The demise of Saab: market or murder?

The Swedish carmaker Saab, a daughter of General Motors (GM), is on the verge of going under. But many questions shroud the circumstances of Saab's demise, writes the conservative news magazine Elsevier: "Too small for the global car industry, Saab has suffered financially in the past and is still suffering today. GM took ... Saab over ten years ago with the idea of strengthening its own arsenal with a ready-made line of luxury automobiles. ... But after that it did little to develop new models, the lifeline of every brand of cars. And now, just when the new Saab 9-5 has arrived, GM is floating in a vacuum between the state and the market. ...If Saab survives it remains to be seen how much this will depend on support from the European Investment Bank and the Swedish state. ... If Saab dies it will be due to market forces. Nevertheless recent events have shown that in fact it will be murder, wrought by the pathetic and unimaginative business policy of a multinational company."

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