tuesday, GM has announced it has received "expressions of interest" in Saab and will evaluate offers until the end of December.

A GM statement this morning said that the carmaker's board of directors will determine at that point whether a suitable arrangement exists. If not, it will begin the process of closing the Saab brand down.

One potential buyer is believed to be Dutch sportscar maker, Spyker Cars NV and its Russian owner Converse Bank, which submitted a bid for Saab on Monday, according to industry paper Automotive News.

According to a source "close to the matter", Spyker submitted a written bid to Deutsche Bank for the purchase of Saab from GM, although the bid's amount has not been revealed.

Bloomberg News has reported that GM is considering selling parts of the Saab business to Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co, a partner in the recently aborted sale of Saab to Swedish supercar company Koenigsegg.

Automotive News' source said that if such a deal were to come to pass, Spyker would likely retract its bid, suggesting the sportscar maker is as interested in Saab's technology and equipment as the brand itself.

Representing a mere 1.1 percent of GM's total sales volume for the year, Saab sold only 93,295 vehicles globally in 2008.