Saab, 007’s former ride, lives to die another day

Saab, once the ride of the literary James Bond, avoided the fate of automotive brands such as Studebaker, Plymouth and Stutz. Here’s the start of a Bloomberg.com story by Ola Kinnander and Katie Merx:

Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) — General Motors Co. sold Saab Automobile to Spyker Cars NV, the Dutch maker of supercars, for at least $400 million in cash and preferred shares, averting the extinction of the 72-year-old Swedish carmaker.

“The transaction secures the future of Saab Automobile and signals the start of an exciting new era for the iconic brand,” Spyker said in a statement after Chief Executive Officer Victor Muller and Saab CEO Jan-Aake Jonsson signed the final accord today in Stockholm.

Saab was the choice of John Gardner, when he was commissioned to do a new series of Bond continuation novels starting in the early 1980s. Click here to see a diagram of the Saab described by Gardner. It includes a remote car starter, now a fairly common gadget for drivers. You can read the rest of the Bloomberg story about Saab by CLICKING HERE.